by Pete | Feb 29, 2016 | 3CX, Acarda Outbound, Dialing Devices, IP-PBX, outbound calling, Softphones
The method for Acarda Outbound to dial out with a v14 3CX phone system requires that the softphone 3CXPhone for Windows is installed. If this is not installed please contact your 3CX integrator for instructions. These instructions apply to both the Team and Solo Editions of Acarda Outbound v7.2.0.2304 and above. To get Acarda Outbound to dial out with a v14 3CX phone system you can take the following steps:
Installing 3CX Plug-in Files
When Acarda Outbound Agent or Solo is installed a folder is created as “C:\Program Files\Acarda\Acarda Outbound\3CX Support Files” (or “C:\Program Files (x86)\…” on 64bit installs) which will contain the two plug-in files “Innovasoft.XDMessaging.dll” & “Innovasoft.S3CX.dll”. Copy the two files to the install folder of the 3CXPhone (3CXWin8Phone.exe) which by default is “C:\ProgramData\3CXPhone for Windows\PhoneApp”.
To activate the plug-in locate the file C:\ProgramData\3CXPhone for Windows\PhoneApp\
3CXWin8Phone.exe.user.config", open and edit adding the reference to "Innovasoft.S3CX" for the key="CRMPlugin", use a comma to separate multiple entries or add the key & value if required.
e.g.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<appSettings>
<add key="version" value="3.0.0" />
<add key="ClientSettingsProvider.ServiceUri" value="" />
<add key="CRMPlugin" value="CallTriggerCmdPlugin,Innovasoft.S3CX"/>
<add key="MakeCallTimeout" value="10000" />
<add key="MakeCallTimeoutCTIUnsupported" value="200000" />
<add key="EnableVCELogging" value="true" />
<add key="MaxLogFileSizeMb" value="5" />
<add key="RequestTimeout" value="60" />
<add key="MaxUploadSizeKb" value="2048" />
</appSettings>
When the 3CXPhone is started the plug-in will now automatically be loaded enabling the dial functionality to be activated from Acarda Outbound.
Connecting Acarda Outbound to the 3CXPhone for Windows Softphone
To set the correct dialing device for Acarda Outbound Team: In Acarda Outbound Agent click on the Tools menu up the top right side of the screen and select the Dialing Device submenu. For Acarda Outbound Solo: Click on the Agent View tab and in the top right, click the Tools menu and select the Dialing Device submenu.
To dial out via the 3CXPhone, the softphone must be installed, running and logged in before continuing. In the Acarda Outbound Dialing Device select “3CXPhone for Windows” from the drop down. Click Save to select this option.
Figure 1: The 3CXPhone for Windows dialing device selection.
When you select the 3CXPhone for the dialing device and you have Acarda Outbound administrator rights you have the option to test dial a number. Click the Test button in the lower left of the window. This will open the Test Dial Settings window.
Figure 2: The Test Dial Settings window.
Enter a number to dial, click the Dial button to test the dialing via the 3CXPhone. A log will also be shown to indicate success or error in the dial attempt. Click the Hang Up button to end the call.
Once successful close the Test Dial Settings and Dialing Device windows to return to the Agent or Solo dialing screens. The 3CXPhone will now be set as your default dialing device and be used to dial and hang up calls from Acarda Outbound.
by Pete | Feb 18, 2016 | 3CX, Acarda Outbound, Dialing Devices, outbound calling, Softphones
Acarda Outbound can make use of the 3CX CallTriggerCmd application to dial out with the 3CXPhone for Windows. To begin with open the file:
“C:\ProgramData\3CXPhone for Windows\PhoneApp\3CXWin8Phone.user.config”
in a text editor such as Notepad and check that the “CallTriggerCmdPlugin” dll is referred to in the “CRMPlugin” key:
<add key=”CRMPlugin” value=”CallTriggerCmdPlugin “/>
If you already had the 3CXPhone open please Exit and start it again. Note that the 3CXPhone must remain open if you want to dial out with it. It will not open automatically on dial.
