3cx phone and Assistant integration

[cfive]

Hi,

It's not clear to me what 3cx phone and assistant integration are, what the benifits are, or how to enable it. Here's what I have done so far:

a) created an extension with no hardphone, and selected "provision phone with assistant integration".
b) installed the Assistant and 3cx phone
c) entered the provisioning URL (provided by welcome email) into both the assistant and phone.
d) the 3cx phone debug window shows "integration with 3xc call assistant is off".

How do I get integration "on", and what will it do for me?

Pointers to documentation are welcome, as I cannot find any.

Thanks, Les.

 

[abc123]

I think (and this is just a guess as I have never tried it) that the integration is supposed to set the Dialing Tab "Launch Call" method select "Make call using 3CX Phone".

My assistants are all multi tab and multi pbx set up so I am unable to run a test for you to confirm this at the moment.

Did you start with an empty assistant and an empty phone? and provision the same extension on both? Check the make call preference and see what it is set to.

In V10 the assistant is moving into the myphone area and so I am not sure how much this area is going to change.

 

[Vali_3CX]

Hi Les

3CXphone is "integrated" with Assistant only when is launched by Assistant. This integration means 3CXPhone become a component of Assistant, which control it and share a common account (the one named by default "Call Assistant").
Therefore, if you manually launch the 3CXphone, or - when launched by Assistant - you exit it and restart it again, this "integration" is lost.

As a remark: there might be a trap: 3CXPhone runs in one instance per user - if you launch a second one, this one will activate the already running one then exits. Now, the trap is: you already have a 3CXPhone running as "standalone"; you start Assistant with "integration" enabled; Assistant starts ITS instance of 3CXPhone; this one detect your standalone one running and exits; you have Assistant and 3CXPhone but NOT "integrated".

Hope I explained OK.
Regards
vali

 

[abc123]

Hi Les

3CXphone is "integrated" with Assistant only when is launched by Assistant. This integration means 3CXPhone become a component of Assistant, which control it and share a common account (the one named by default "Call Assistant").
Therefore, if you manually launch the 3CXphone, or - when launched by Assistant - you exit it and restart it again, this "integration" is lost.

As a remark: there might be a trap: 3CXPhone runs in one instance per user - if you launch a second one, this one will activate the already running one then exits. Now, the trap is: you already have a 3CXPhone running as "standalone"; you start Assistant with "integration" enabled; Assistant starts ITS instance of 3CXPhone; this one detect your standalone one running and exits; you have Assistant and 3CXPhone but NOT "integrated".

Hope I explained OK.
Regards
vali

Haha I wasnt even close. But thanks for the explanation - I have added it to my knowledgebase.

Will this functionality remain with v10 given the assistant is moving?

 

[Fatboy40]

I'm playing around with the 3CX Phone now to see how we can use it in our business and like the OP I'm also confussed as to how the 'integration' actualy occurs even after Vali's post ?.

I don't see any option in the Assistant (9.0.14499.0) to launch the 3CX Phone so that the integration occurs ?. If you chose to install the Assistant and 3CX Phone seperately will the integration ever occur ?.

And this is all speculation but is there even any point in trying to get this to work when with version 10 of 3CX this is all going to change ?. Will the Silverlight Assistant still integrate with the new 3CX Phone at all ?.

 

[joepmaas]

Integration works fine for me...

I install Assistant and the phone together (works without or with provisioning)
I mostly enter the extension/assistant login details manually, and make phone and assistant use the same credentials
I also tend to also install the outlook integration when possible.

After that, you get:
[*]Notification taskbar popup on call and popup of outlook contact info on matching CID
[*]Direct use of softphone dialing from any piece of phone-number on the screen makes responding on eg site info easy
[*]Direct calling of outlook contacts using the softphone (together with headset makes a fine callcenter for outgoing calls)

I'm happy and so are a few of my customers.

 

[Fatboy40]

Integration works fine for me...

I install Assistant and the phone together (works without or with provisioning)

This may be the key here, if you install the two applications seperately will integration ever work ?...

To be honest though I'm not sure how much time to spend on this considering we have no idea as to whether or not there's any sort of integration at all with v10 as it's a big change from the current Assistant.

 

[abc123]

Integration works fine for me...

I install Assistant and the phone together (works without or with provisioning)

This may be the key here, if you install the two applications seperately will integration ever work ?...

To be honest though I'm not sure how much time to spend on this considering we have no idea as to whether or not there's any sort of integration at all with v10 as it's a big change from the current Assistant.

Yes they will.

It is how the phone is launched that makes the difference. If you launch the phone manually from the windows menu then no integration. If you launch from the assistant then there is integration.

It also seems that if you launch from the assistant it will try to create a connection in the phone for you then dial out from that. Mine tried to configure an old connection from when we installed it (which no longer exists).

