better 'dial from phonebook' interface

[Kurgan]

I'd like to have a better interface to place calls from phonebook. this interface should show the phonebook, allow for some quick search in it, and allow for a call to be placed to a number in the phonebook by clicking on it or on a button near to it.

This, in my opinion, is far more "friendly" than the current method, expecially for the casual user (that is, not the pbx operator).

Also, it should be taken into account that when dialing a phonebook number it is usually needed to add a "9" or a "0" (or any other prefix) to get to the external line, so I have to save every number in the phonebook with the prefix already prepended. It could be nice to have some configuration parameter that contains the prefix to make external calls. Or you can leave it empty to make it work like it works now.

[nicolas]

What you describe is almost exactly what the dial box is for. Type some text, it will search on the phonebook, you can select with arrows if multiple results, and type ENTER to dial.

[Kurgan]

Not exactly. The Dial box in the main page only shows partial information from the phonebook, and when you have a lot of records, and some of them are similar, it's hard to understand who is who from the results.

I think it could be nice to be able to dial numbers from the phonebook interface itself.

-Open the phonebook
-Search (in the phonebook interface, non in the dial box)
-Click on a phone number in the phonebook interface to call that number.

[nicolas]

Hi,

You can modify the css style and make the drop down selection to be wider. What fop2 version are you using? Latest versions improve readability and have no limits on the number of results you can get. And it is much much faster. Open up the phonebook takes time, doing a search more time. It is not very convenient IMHO.

[Kurgan]

Thanks for your answer. I am using the latest beta (2.20). I must insist that our operator would really like to be able to dial from the phonebook interface. I understand that this is a matter of personal preference, and I am just suggesting a feature. I hope that you will consider my suggestion. In the meantime, I'll try enlarging the dial results window.

[nicolas]

Edit phonebook.php and add the following lines before $grid->show_grid();

$grid->add_display_filter('phone1','clickdial');
$grid->add_display_filter('phone2','clickdial');

And add also this snippet after show_grid:

function clickdial($number) {
   return "<a href='javascript:void(0);' onclick='parent.dial(\"$number\");'>$number</a>";
}

That will add click to dial from the phonebook.

Best regards,

[Kurgan]

Thanks a lot! I will try this out tomorrow!

[Kurgan]

It works perfectly! Thanks a lot, you have made a phone operator happy (and a sysadmin too).

Do you plan to include this patch in future releases, or do I need to keep this reference to patch future installations?

[nicolas]

I will include it on 2.20 final