| Shamrock > English > CapiCall > Manual [ Deutsch ] |
| Quick start guide Please read this first! Software license |
CapiCall modules Configuration module Voice and SMS server The protocol module The call list module Calling
CapiCall |
Remote control Controlling bulletin boards More
functions Addendum |
In order to install an English program version of CapiCall, please follow the instructions below:
You will then find a new item "CapiCall" in the windows start menu under "Programs." Select "Configuration" first and check "Controller and MSN dependant" to ensure that CapiCall will accept calls only under a specified number (MSN, multiple subscriber number). For PBX lines, DDI (direct dial-in) is used instead of MSN but has the same effect. Click on "Add," select the time profile "Accept always" and enter the following MSN:
In the second case (PBX) you will have to enter the external access data in the configuration menu at "Common parameters." External numbers in the phone book or for call transfers must be entered without this access digit. In the "Notification" menu a valid internal number must be configured, e.g. 43. If your ISDN adapter is connected directly to the provider line, one of your ISDN MSNs should be entered here.
When you quit the configuration program and start the voice server module, CapiCall will accept incoming calls. The voice server should be linked from the Windows "start-up" group so that it is launched automatically when you re-boot your PC.
You may uninstall CapiCall using the Windows control panel. Simply select CapiCall in the software list and click "Remove".
The owner of a CapiCall license is authorized to install and run the voice server and SMS server modules on one PC. The other modules may be started from any other PC within a local network as long as they are loaded from the voice server PC.
Shamrock Software grants the right to use the software but does not transfer ownership. This right ends if the invoice is not paid in time or if any term of this license agreement is violated by the user.
Shamrock Software does not allow the usage of this software for purposes which are illegal in the customer's country, e.g. mass cold calls.
Distribution of the demo version on other web sites than the ones owned by Shamrock or on CD ROMs is prohibited. Shamrock Software is the author of the program and of this manual and reserves all rights, including copyright regulations.
© Shamrock Software GmbH
| CapiCall Version: | SoHo | Pro | S2M |
| Max. Controllers | up to 3 | up to 8 | S2M/8 S0 |
| Max. callers at a time | 2 | 8 | 30/32 |
| Max. ISDN numbers (MSNs) | 3 | 80 | 1000 |
| Max. voicemail boxes | 100 | 40 000 | 40 000 |
| Forward voicemail as e-mail | yes | yes | yes |
| Recording transferred calls | - | yes | yes |
| Public bulletin boards | - | yes | yes |
| Prepaid accounts | - | yes | yes |
| Programming interface | - | yes | yes |
The demo version has the same functionality as the Pro version, however, it only runs two hours after each voice server start, a restart of the voice server deletes all voicemails, and a GSM radio modem for sending SMS messages is not supported.
The limitation of 80 MSNs for the Pro version is not caused by the program but typically is the effect of up to 10 possible MSNs on one ISDN line. Using a PBX, more MSNs may be possible. The same is true for the S2M version.
If you update or upgrade your CapiCall version, you should do so using the existing destination directory in SETUP. In this way, all your configuration data will be saved.
CapiCall-SoHo requires a 90 MHz Pentium PC or better, -Pro 200 MHz or better,
-S2M 400 MHz or more. The following chapter recommends other system features:
ISDN adapters depending on the number of simultaneous
callers,
Sound cards for playing speech files, and
PBX requirements, e.g. regarding the numbering plan.
Your PC must either be equipped with an internal ISDN card, a PCMCIA ("PC Card") or an external USB ISDN adapter. (External ISDN adapters using the serial or parallel interface are not suitable. Also, analogue voice modems cannot be used with CapiCall.)
CapiCall-Pro supports up to four ISDN S0 busses and therefore up to eight callers at a time. Most passive single-S0 adapters like AVM Fritz do not allow more than one board in a PC. If you want to use more than one S0 bus, you will either have to use active adapters like AVM-B1 or install a quad-S0 board like Primux-4S0.
CapiCall-S2M can be used with up to four quad-boards and 16 S0 busses, or (more typically) with a primary-rate interface card like Primux.
An optional sound card in your PC allows listening to calls, can also be used to record sound files and allows the audio observation of the room where the CapiCall PC is located by telephone. Also, PCM files (e.g. voicemails, recorded by telephone) can be played using the sound card speakers, even on other workstations in a local-area network.
If the ISDN adapter is connected to an internal S0 bus of a PBX, some special things have to be considered.
The MSN which has to be entered in CapiCall is not your external ISDN number but the internal number within the PBX, e.g. 21 or 42. Please check in the PBX configuration if this internal number is also activated for incoming external calls.
