Avaya IP Office integration via TAPI

[Carlos de la Orden Dijs]

Hi posters

I've spent two days reading, reading and reading all kind of TAPI
documentation. Although everything is quite scattered, Andreas' FAQ, MSDN
and many other sources are starting to light my way. :)

My idea is quite original -use TAPI to build some kind of CTI application, a
mini call center. My switch is an Avaya IP Office, which supports TAPI 2.x
and TAPI 3. I'd prefer to use .NET so my choice is Helen's superb Tapi2Lib,
probably expanding it. If C++ is the shortest path I'd refresh my C++ skills
and use that instead...

Of course I understand this is not a trivial project and for the moment I
just want to try things, like making calls, answering calls, monitoring
calls, logging on/off agents (using lineDevSpecific, Avaya's docs are quite
good)... I'm not sure if Helen's wrapper is strong enough, or I should code
the TAPI part directly in C++ and perhaps use C# to interop with it via DLL
or COM.

Anyone have programmed something similar? What should be my first steps?

And the silliest one... What are the possible values for 'LineFilter' (I'm
talking about Helen's Tapi2Lib sample, when it populates the lines combo) so
I get all available lines on my computer?

I understand this is quite a general post, but any hints or advice would be
really appreciated.

Keep up the good work here, every post is worth reading. :)

Btw, Andreas, superb FAQ. The FTP link to the TapiBrowser is not working for
me, but I hop it's a little crash at Microsoft and I'll be able to get it
soon.

Regards,
Carlos

[Andreas Marschall [MVP TAPI]]

"Carlos de la Orden Dijs" <cdela...@callcentrix.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:djljff$1kr$1...@nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net...

> Keep up the good work here, every post is worth reading. :)
>
> Btw, Andreas, superb FAQ.

Carlos, thanks for the feedback.

> The FTP link to the TapiBrowser is not working for
> me, but I hop it's a little crash at Microsoft and I'll be able to get it
> soon.

There seem to be some access problems from time to time.
I just checked and could successfully access the site.
Please try again.

--
Best Regards
Andreas Marschall
Microsoft MVP for TAPI / Windows SDK
TAPI / TSP Developer and Tester
http://www.I-B-A-M.de/Andreas_Marschall's_TAPI_and_TSPI_FAQ.htm
* Please post all messages and replies to the newsgroup so all may
* benefit from the discussion. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[Matthias Moetje [MVP]]

Carlos,

from your description it seems to me that there is just one clear
choice: C++ with TAPI2.2.

You can't use TAPI3 when you say that Avaya requires DevSpecific
mechanisms. (TAPI3 can't be used with .NET anyway)

I don't know if Helen's wrapper can handle DevSpecific things
and I don't know how good and stable it runs (especially if you
are using multiple threads). Apart from that you might get better
help here for plain TAPI.

Best regards,

Matthias Moetje
-------------------------------------
TERASENS GmbH
Ackermannstraße 3
80797 München
-------------------------------------
Fon: +49 89 143370-0
Fax: +49 89 143370-22
e-mail: moetje at terasens dot de
www: www.terasens.de
-------------------------------------

"Carlos de la Orden Dijs" <cdela...@callcentrix.net> wrote in message
news:djljff$1kr$1...@nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net...

[Andreas Marschall [MVP TAPI]]

"Matthias Moetje [MVP]" <moetje@terasens_nospam_.de> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:%23Q2GkCb...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

> You can't use TAPI3 when you say that Avaya requires DevSpecific
> mechanisms.

Matthias, Carlos,
to be precise TAPI 3.0 doesn't support any TAPI Extended Services,
but TAPI 3.1 (XP and WS2k3) does partially:
- the corresponding TAPI2 function lineDevSpecific() _is_ supported in TAPI
3.1
- the corresponding TAPI2 function lineDevSpecificFeature() is _not_ supported
in TAPI 3.1
See my TAPI and TSPI FAQ:
Q: Has TAPI3 any disadvantages over TAPI2 ?
http://www.i-b-a-m.de/Andreas_Marschall's_TAPI_and_TSPI_FAQ.htm#_Q:_Has_TAPI3

[Orson Kart]

> My idea is quite original -use TAPI to build some kind of CTI application, a
> mini call center. My switch is an Avaya IP Office, which supports TAPI 2.x
> and TAPI 3. I'd prefer to use .NET so my choice is Helen's superb Tapi2Lib,
> probably expanding it. If C++ is the shortest path I'd refresh my C++ skills
> and use that instead...
>
> Of course I understand this is not a trivial project and for the moment I
> just want to try things, like making calls, answering calls, monitoring
> calls, logging on/off agents (using lineDevSpecific, Avaya's docs are quite
> good)... I'm not sure if Helen's wrapper is strong enough, or I should code
> the TAPI part directly in C++ and perhaps use C# to interop with it via DLL
> or COM.
>
> Anyone have programmed something similar? What should be my first steps?

I use Borland C++ Builder and hbTapi controls (www.commso.com) to
develop a TAPI app that works great on our IP Office system

[Carlos de la Orden Dijs]

Thanks everyone for the hints.

Avaya IP Office also supports TAPI 3.0, at least a subset of it (no
CallCenter -related objects or interfaces), but the idea is you can do the
same with TAPI 2.2 and TAPI 3.0. Given this, which one is 'better'? Is there
any performance benefit in using TAPI 3?

Matthias, I'm almost 100% sure it will be C++. I'd rather brush up my skills
than loose time hacking around with .NET. :)

Thanks again,
Carlos

"Matthias Moetje [MVP]" <moetje@terasens_nospam_.de> escribió en el mensaje
news:%23Q2GkCb...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

[Andreas Marschall [MVP TAPI]]

"Carlos de la Orden Dijs" <cdela...@callcentrix.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:djq3ui$dpm$1...@nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net...

> Thanks everyone for the hints.

Carlos, you are welcome.

> Avaya IP Office also supports TAPI 3.0, at least a subset of it (no
> CallCenter -related objects or interfaces), but the idea is you can do the
> same with TAPI 2.2 and TAPI 3.0. Given this, which one is 'better'? Is there
> any performance benefit in using TAPI 3?

No, there is no performance benefit in using TAPI 3.

> Matthias, I'm almost 100% sure it will be C++. I'd rather brush up my skills
> than loose time hacking around with .NET. :)

If you are familiar with C++ then definitely TAPI 2.x is recommended.

[Grant Schenck]

I'm building something very similar for the ShoreTel PBX. Specifically,
using TAPI 2.x from C++ 6.0, I built a COM object which wraps all of their
TAPI features and functions along with their device specific features.
Then, using that I'm building IVR samples mostly in C# which use the object
via interop. It works out very well.
--
Grant Schenck
http://grantschenck.tripod.com

"Carlos de la Orden Dijs" <cdela...@callcentrix.net> wrote in message
news:djljff$1kr$1...@nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net...

[fdecker...@aol.com]

Hello Carlos,

I hate to burst your bubble, but we have clients every day doing what
you are trying to do, using the same PBX and our TeleTools. :) The
only problem with Avaya is the lack of help from Avaya. And there is
some confustion between the Avaya and Lucent products since they merged
and what TSP you can get for your device.

Fred
www.exceletel.com
"TAPI Tools for Telephony Programmers"