As you say though - it isnt worth spending time on this until V10 comes out as there is a big change. I think that if you have users and you send them the phone and assistant provisioning file they need to install the assistant and the phone. configure the assistant with the provisioning file then if they use the assistant to call it will also configure the phone connection with the same provisioning file. That is the "integration" they refer to.

If you do it all manually then it still works in all other respects.

 

[Fatboy40]

Yes they will.

If you launch from the assistant then there is integration.

Either I'm blind or stupid but I can't see how on earth you launch the 3CX Phone from the Assistant ?

I've installed them seperately, and the only place I see the 3CX Phone mentioned at all is under File -> Preferences -> Dialling -> 'Make call using 3CX Phone', but this option is greyed out for me.

 

[Vali_3CX]

I can't see how on earth you launch the 3CX Phone from the Assistant ?

I've installed them seperately, and the only place I see the 3CX Phone mentioned at all is under File -> Preferences -> Dialling -> 'Make call using 3CX Phone', but this option is greyed out for me.

Hi

I'm not an Assistant expert, but as far as I know there are two rules to be met:
- Assistant should be licensed to allow (including) the "Make call using 3CX Phone", otherwise this option is grayed
- 3CXPhone should be installed with Assistant, that means not two separate installations - one for 3CXPhone and one for Assistant without 3CXphone. This because Assistant's installer installs the "built-in" 3CXPhone in a location well known by Assistant; 3CXPhone "standalone" is truly standalone, can be installed/copied on any place, even on the network, it doesn't write into the registry therefore Assistant don't know from where to "pick-it up".

And, about how Assistant launches 3CXPhone - it's exacly the same way as Windows Explorer launches any application, it's nothing special.

Regards
vali

 

[cfive]

Thanks, a good discussion - but as mentioned, I also might not try too hard to understand this on v9 ;-).

On a side note - this is a good example of documentation that doesn't seem to exist - but probably should.

 

[Vali_3CX]

On a side note - this is a good example of documentation that doesn't seem to exist - but probably should.

Hi

I disagree here :mrgreen: What we discussed here is, mainly, from "techs" point of view, not from end user's one. Is like discussing about how a TV is integrated with its remote control 8)

Best regards
vali

 

[cfive]

Fair enough,

So where can we *techs* find the documentation, then 8)

 

[abc123]

Fair enough,

So where can we *techs* find the documentation, then 8)

No point as it totally changes in v10. Wait for that tech documentation lol

 

[Fatboy40]

Fair enough,

So where can we *techs* find the documentation, then 8)

No point as it totally changes in v10. Wait for that tech documentation lol

Well, I wouldn't say there was 'no point' as I'd like to think that no one here would be crazy enough to go from a working install of v9 straight to v10 ! (at least one v9 service pack killed of a feature on my Polycom phones).

Seriously though, the more 'tech' aspects of 3CX are learnt via which method ?. The only training events I ever see mentioned are for 'Partners' and not end users/self installers.

Also this...

http: //www.3cx.com/blog/voip-nuggets/3cx-assistant/ - NO LONGER AVAILABLE

... is dated October 9th 2009 !.

 

[abc123]

Well, I wouldn't say there was 'no point' as I'd like to think that no one here would be crazy enough to go from a working install of v9 straight to v10 ! (at least one v9 service pack killed of a feature on my Polycom phones).

Seriously though, the more 'tech' aspects of 3CX are learnt via which method ?. The only training events I ever see mentioned are for 'Partners' and not end users/self installers.

Also this...

http: //www.3cx.com/blog/voip-nuggets/3cx-assistant/ NO LONGER AVAILABLE

... is dated October 9th 2009 !.

I agree - i was just trying to coerce them into giving us the v10 beta lol. Some of us are crazy enough to jump into it but we do have a very quick way to jump back if needed with only a minute or so downtime. (I am ready to try the restore from v9 to a 64 bit v10 as Kevin assures me it can be done)

The more tech aspects are learnt via trial and error, partners and the 3cx blog. They do have some very very good tech documents on the blog site.

If you have paid support then I guess you could get answers that way also.

I also suppose that this is part of the reason for the forum - to get those answers, but you have to ask the question as 3cx would not be able to guess everyones needs. I know that we try and run some of the tech aspects of the questions on our test beds when they come up on here. We did one last week with a remote juniper firewall and found a fix and posted it here. It helps us better serve our customers as well as helping people on the forum with their problems.

And dont forget timing on this particular topic was bad as it is being totally redone. Michael is the 3cx assistant expert and we havent seen him for months so I am guessing he still has not been allowed out of the broom closet until he finishes. So maybe he is best to explain it when he gets out.

PS wanna buy some server smilies?

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

PS wanna buy some server smilies?

:S :O