We recommend not to use an automatic external access in your PBX in order to avoid problems with notifications to internal numbers. Dialling an external number should always require an additional access digit in front of the number, e.g. 0 or 9.
Most PBX systems allow the transfer of calls using the ICT or ECT mechanism. This requires an ISDN adapter supporting these functions (CAPI supplementary services). If you intend to transfer calls to external numbers, this function has to be activated in the PBX system.
To install CapiCall from the CD, simply put it into the drive, start CDSTART and click on the CapiCall button. We recommend that you keep the default destination path (c:\capicall). After running setup, there will be a number of new entries in the Windows Programs menu:
Other network workstations should have access to the hard drive of the PC where the CapiCall software is installed. The voice server module will run on this PC, so it has to be equipped with an ISDN adapter.
On the desktop or in the Programs menu of other workstations the following links should be created, including the network path of the CapiCall server PC:
Before you start the voice server for the very first time, you should run the CapiCall configuration program on the same PC to enter your ISDN numbers and select profiles.
After the installation of CapiCall you will find the modules Configuration, Protocol, Calls and Voice Server in the Windows Start menu/Programs. Please start the configuration module first.
The CapiCall configuration module allows these settings:
In the main window of the configuration module you assign time profiles to your MSNs (Multiple Subscriber Numbers, your own ISDN numbers under which CapiCall should accept calls). CapiCall-SoHo can monitor up to three MSNs, whereas the other CapiCall versions have no limitation.
After installing CapiCall, "Accept all numbers" is activated. This means that one single time profile is active for all your numbers. However, this only makes sense if your ISDN line is only used by CapiCall. In most cases you will prefer to select MSN-dependant to avoid that CapiCall accepts calls e.g. on your fax number.
The number you have to enter in the MSN field depends on whether the ISDN adapter is connected to an internal PBX outlet or directly to your telephone provider. Besides the digits 0 to 9, A to D is also possible in MSNs for some special purposes.
CapiCall-Pro and -S2M allow the use of several ISDN lines (controllers). These may be several ISDN boards in one PC, or one multi-bus (e.g. quad-S0) board. Different MSN groups may be assigned to the busses. It is possible to shorten the number you enter in the MSN field, e.g. 98 instead of 98765. If a call comes in for 98765, CapiCall will look first if there is a full-length entry 98765, and if not, it will use the short entry 98.
Common settings
This dialogue (icon or configuration menu) shows all global settings which are time-independent and therefore are not configured in a call profile. The first thing you should do is change the sysop authentication PIN.
External access with: If the PC is connected to an internal ISDN line of a PBX, enter the digit(s) required for external numbers here.
External caller prefix: If the PC is connected to an internal ISDN line of a PBX, enter the digit which is added by the PBX in front the number of external callers.
Length of internal numbers: If the PC is connected to an internal ISDN line of a PBX, enter here how many digits internal numbers typically have. Otherwise leave this field empty or enter 0.
Answering machine: This configures how CapiCall determines which message should be played first when a call comes in.
Alarm timer active: This option allows one to deactivate the alarm timer to avoid unnecessary costs generated by alarm calls.
Automatic identification: If this option is active, CapiCall will check if an incoming call matches a number in the user database. If so, the user-related functions like listening to voicemails can be used without having to enter a user number. It is possible to shorten the telephone number in the user database, e.g. by entering 089 271 instead of 089 271 342. However, please note that the caller number can be faked e.g. using VoIP; to be safe, this option should be disabled.
...also using notification number: If activated, the automatic identification additionally checks if an incoming call matches a notification number (phone or SMS). However, if the phone number field in the user database is empty, CapiCall assumes that no automatic identification is wanted for this user and does not check the notification number either. If using this option, please make sure that there are not several users with the same notification number. (If more then one notification number is configured, only the first one will be checked.)
...also for prepaid accounts: If you are using the prepaid option, an automatic identification is also possible using the card number. The card serial number is used as a voicemail user number in this case; both must have the same length. If the caller's number is displayed, CapiCall will remember the number matching the prepaid card and does not ask for the prepaid PIN later.
...always request PIN for external callers: If on, the PIN is always requested for external callers since the number may be faked (e.g. by VoIP callers). We recommend to leave this option enabled.
DTMF decoding by ISDN adapter: Normally CapiCall itself decodes the touch tones of the caller's phone. If your ISDN adapter can do this itself, you can use this option. You will have to restart the voice server after a change.