These instructions apply to both the Team and Solo Editions of Acarda Outbound. For Acarda Outbound Team: In Acarda Outbound Agent click on the Tools menu up the top right side of the screen and select the Dialing Device submenu. For Acarda Outbound Solo: Click on the Agent View tab and in the top right, click the Tools menu and select the Dialing Device submenu.
Figure 1: The dialing device configuration.
Once you have selected the dialing device menu from the drop-down, you will be presented with the dialog above. You can then select the “Softphone Application” from the current dialing device drop-down to use this dialing method.
With the 3CXPhone using CallTriggerCmdPlugin only the Dial command can be used and not Hang Up. You need to use the 3CXPhone to hang up the call. Future integrations will allow this feature.
Figure 2: The Software Application configuration.
You can test your setup first using Cmd. Paste the MakeCall command and click enter with an appropriate extension:
“C:\ProgramData\3CXPhone for Windows\PhoneApp\CallTriggerCmd.exe” -cmd makecall:102
Once that works then go into the agent screen and add a test number e.g. click on the Action button then “Add Dial Card”, enter the test extension or number e.g. 102. Click the Next Dial button and it should dial out via the 3CXPhone which will start to ring the number.
To read up more on 3CX’s integration with CallTriggerCmdPlugin please refer to their blog at http://www.3cx.com/blog/docs/3cxphone-for-windows-api/
by Pete | Sep 23, 2014 | Acarda Outbound, Dialing Devices, outbound calling, Softphones
2017-10-03 edited: Note the HTTP API is no longer available in the latest versions of 3CX, please refer to How to dial out with 3CXPhone for Windows.
This blog will explain how to connect up Acarda Outbound Agent to dial out with 3CX’s IP-PBX. Acarda Outbound can dial out via phone systems that support RESTful API’s and HTTP URL’s; and so with 3CX’s IP-PBX it dials via their HTTP API.
These instructions apply to both the Team and Solo Editions of Acarda Outbound. For Acarda Outbound Team: In Acarda Outbound Agent click on the Tools menu up the top right side of the screen and select the Dialing Device submenu. For Acarda Outbound Solo: Click on the Agent View tab and in the top right, click the Tools menu and select the Dialing Device submenu.
Figure 1: The dialing device configuration.
Once you have selected the dialing device menu from the drop-down, you will be presented with the dialog above. You can then select the “HTTP/Web API” from the current dialing device drop-down to use this dialing method.
The HTTP/Web API only supports commands for dialing a telephone number and for hanging up. Not all systems support the ability to end a call via an API. If your system does not support this then leave the hang up address box blank and it will not be used. You will not be able to use our software to hang up – but you should be able to use the phone systems’ phone or proprietary software to hang up.
Figure 2: The HTTP/Web API configuration.
In the Command URLs you are able to set the URL to be requested as well as the HTTP request method (either GET or POST). Most APIs will use the “Get” verb. The dial setting above also treats the [ph] text in the URL as a placeholder for the telephone number needing to be dialed via Acarda Outbound. Other parameters used in the URL should be set according to the phone system’s documentation. In the case of 3CX’s phone system, the URL would look like the one below:
http://<pbx>:5000/ivr/PbxAPI.aspx?func=make_call&from=<ext>&to=[ph]&pin=<ext_pin>
Where the <pbx> is the IP address of the phone system computer, <ext> is the extension number of the device and <ext pin> is the extensions password. The request verb for this would be GET.
Note: Some phone systems will only accept calls to their respective API’s from the local network. This is for security purposes (and applies to 3cx systems). Often this configuration can be changed but you must understand the potential security risks in doing so.
To read up more on 3CX’s integration with HTTP API please refer to their blog at http://www.3cx.com/blog/docs/3cx-http-api/
For more details on Acarda Outbound please see http://www.acarda.com/live-outbound-calling/. You can download an Acarda Outbound trial via http://www.acarda.com/outbound-calling-downloads/
