Want a Talking Clock for 3CX PhoneSystem? See here.

[daves]

Greetings,

I notice that a few people expressed an interest in having a talking clock for the 3CX PhoneSystem.
So I thought I would take up the challange and with the assistance of a collegue, have come up with a
simple talking clock module, which is specifically for use with 3CX PhoneSystem.

The Talking Clock has the following features -

You can select what number the users dial to get the Talking Clock.
Uses the standard 3CX PhoneSystem audio prompts.
Can output either the time only or date only.
can output either the time then the date or the date then the time.
You can select to output either 12 AM or 12 Midnight.
You can choose to provide "Thankyou Goodbye" at the end of the message.
Covers years 2000 to 2099
Output is in 12hr format.

We have tested the Talking Clock in our office 3CX PhoneSystem over the past week and
have found it works well. I have done extensive testing, in my spare time, on my home system to check
for and iron out any date and time output issues.

Implementing The Talking Clock involves -

1 Creating a file called TalkingClock.php (using code which I will freely provide)
2 Adding a small amount of code to the ivr_start.php file in 3CX (code I will freely provide).
3 Setup a Digital Receptionist in the 3CX phone system,using the standard 3CX web interface.

So if you're interested let me know, post your interest here.

DaveS - New Zealand

 

[daves]

Examples of the spoken output -

"Today is 28th September 2007" or

"Today is 28th September 2007 Thankyou Goodbye" or

"The time is Nine Forty Two PM" or

"The time is Nine Forty Two PM Thankyou Goodbye" or

"Today is 28th September 2007 The time is Nine Forty Two PM" or

"Today is 28th September 2007 The time is Nine Forty Two PM Thankyou Goodbye" or

"The time is Nine Forty Two PM Today is 28th September 2007" or

"The time is Nine Forty Two PM Today is 28th September 2007 Thankyou Goodbye"

You select what format you want your system to output by adjusting a few options in the TalkingClock.php file.

Naturally it outputs the actual time and date of the 3CX PhoneSystem what ever it is, at the time someone calls the access number you have selected in the 3CX PhoneSystem.

 

[tazz]

I'm excited, I happy to see anyone work and improve the 3CX,

Right on

 

[zakfleming]

Wonderful please tell us how to do it!

 

[touficjohn]

Yes please, do tell!

 

[daves]

Greetings again.

I have sent the instructions and code to those who have expressed interest so far in a Talking Clock for 3CX.

tazz, zakfleming and touficjohn, I hope you got the above ok.

If not send me a PM.

I'm hoping these fellow forum members will give it a go and post back here soon, with their opinions.(hopefully positive)

Anyone else want to have a go post back here.

If there is enough interest I will post the instructions and code here in the
forum. (That is if I am permitted to, by the forum rules)

In the mean time I have worked on another option for the clock -

You can now use it as it is, or have the option of dialing up to three different numbers and hearing the DATE and TIME or the DATE only or the TIME only, depending on the number you have dialed.

DaveS
New Zealand

 

[RobLloyd]

I'm interested...

Thanks,

 

[Mirzab]

I am interested as well. Really nice concept

 

[DaveIW]

I'm interested

Cheers

 

[5qg4]

I'm interested too.

I'm also looking for SIP application which can handle over 200 morning calls daily as well.

 

[daves]

I have sent the instructions and code to those who have expressed interest above.

RobLloyd, Mirzab, DaveIW and 5gg4, I hope you got it ok.

If not send me a PM.

DaveS
New Zealand

 

[N_G]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for creating this code for 3CX Phone System - much appreciated! Could we have a look at it as well? You can email it to ng at 3cx.com

 

[daves]

Oops, looks like I'm in trouble now! :cry:

Emailed TalkingClock instructions and code to Nick.



I have just knocked-up another piece of useless code.

What it does - you call a number in 3CX and it tells you
the number of the extension you are calling from.

This is probably of limited use, but the code is extreemly
simple, it's implemented the same as the talking clock
and it may be handy sometimes.

As I've only just knocked it up thought, I haven't done
much testing yet.

DaveS
New Zealand

 

[DaveIW]

Cheers for that, quite a simple add-on

Works a treat

Nice one !!

 

[kunle]

I'm interested too ..

Thanks

 

[miraportuga]

*raises hand and awaits*

 

[daves]

Greetings,

Bad news -

We in New Zealand have just rolled over to daylight saving and I've found that the Talking Clock code doesn't adjust it'self, so at the moment for us the time on the talking clock is 1 hour behind.

Looks like the time in php is an unadjusted time and it need a bit more code to sort it.

This is something I'll have to work on.


Interesting, earlier I posted a query in the forum about the CA call history log times being out by 1 hour. As it turns out now that we are in daylight saving, the CA times now apear to match the 3CX server times.

Maybe there is a daylight saving issue with the CA also?
Maybe it's just us down here in Kiwi land? Don't know.

DaveS
New Zealand

 

[daves]

Greetings.

I have sent the info and code to kunle and miraportuga.

Regarding the Daylight Saving time problem -

After extensive testing I have figured out that the problem is due to the "Timezone Database Version" in the PHP distribution (Version 5.1.4) with 3CX. the Database is version 2006.1

Earlier this year the New Zealand goverment decided to change the Daylight saving dates. As a result we have just rolled over to daylight savings on the Sunday just gone. Normally we would change over next Sunday. Microsoft has provided support for updating the windows Time Zone info, which includes New Zealand. However PHP has it's own time zone database, which does know about the fact that New Zealand daylight saving has changed. Therefore during this week and for two weeks next year windows and PHP will be out of sync.

I have tested the Talking Clock outside this week and it works fine without being 1 hour out. I have also tested US Central time and found that it's ok in PHP.

Unfortunately, it's not only the Talking Clock that is affected by this problem, the times on voice messages are also wrong, out by 1 hour.

In view of this, I dont see much point in working on more code to fix the Talking Clock for NZ as the voice message times would still be wrong.

The only hope we in NZ have, at the moment, is that the 3CX team sometime in the not too distant future use a more recent version of PHP, which has the later timezone data and includes NZ.

I have had a brief look at the actual PHP in 3CX, but have not as yet worked out the way to fix the issue myself.

I have also done more testing with the CA call history log times and have found the following -

When in New Zealand standard the CA call history log times are 1 hour out.

When in New Zealand Daylight Saving the CA call history log times are correct. (not in this week though)

So there still seams to be some issue with CA log times. It may only be in New Zealand though


The bottom line though the rest of you in the world are lucky and theTalking Clock should work OK for you.

DaveS
New Zealand

 

[kunle]

I have just added your coding to the phone system and it works great -first attempt. Thanks Dave

 

[dyntech]

Hey daves,

I'm interested also.

What about when we upgrade? Will it be wiped out?