Protocols continuous/monthly/daily: If you have a large number of calls each day, you should set this option to daily, so one log file is created for each day. The name of this file will be CCddmmyy.LOG. In addition, a daily statistics file is created as STddmmyy.TXT. The log viewer will open today's log file automatically, but earlier files can be accessed using its file menu. Monthly files are named CC_mm_yy.LOG and ST_mm_yy.TXT.
Redirection to voicemail: There are three options here:
Authentication PIN: Configure the secret PIN as a 4-digit number, used for all system operator (sysop) functions. If you do not enter a number, sysop functions are not available by phone, thereby avoiding potential security risks.
Play order: Configures which order voicemail messages should be played - either the new ones first, or in chronological order.
Delete messages after xx days: Configures how long answering machine messages and voice mails are stored in the system.
Length of voicemail numbers: This option sets the length of user numbers. The user database must be empty if you want to change this setting. A change requires the voice server to be restarted.
For notification calls the time profile "Notification" is used. You can change this to adapt the times when notification calls are unwanted (e.g. at night) and which message should be played. Do not forget to set the maximum call duration to a short value or to select "hang up" at the end of the intro message to avoid unnecessary costs. Voicemail users can change their notification number themselves.
Notification type for answering machine messages: There are the following selections.
Notification address for answering machine messages: Enter the number (or the e-mail address, depending on the type of notification) for messages directed to the system operator. Enter the number without a PBX external access digit.
Own number: This MSN is used by the voice server for SMS and phone notifications. Additionally, it is also used for transferring calls using the "copy" option in a PBX system. This number should not be used for incoming calls to avoid conflicts. If more than one bus is used, the controller number and a colon can be written before the MSN, e.g. 2:42, otherwise controller 1 is assumed. Several space-delimited entries can be used to allow simultaneous outgoing connections on more than one controller. - If the MSN should not be visible to the called party, activate the Suppress option. This option will also be used for transferred calls and suppresses your MSN in e-mail and SMS notifications.
Include caller number in SMS notification: If this option is enabled (default), the caller number will be inserted in the SMS notification for answering machine and voicemail messages if it is available.
The following options set the retry count and the time between retries for notification calls and for alarm (wake-up) calls.
Wait for connection: Seconds the voice server will wait after dialling a number until a telephone is picked up. This timing is also used for transferring a call. About five seconds are equal to one ring signal.
Number of retries: If the destination number is busy or no telephone is picked up during the configured time, the connection will be retried later until the selected number of tries is reached. CapiCall only tries to dial out if at least 2 B channels are free.
Pause between retries: Do not set this time to a very small value. Since a typical phone call lasts three minutes or more, the pause should be at least five minutes to avoid the called party still being busy.
Time before first notification: Delays a voice or SMS notification when a new voicemail arrives. This avoids unnecessary notifications if the new message is checked immediately.
Confirmation with 9 9 required for notifications and alarms: If checked, the called party is asked to enter 99, otherwise the call will be repeated. This avoids the problem that some cellphone networks play a message or activate the mailbox if the called person is out of range.
This configuration dialogue selects the mechanism used by CapiCall to transfer an incoming call to a telephone either at the end of the intro message or in an info menu. (Please note that the caller only pays for the connection he dialled, and that the outgoing connection from your ISDN line to the destination number has to be paid by yourself.)
The transfer mechanism can be configured separately for external and internal destinations if the configured "Length of internal numbers" is not empty or 0. Otherwise only "external" is available.
When the voice server is launched, it will detect which mechanisms the CAPI driver of your ISDN card supports, and only these can be selected in the configuration. The following table shows which option will work with different line versions and if you will be able to listen to a transferred call using the sound card speaker.
| Call transfer mechanism |
Normal ISDN line |
External PBX line |
Internal PBX line |
Channels used |
Sound card |
Duration in log file |
| 3PTY-O 3PTY-A ICT ECT-E ECT-I Copy Park |
+ - - - - + + |
* - - - - + - |
* * * * * + - |
1 - - - - 2 - |
+ - - - - + - |
+ - - - - + - |
* Depends on PBX or phone provider, please check or try.
Action after fail selects what will happen if the call transfer fails:
Only one call per controller is an option which ensures that each ISDN bus will only accept one call at a time, so the second B channel will be free for transferring a call using the "copy" mechanism. It is also useful if the phone provider or PBX can facilitate only one 3PTY connection on each bus.
