Formatting [Number] variable

[fonet]

Hi there,

For various reason that are beyond my control, I need to be able to format the "[Number]" variable before it is passed in a query to Dynamics CRM. I need to be able to conditionally apply different formatting based on the number of digits and NANP pattern matching. What would be the best and easiest way of accomplishing this task?

Cheers,
David

 

[edossantos]

You just can't do it. The [Number] is always sent only with numerical digits, no spaces or special characters are sent or can be added.

 

[fonet]

Hi Ernesto,

For clarity, when you say "You just can't do it" do you mean that I should not do it OR 3CX is not capable of doing it?

David

 

[edossantos]

For clarity, when you say "You just can't do it" do you mean that I should not do it OR 3CX is not capable of doing it?

3CX is not capable of doing it. 3CX will always send the number containing only numbers, eventually with the + sign at the beginning. You can only crop the number, taking the last part of it (you configure this from the 3CX Console > Advanced > Contacts > Options). There is no other customization you can do in the number being sent to the CRM.

 

[fonet]

Thank you Ernesto for clarifying that... it's a bummer. Any plans to fix it anytime soon?

PS
Forcing clients or telling Microsoft to change phone number formatting for North America is not a feasible option or solution.

David

 

[edossantos]

Thank you Ernesto for clarifying that... it's a bummer. Any plans to fix it anytime soon?

PS
Forcing clients or telling Microsoft to change phone number formatting for North America is not a feasible option or solution.

I don't understand why this is a problem. In our testing environment, phones are stored with dashes in Dynamics, however 3CX does the lookup only with numbers and the lookup works.

 

[fonet]

Ernesto, I cannot comment on your testing environment but I can reproduce the issue every time in our environment (configured in & for Canada/USA). The only assumption I'll make is that you are probably cropping the number to the last 4 digits which is something that I cannot do due to potential security/privacy implications. Any company that uses phone number(s) as a part of authentication/automation process needs to be certain that they are "talking" to the right person, thus 10-digit matching is a must.

With above being said, in North America the most common formats for North American (USA & Canada) phone numbers are as follows:

1. (NXX) NXX-XXXX​

2. NXX-NXX-XXXX​

3. NXX.NXX.XXXX​

4. 1-NXX-NXX-XXXX​

5. 1 (NXX) NXX-XXX​

6. +1 (NXX) NXX-XXXX <- Microsoft's standard phone number formatting in Outlook​

7. +1 (NXX) NXX-XXXX x {ext} <- Microsoft's standard phone number formatting in Outlook​

If you perform a search with a plain 10-digit number against CRM/Outlook contacts you will get no results. If you replace non-numeric characters with a wildcard (*NXX*NXX*XXXX) you'll get expected result. ATM 3CX is failing at performing 4+ digit phone number lookups against phone numbers that use above formatting and as a result:

1. It creates new contacts with an existing phone number.​

2. Cannot be used for any type of automation/authentication applications.​

Please let me know if you have further questions on this subject. At the same time let me know if this issue might be addressed soon.

David

 

[edossantos]

Just re-tested this, and you're correct, you need to store the numbers in Dynamics without dashes, spaces or any non-numeric character to make it work as you need.