Phonebook entries to custom XML

[David Schumann]

Hi,
I would like to find out how to go about creating a custom XML containing the Contacts entered in the 3CX Company phonebook.
The Reason for this is that a few of our customers would like to access Contacts on the Gigaset handsets which are connected to the N670 DECT Base Station. 3CX newly supports this. An XML is generated which the Gigaset Basestation accesses after an auto-provisioning setup. However we have multiple problems with this XML:
1. A few of our customers have contacts saved with special characters (ä, ü, ö, ß, ...) The Gigaset Handsets cannot display them. My solution would be to change these characters into standard characters which the Handset can display. Currently the name is simply cut off at a special character.
2. The more criticalproblem is that the XML stores the contacts incorrectly. As an example, a Contact that has a mobile number and a business number in the 3CX Phonebook shows up with the mobile number as the "office1" number in the XML. The business number isn't even stored in the XML. Even though the XML formatting allows for up to two mobile, home and office numbers.

The fact that all numbers except the mobile number are lost in the creation of the XML is a big problem for most our customers.

If anyone has a suggestion for better managing contacts across devices, then i would be interested in hearing those suggestions also.

I hope everyone is pulling through the current global situation. Thanks for your help and stay healthy

 

[AWS2P]

Unfortunately, 3CX phonebook limitations is not a new problem and lots of others partner complains about this behavior.
in IDEAS forum this is already asked for improvement, but it's final 3CX decision to do or not new DEV on phonebook .

I've already seen some personal workaround on forum about phonebook for Snom and Yealink phones, file is in attachment, don't know if it can help.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi David,

- What firmware version does your N670 have?
- What handset model are you using?

Supported models can be seen here: https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/gigaset-n670-n870/

 

[David Schumann]

Thank you very much for that. I will have a look at it. at a first glance it seemed to be just what I was looking for. I will see if I can use this as a base for creating an XML the gigasets can use.
Thanks a lot

 

[David Schumann]

Hi David,

- What firmware version does your N670 have?
- What handset model are you using?

Supported models can be seen here: https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/gigaset-n670-n870/

Hi,
I had the newest firmware running on the Base station. however 3CX Support told me to install the oldest one on the gigaset website due to a problem we were having (V2.17.2). So that is what is currently running.
The handsets are the S650H. They should be supported.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi David.

So far as the available fields go, there will only be Name, Surname, Mobile for the time being.

Now on the second matter of problematic characters, can you please export a phonebook from the management console under Contacts, and send it to me? Make sure it has the characters that do not display on your phone, so I can check them here with mine. (You can create some fake names for privacy)

 

[David Schumann]

Hi David.

So far as the available fields go, there will only be Name, Surname, Mobile for the time being.

Now on the second matter of problematic characters, can you please export a phonebook from the management console under Contacts, and send it to me? Make sure it has the characters that do not display on your phone, so I can check them here with mine.

Hi, I can send you an example. However, exporting the contacts to csv also results in strange characters as can be seen in the attachment. There is also a screenshot of the test contacts in the web interface, as well as the xml which the Gigaset use.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

The strange characters appear because you opened it in Excel?

Here is what I see with Notepad from your CSV (seems OK):


Here is what appears on the phone:


Tested on V16.0.5.507 Alpha Build
N670 Firmware: 2.26.0
S650H PRO Firmware: 74.04

I think you will find this should work on the above firmware on V16U4 too. Support told you to test with the old one for troubleshooting purposes but I think you should be safe to install the same firmware as seen above and test again. Before you do, I would recommend to:

- Make sure your PBX is updated to the latest stable 16.0.4.504
- Make sure any pending template updates are installed
- Factory reset the N670 and reprovision it after the FW upgrade

 

[David Schumann]

OK, Then I will try upgrading the gigaset firmware again.
The Phone system is up to date.
I will respond here once I have tested it.
is there any chance to get more numbers than just the mobile number from the 3CX phone book?
thanks for your help. Much appreciated.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

You're welcome let me know how it goes.

For the time being only the "mobile" number field can be used. If you need something more it will have to be done manually I'm afraid.