Echo cancelling is only available if supported by the CAPI driver of your ISDN board. This option is useful in connection with the "copy" mechanism. Since ISDN adapters transfer data blockwise, a short delay of speech data will occur, causing an interfering echo effect. You can also enter a number of milliseconds here. For DECT wireless phones, 32 ms is useful, whereas for normal telephones 8 or 16 ms are best. Longer cancellation times will require more CPU power.
Hang up after call is only available for 3PTY-O and copy. If not selected, a caller can hang up the connection to the destination number using the key sequence *# and will still be connected to CapiCall.
The maximum time CapiCall will wait until the called telephone is picked up depends on the setting "Wait for connection" in the "Notifications" menu (see below).
This dialogue shows all internal messages used by CapiCall. You may replace these with your own voice by recording them via phone or using a sound card.
With this module voicemail users are created, but also telephone numbers and names can be entered so that the names appear in the callers' list (in this case, the fields for user number and PIN are left empty).
When clicking on a line in the list, you will hear the voice file (if existing) which was recorded by the user when he first tried to hear his voice mails using key 2 during the intro message. Also, the following buttons are available:
Call: Calls the selected number and then transfers the call to your local telephone.
Inform: Calls the selected number(s) and plays an information message, e.g. for alarming one or several person(s).
New: Creates a new voicemail user or caller with these fields...
With Proposal near the user number field, CapiCall proposes a user number which matches one of these mechanisms:
Above are some examples of proposed user numbers if the user number length is 2. The number is calculated from the letter at the beginning and the one after the first space in the name. If there is no space, the first letters within the name are used. |
|
Edit: Displays the same fields as "New" and allows changing an existing entry. Instead of using this button, you may also double-click on a line in the users list.
Delete: Deletes the selected user from the list. This automatically also deletes all his/her voicemails, the alarm time (if set) and the personal identification voice file. (If the user file Telbook.dat is edited somewhere else and is then transferred to CapiCall by remote control, these deletions are done later at night.)
Reset: Deletes all voicemails, the alarm time and the personal identification file of this user, but does not delete the user from the list. This may be useful in a hotel, when a guest leaves and a new one will get his/her room and phone number later.
Import: To import the user list from a database program like Excel or Access, data can be imported, using a comma-delimited format. Instead of commas, semicolons can be used alternatively. (If you are not sure if the export format of your database application is configured correctly, try exporting the data from CapiCall first and have a look at the export file using a text editor.) The following formats are supported:
The user number can have up to five digits and must only contain numeric
digits. The PIN can have up to eight numeric digits. "Type" contains
the notification type:
N = none, S= SMS, V = voice (phone call), E = e-mail notification, A = e-mail
with WAV attachment.
The "flags" field can contain one or more of the following letters:
I = Notification inactive (also affects the carousel)
C = Call-back allowed
M = User is NOT allowed to change his notification number online
Note: By importing a file, the formats a to d overwrite the existing user list. CapiCall will first check the file for its correct format and import it only if the check has been successful. However, we strongly recommend to make a backup of Telbook.dat before importing any data.
The import can be done automatically. The voice server will check every minute if there is a file Telbook.txt. If so, it is imported and deleted. The import is displayed in the voice server's status bar.
Export: The export function creates a file in one of the formats described above and has options for commas or semicolons as delimiting characters.
The configuration of CapiCall is based on the concept of time profiles (see configuration menu). A time profile defines which call profile shall be used at a specific time and for a specific MSN (one of your numbers). Some time profiles are pre-installed, such as "accept always" or "accept never", and they are linked to appropriate call profiles which define intro messages and info menus.
| MSN | --> | Time profile | --> | Call profile |
| One of your numbers for which the profile shall be used |
Day of week, time of day, holidays |
Accept call? Record message? Which info menu? |
The call profile defines which message should be played, such as "Sorry, our office is closed due to holidays" or "Please call during our office hours". In addition, call profiles allow specified delays for accepting calls so that you have time to pick up a phone before CapiCall goes online.
To create a new time profile, open "Time profiles" in the configuration menu. Click on "New" and choose a name. Then select an existing call profile which should be used as default, such as "Accept call". Then you are in the time profile configuration window. It allows the use of different call profiles for days and hours.
The following time profile uses a call profile "Open" for Monday to Friday from 8 to 17 hours and a call profile "Closed" for all other times:
| Monday | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Holiday | Special |
| 00:00-08:00 Closed 08:00-17:00 Open 17:00-24:00 Closed |
... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 00:00-24:00 Closed | 00:00-08:00 Closed 08:00-12:00 Open 12:00-24:00 Closed |
The button "New time limit" allows dividing a day into several sections. With "Delete time limit" two time sections are combined into one. To copy e.g. the Monday profile to other days, use "Copy day configuration" after clicking on the checkboxes for the days you want.
