Page 259 - Asterisk™: The Future of Telephony

Updating configuration files
It is often useful to be able to update an Asterisk configuration file via the Asterisk
Manager interface. The UpdateConfig action is used to update one or more settings in
a configuration file. For example, to delete a user named 6003 from users.conf you could
issue the following command:
Action: UpdateConfig
Filename: users.conf
Reload: yes
SrcFilename: users.conf
DstFilename: users.conf
Action-00000: delcat
Cat-00000: 6003
ActionID: 5298795987243
Obviously, we've only scratched the surface of the many different actions available as
part of the Asterisk Manager Interface. For a more detailed listing of the available com-
mands, see Appendix F.

The Flash Operator Panel

The Flash Operator Panel (FOP) is one of the most popular examples of the power of
the Manager interface. FOP presents a web-based visual view of your system and allows
you control of calls.
FOP is most commonly used to enable a live attendant to view the users in the system
and connect calls between them. It can also be used in a call-center environment to
provide CRM-triggered screen pops. ‡
The FOP management interface is shown in Figure 10-1. To grab a copy of FOP, head
to http://www.asternic.org.
FOP isn’t all that difficult to set up, but it does require several steps to configure. The
configuration of FOP is beyond the scope of this book, but if you head on over to the
FOP web site you will find the latest documentation detailing the installation and con-
figuration process.

FOP has a fantastic community and a popular mailing list. The success of FOP has also
been aided by its inclusion in Trixbox.

Asterisk Development with Adhearsion

Recently, a new bit of technology has come along which has the potential to change
the way we create dialplans. §

‡ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an interface that companies use to help manage customer
information and interaction.

The Flash Operator Panel | 231