Type
CTI Item
Available from
Data Node only
Purpose
In speech applications that use computer telephony integration (CTI) to extend call control capabilities, the Dial item requests that a call be placed from the IVR system to a destination telephone number.
Behavior
Before you can use this or any other CTI connector item, you must enable CTI connectors for Dialog Designer. For more information about the ability of Dialog Designer to interact with CTI, and to enable CTI in your Dialog Designer applications, see About CTI Connectors.
Note:
During a CTI dial operation, when a queue is hit, the CTI connector will stop the
ring timer and return a "queued" state back to the application. The application
should check for that state and transfer the call. In the case of a CTI Consultation
Call (CTI), the call will automatically be transferred when it hits a queue.
Note:
It is recommended to use a Try/Catch around the operation to capture
catastrophic errors.
When you place the Dial item in a Data node, Dialog Designer automatically creates a complex variable with the same name as the item, and populates it with the following fields:
- ani - Contains the telephone number the original caller is calling from, as provided by the Automatic Number Identification (ANI) service.
- callid - Contains the call ID number for the original call, as assigned by the telephony server.
- dnis - Contains the telephone number the original caller dialed, as provided by the Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS).
- state - Returns the current state of the call. Possible values include the following values: established, disconnected, failed, queued, unreachable, noanswer, and busy.
- stationextension - Contains the number of the original port on the switch that the call came into.
- ucid - Contains the universal call ID (UCID) number. This field is only valid if it is enabled on the PBX/switch.
- The universal call ID number is an identification number that the network assigns to the call when it enters the network. The system uses this number to track the call no matter what other locations or sites in the network the call might be routed to.
- uui - Contains any user-to-user information (UUI) that might exist with the call.
- UUI is text-based data that accompanies the call. For example, during the course of a call, you might have collected information from the caller such as an account number, customer preferences, customer identification data, and so forth. You can use CTI transactions to pass this data to a call center agent, where this data can be used to populate a data window on the agent's computer screen.
Note:
Dialog Designer does not display the Dial variable and its fields until you save the
application. After you save the application project, the variable and its fields are
available from the Variable Editor. For more information about variables, see
Working with Variables.
This item is used in conjunction with a Transfer (CTI) or Conference (CTI) operation. See Using CTI Connectors in Applications.
Properties
- Name - Enter in this field the name you want to assign to the Dial item and its associated variable.
- Dialog Designer assigns a default name automatically when you place the Dial item in the node, and you can accept the default name or rename it.
- Dial Number Variable - Select the variable that contains the telephone number for the system to dial.
- If this variable is a complex variable, you must also select a Dial Number Variable Field.
- Dial Number Variable Field - If the Dial Number Variable is a complex variable, select the variable field that contains the telephone number for the system to dial.
- UUI Variable - Select the variable that contains the user-to-user information (UUI) that you want to pass to the destination telephone number.
- If this variable is a complex variable, you must also select a UUI Variable Field.
- This variable can contain up to 96 bytes of data.
- UUI Variable Field - If the UUI Variable is a complex variable, select the UUI variable field to which you want to pass to the destination telephone number.
- Ring max - Enter in this field the number of rings the system should wait for the destination telephone number to respond before the system terminates the attempt. Whenever the destination number exceeds this number of rings, then the system returns a state of noanswer and moves to the next item in the subflow.