Call profiles (see configuration menu) are used by time profiles to define which intro message should be played and other things. Some call profiles are pre-installed, such as "Notification active" or "Accept call." In the call profile configuration the following file cards appear:
Common
System active: Tells CapiCall whether to accept calls or not. If not activated, CapiCall will display calls only (if "protocol" is switched on) to show you the caller's number.
Allow no actions: This deactivates the recognition of DTMF touch-tones. For instance, you can activate this option in the "Notification active" call profile to prevent that a user listens to his voicemails during the notification calls by pressing 2 on his telephone.
Voicemail active: If deactivated, the touch-tone keys 1, 2, 3 in the intro message cannot be used (record voicemail, listen to voicemails, change identity).
User list: Deactivate this option if you wish to prevent callers from hearing a list of registered users by pressing 4 on their phones.
Ask for prepaid PIN (CapiCall-Pro/-S2M only): Access control for prepaid accounts. This option is only selectable after installing the optional prepaid files.
Call-back allowed: If activated, callers with an activated call-back option in the phone book will not be accepted but called back after a few seconds.
Skip to info menu: If activated, the normal intro message is skipped and the info menu (if configured) is played instead. This means that the caller does not have to press 0 to get into the info menu. With # it is still possible to jump to the intro message and use its voice mail functions.
Info menu: Select here which Info menu should be played if the caller presses 0 during the intro message. A small sample info menu is pre-installed.
Maximum simultaneous calls: For each call profile the number of simultaneous calls can be limited, mainly to keep one or more channels free for other usage (phone, fax). The function of additional calls can be set by the secondary profile (see below). This parameter is also used for outgoing calls, typically notifications, but the secondary profile is ignored in this case.
Secondary profile: This call profile will be used if the maximum number of simultaneous calls is reached and another call comes in. The default is not to accept more calls.
Intro message
Intro message: Select the .PCM file which should be played first. You may also import a .WAV file which will be automatically converted to a .PCM file (suggested WAV format: 8 bit, 8 kHz, mono, CCITT A).
Action after intro message: This selects what happens if the caller does not press a key.
Protocols
Caller protocol: Select here which calls should be displayed in a pop-up window. If the number is found in the phone book, the caller's name is displayed, too.
Log caller actions: If activated (default), all actions of callers accepted by CapiCall are logged in the protocol.
Record transferred calls: This option is available in the Pro and S2M version of CapiCall only. It creates PCM files in the subfolder RECORD. "Caller" oder "Called" selects which of both parties is louder when "Copy" is used for transferring calls. It has no effect when 3PTY-O is used. Recording calls is not possible for all other transfer mechanisms like ICT, ECT, 3PTY-A since CapiCall is not part of the transferred connection. You can listen to these files in the actions list of the CapiCall log viewer. They will be deleted after 30 days by default (same setting as for voice mails, see Common settings). - Please note that the laws of most countries require that both parties are informed about the recording.
Timing
Accept delay: Enter the delay in seconds CapiCall should wait before accepting a call. One ring is about five seconds. One value defines the time when no answering machine messages are present (e.g. 10 s), the other one if there are one or more messages (e.g. 5 s). This allows you to hang up after about 7 s if you just want to check if there are any messages. If the automatic identification is on, the same procedure is also used for personal voicemails..
Maximum recording duration: This is used to limit the recording capacity for each call. 0 (zero) means no limit. Please note that one second is equivalent to about 8 KB of storage, so 10 GB of free hard disk space would allow about 3500 messages with 6 minutes each.
Minimum recording time: Recordings are automatically deleted if they do not last for this minimum time. This avoids that you get SMS notifications for messages which are only a few seconds long and do not contain anything except the sound of someone hanging up his phone.
Maximum call duration: This value determines when CapiCall will hang up automatically. The maximum time is 99999 seconds (about 28 hours).
Terminate forwarded calls also: If enabled, the maximum call duration (see above) is also in effect for forwarded calls using the transfer mechanisms COPY or 3PTY-O. If you create a speech file CCVENDE.PCM in the CapiCall folder, it will be played before the call is terminated.
Seconds for automatically finishing inputs instead of #: For transferring calls or for the programming interface variable-length DTMF sequences are normally finished with #. Alternatively, an inactivity timeout of e.g. 5 seconds can be used as the end of the sequence.
Duration of a prepaid unit: This sets the prepaid timing in CapiCall-Pro und -S2M.
Use the info menu configuration to define what will happen if a caller presses 0 during the intro message. With 0, he will hear the main file of the info menu. For each file in the info menu a number of telephone keys can be defined which then either play another file or take some other action. The files can be linked in any manner, the menu system does not need to have a strict tree structure. It is even possible to have different info menus on different MSNs by assigning them to call profiles. The info menu structure is shown like the file tree in the Windows Explorer.
Voice files have .PCM as their extension. In many cases, they do not contain the actual information the caller needs but simply are part of the menu structure to guide him to the information he wants. In the center part of the window you can see the keys and actions for the selected file on the left (File1, in this case). When you click on "PCM: File2", the voice file File2.pcm is played by the PC's sound card. Clicking on "Fax: Products" will open the fax TIF file, using Windows Imaging as a default application. (To use the fax-on-demand function you will need Shamrock's CapiFax software.)
If you set up a new info menu, you will be asked for its name first. Then a list of .PCM files is shown, allowing to select the main file of this menu. The main file is played after the caller presses "0" during the intro message. Using the displayed telephone keys, you can assign functions to keys. The default function of 0 is to return to the main file, even though this is not visible in the menu tree.
Instead of assigning telephone keys, an automatic follow-up action can be defined alternatively. (There should be no automatic follow-up if telephone keys are assigned because these keys would have unwanted effects if the caller presses a key just a bit too late, when the follow-up file has just started.)
The access control allows restricting the access to a specific branch in the menu:
Using the [<<] buttons near the list the telephone keys 1 to 9 are assigned appropriate actions. Depending on the CapiCall version, the following actions can be programmed:
| Action | SoHo | Pro | S2M | Purpose |
| Play voice file (PCM) Transfer call Record voicemail Fax on demand SMS on demand Room observation Carousel/call distr./chat Funcall Bulletin board External program Lottery |
yes yes yes yes yes yes no no no no no |
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes |
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes |
Information files and menus Transfer a caller to a phone Message to a registered user TIF file (CapiFax required) Enter SMS number Uses sound card microphone Chat of two callers Initiates a joke call Public voice mails Database applications Create pre-defined PINs |
Play voice file: After pressing the assigned telephone key, a PCM file is played. If you import a WAV file by changing the extension in the file box, it is converted to the ISDN PCM format and saved in the CapiCall folder.
Deactivate key: Pressing this phone key will have no effect.
Hang up: The call is terminated immediately. Since the user can hang up himself/herself, this is mainly intended as an automatic follow-up action.
Room observation: By pressing this key a caller can listen to a microphone connected to the sound card in the PC. You may select either the right or left input channel since a phone cannot play stereophonic sounds. We recommend that you use an access control for this function to ensure privacy. The Listen option is deactivated to avoid any coupling effects of the speaker and the microphone input.
Transfer call: The caller can be
transferred to a specified telephone number. Entering an asterisk instead of a
number, the user can even key in any number
himself/herself. Please check if the transfer options
are set properly. Transferring calls will also require an ISDN card with the
CAPI 2.0 supplementary services. If activated, the LCR
function is used for outgoing calls. - You can also select which info menu file
should be played next if the transfer fails. If none is specified, the default
action (defined in the transfer options) is used.
Instead of a phone number, # and a user number can be entered as
destination (e.g. #42) so that the notification number of this user is applied.
Keypad sequences can be entered by prepending a P; as a result, the
voice response of the public access or PBX is played (CapiCall uses the COPY
technique for this with the called MSN; to use a different MSN, it must be part
of the keypad sequence). Please use a password-protected info menu branch to
avoid abuse of the keypad function. Valid key sequences depend on your
telephony service provider.
Record voicemail: The caller is required to enter the user number of a registered voicemail user and will hear his/her name (as recorded) before a voicemail is recorded for this user. - This item can also be used for the global answering machine instead of a personally addressed voicemail.
Play carousel: The carousel is similar to the chat, only in this instance CapiCall does not connect two callers but actively calls a registered user. It is possible to restrict to users to numbers matching a specified mask, such as 4???? for all user numbers starting with 4. The question mark is used for "any" digit. Some add-on files are required for this function, see ADDON.ZIP in Shamrock's CapiCall hotline web page.
Call distribution: Similar to the carousel, but the caller does not have to choose from a list of persons. Instead the call is transferred to the next available registered user. Likewise the carousel, this function allows to address a group of user numbers, e.g. 4???? for all starting with 4.
Enter chat group: This function requires the same add-on files as the carousel. A caller is requested to record his own name first. Several chat groups are possible. It is also possible to restrict access using different call profiles.
Chat user list: The caller will hear a list of the names of all chat users of the specified group. This facility allows also restrictions, e.g. men will only hear women's names, and vice versa. In the list, the phone key 5 is used to connect to a user. The requested user can accept the call with 1 or reject it with 0. If no chat user is available at the moment, you may configure CapiCall in a way that the caller is forwarded to the carousel automatically.
Funcall: This option asks the caller for an ordering number of a voice file and for a telephone number. While the caller stays on line, the number is dialled and a joke file is played to both. The caller also hears what the called person says, but not vice versa. For this function a subfolder has to be created below the CapiCall folder (e.g. FUN) with PCM files in it matching the ordering information, e.g. 001.PCM, 002.PCM and so on. The file LINK.INI can be used to bar specified groups of destination numbers.
Lottery: (Pro/S2M only) A random pre-recorded PCM file is played which has to be in a folder with the name defined here. If the option "Use every file only once" is set, the .PCM file is renamed to .BAK when the user hangs up, so that each caller will hear a different file. A typical application is a lottery, but giving away PINs for access to a website is very popular, too. The files are played in the order matching their (unsorted) position in the subdirectory. If a user selects this function several times within one call, he/she will always hear the same.
Fax on demand: Requires the optional CapiFax software. The caller can enter his/her own fax number and will be called back later on this number. A fax account "CapiCall" is required in CapiFax to make this work. To create a TIF fax file, the CapiFax printer driver should be used since most graphics applications are unable to create a true Huffman-encoded fax file.
SMS on demand: If you connect a GSM module to a serial port of the CapiCall PC, SMS files can be sent to callers on their demand, such as graphics or sounds. The SMS files must have been received earlier so that they have the correct format. The caller is required to enter an ordering number such as 1234 and his/her own GSM number, so that the file SMS\1234.SMS can be sent later.
Bulletin board: A bulletin board allows public voicemails which anyone can hear later. Depending on the bulletin board options, only registered users are allowed to record such messages.
External program: (Pro/S2M only) A sort of programming interface for CapiCall, allowing external programs (see there for more) to check for telephone keys and answering them with pre-recorded voice files. The caller can enter a number with variable (ended by #) or fixed length. Use 0 for variable length entries. ForTo restart an entry, the caller can press the asterisk * key. If your program does not create an answer file EXTERNx.PCM but EXTERNx.TXT with a follow-up PCM file, all possible answer files can be entered in the field Additional follow-ups. This will make them show up in the menu tree on the left, so keys can be assigned for them, too.
The following step-by-step instructions should help you in creating an information or audiotext system. The first step will be recording voice messages. There are two ways to achieve this, but we recommend the first one because the frequency response of telephones is better adapted to speech than sound cards.
The program CC_PLAY allows to edit .PCM files later by inserting a pause or by cutting noise at the beginning or the end of a file. After installing CapiCall, it is automatically launched when you click on a PCM file in the Windows Explorer.
As soon as you have all messages you need, link them together to an info menu. Within the menu, there may be different sorts of messages:
First of all, create a new info menu. You will be asked for a name, and then you can select a .PCM file which will be the main file of this info menu (played when a caller presses 0 during the intro message).
To create a menu, you have to assign telephone keys to a file. Click on a file in the tree on the left, so it gets selected, then on a key on the displayed numeric keyboard, and select what should happen when a caller presses this key.
Instead of assigning telephone keys, an automatic follow-up action is possible which basically allows the same functions as the key assignments above. (The keys 0, *, # can be used anyway to go to the main menu, jump back to the beginning of a file, or jump to the intro message.)
More functions are described above (info menu configuration). If you start with the sample menu delivered with CapiCall, it is relatively easy to extend your system with more menus and voice files.
Bulletin boards are used for public messages in CapiCall-Pro/-S2M. Classified ads, discussions or contact boards can be created this way. Bulletin boards are a part of an info menu by assigning a telephone key to a board. The configuration includes:
Number: This is a random number for identifying this board and is used internally only as part of a file name. We recommend to start with 00001.
Name: Enter a name for the board here. The name is simply for your own information.
Authorized for recording: This can be used to limit board access to a specified group of users.
It is also possible to use the access control function in the info menu so that an additional password is required to listen to board messages.
Play order: Selects the order how board messages are played:
a) New messages first: The youngest message is played first, typically
used for company information boards.
b) Old messages first: The board messages are played in chronological
order. This is useful for discussion boards to understand the flow of questions
and answers.
Play date and time: If activated, the recording date and time are played before each message.
Automatic deletion: Enter here after how many days messages should be deleted automatically. A value of zero means never.
The following settings which are used by the module capisms.exe should be made under "SMS configuration". This will ensure that SMS notifications and messages entered using the SMS editor are handled correctly: The SMS protocol will show any potential problems after sending SMS messages.
This list defines how SMS messages are to be sent. TAP (telocator alphanumeric protocol) or UCP (universal communication protocol) is commonly used by ISDN-SMS gateways. The GSM setting requires a cellphone or radio modem connected to the serial port of your computer. OFF can be used for a blocked area code. If a network is not in the list, the HTTP or GSM option will be used, whatever is configured.
This option is not available in the demo version of CapiCall.
If you send many SMS messages every day, a registration at a web-based service may be an alternative. CapiCall (except the demo version) supports providers like massenversand.de or smscreator.de and requires the following configuration parameters for it:
If HTTP delivery fails two times for one message and GSM is configured also, then the third try will use the GSM modem. If five consecutive HTTP deliveries fail, then the software falls back to GSM for 10 messages and then retries HTTP.
If the CapiCall server should be able to send messages to an Internet or Intranet e-mail address, either the built-in SMTP client or alternatively the NetMail software from Shamrock can be used. The mail interface requires the following settings:
If a temporary SMTP error occurs, the mail will be retried after five minutes
(or when the voice server program is restarted).
The following settings define how CapiCall handles notification mails:
The cause of possible SMTP problems can be see using the "Log" button. If the authentication e.g at a Microsoft Exchange server fails, check this:
If you are using NetMail instead of SMTP, only "Sender" is configurable. The sender name is used in the "From" field of e-mails, together with the primary domain configured in the mail router program of NetMail.
In the text files used for e-mail notifications (by default email.txt for simple notifications, attach.txt for those with WAV attachment), the following variables can be used (upper-case names are required; UUS1 and MLPP are available only in some networks and not supported by call ISDN adapters):
| Parameter | Variable |
| Connection starting date: Connection starting time: Duration minutes/seconds: MSN (local number): MSN name from phone book: Caller's number: Caller's name from phone book: Caller user number (5 digits): Voice mailbox number: DTMF touch tones: Log line with all actions: UUS1 (D-channel data): MLPP (call priority): |
%DATE% %TIME% %CONNECT_TIME% %MSN% %MSN_NAME% %CALLER% %CALLER_NAME% %USER% %BOX% %DTMF% %LOG% %UUS1% %MLPP% |
If the first line of this file starts with Subject: then it will be used as the subject of this e-mail. When not a personal voice mail is recorded but a message for the answering machine function, %BOX% will contain the word BOX.
In the configuration menu of the configuration module you will find the following additional settings:
Activate CapiCall as a Windows service: In the configuration menu you can configure CapiCall as a service. In this case the voice server will work as service "CapiCall-Server" without a user log-in. (We recommend not to run the demo version as a service. Since the demo version has to be restarted after 2 hours to make it work again and restarting a service is a releatively complicated action, the demo should be run as a conventional application.)
If the CapiCall server is not launched from the local hard disk but from a
network drive (e.g. NAS device), or if the menu item is used within a remote
session, the installation as a service must be done in an administrator console
(CMD.exe) in the CapiCall program folder using ccserv -i (which
also starts the service). The command line ccserv -u
uninstalls the service later, if required.
In Windows 2000, 2003 and XP you can use the Windows option "Allow data exchange between service and desktop" in the control panel to display the CapiCall server symbol in the system tray right of the task bar so that the voice server window can be displayed by clicking on this symbol. This no longer works in Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and later versions - the symbol remains hidden. So please make sure that everything is working properly before you run CapiCall as a service; othewise possible error messages will not be visible in the program window and are only displayed in the log.
Deactivate CapiCall Windows service: This will disable the Windows service so that CapiCall can run as a normal applicaiton.
Action for call: Allows a program to be launched when a call comes in. This function is equivalent to the one in the Calls module, however, it is executed on the voice server PC.
Holiday list: This option loads a file called FEIERTAG.INI into your text editor, containing all holidays in the year which are required for time profiles. (Since CapiCall was introduced in Germany initially, the file name and the texts in brackets are still German and must not be translated.) Under [Spezial] special days can be entered without a year to allow time profiles e.g. when your business is open until noon only.
Prepaid accounts: Allows prepaid services. You will find more information about this subject in the chapter Special applications of this manual.
Next: Voice and SMS server