Click2Dial for Every(Asterisk)man… and Woman

There have been any number of click to call applications released for Asterisk®, but none quite so simple to implement as the one we've uncovered. The original was introduced at VoIPjots.com about this time last year. Then Rafael Cortes at asteriskpbxs.com further embellished it. We took Rafael's version and added a few minor enhancements, and today you get Click2Dial for Asterisk to freely use with virtually any Asterisk PBX. It works exceptionally well with our customized versions of TrixBox 1.2.3 which you can download from the links above for Windows, Intel Macs, and Linux.

Overview. For those new to this technology, the basic idea behind Click-to-Dial or click to call applications is that folks can visit your web site, click on a link after plugging in their phone number, and a call is placed from your Asterisk PBX connecting you and them without the visitors incurring any long distance charges. The initial call to you is placed first, and it can be to any extension on your Asterisk system or even your cellphone if you have more than one outbound (termination) trunk. If you don't answer, no second call is placed. Once you answer, the outbound call to the web site visitor is placed. We've added support in the PHP application so that callers can also enter their name, and the name entry together with the phone number to be called will be displayed on your phone before you answer the call: Web-John Doe 843-678-1234. Be aware that cellphone providers throw CallerIDName information in the bit bucket so the name display only works on calls to Asterisk extensions, but the CallerIDNumber will work with any of the providers that support adjusting your outbound CallerID, such as TelaSIP. See our Roundup of VoIP Providers for more choices. Anyway, the web site visitors get 12 characters in which to enter their name and 10 for their area code and phone number. Without much tweaking, the 10-digit limitation can be adjusted for international calling. No dialplan changes are required to get this working assuming your dialplan supports 10-digit dialing from extensions on your system. Simply drop the code into the web directory on your Asterisk server, open port 80 on your firewall to point to the web server on your Asterisk or TrixBox system, and you're off to the races. Installation and setup time: about 2 minutes.

Click2Dial for Asterisk Installation and Setup. To download the Click2Dial for Asterisk application, click on this link. Save and unzip the archive on your Desktop. Open the Click2Dial folder and copy click2dial.php into the web folder on your Asterisk server (/var/www/html on TrixBox systems). Log into your Asterisk server as root and edit the file: nano -w /var/www/html/click2dial.php. For TrixBox systems, the only entry you need to change is the incoming call destination on line 38. For a SIP extension on your Asterisk system, the line should look like this: $strChannel = "SIP/502"; where 502 is the extension you wish to ring for incoming Click2Dial calls. If you have multiple outbound trunks and you want to route incoming web calls to your cellphone, here's the syntax:

$strChannel = "local/1NXXNXXXXXX@from-internal" ;

Replace 1NXXNXXXXXX with the actual phone number that you currently dial from an extension on your system to place a call to your cellphone. Save your change (Ctrl-X, Y, then Enter), and you're done! To try it out, point a web browser at the following page substituting your own fully-qualified domain name or IP address of your Asterisk server: http://192.168.0.211/click2dial.php. Feel free to cut-and-paste the code into an actual web page if you'd prefer to integrate Click2Dial for Asterisk into your existing web layout.

Other Goodies. We've also included all of Rafael Cortes' other handiwork in the archive which you are free to use (not sell!) if you so desire. In addition, we've included our YeeHah add-on for AsteriDex. This lets you do a couple of things. First, you can use it as a Click2Dial add-on which works exactly like the code described above. Just edit the top of the file and specify your CallerID number and extension number to be called. Then move the file to your existing AsteriDex folder on your Asterisk server. While editing the file, if you set Click2Call=false, then the application lets you actually dial outbound calls to two phones of your choosing from the web page. This is handy for personal use but obviously has serious security risks unless you also uncomment the top few lines in the application and specify the actual IP addresses of the computers on which this application can be used. If you don't understand what any of this means, then do yourself and your phone bill a favor, don't use it! Otherwise, anyone with access to your AsteriDex web application can make unlimited calls on your nickel to anywhere. Enjoy!

Nerd Reminder. Don't forget today is Valentine's Day. Give the keyboard a rest for a bit.

Nerd Vittles Valentine's Day Giveaway. As a special thanks to our loyal readers, we have a couple of free passes to give away to the Fonality trixbox Open Communications Certification course being held on March 5-6, 2007 at the Los Angeles LAX Westin. The retail value of each pass is $1495. If you'd like to attend, post a comment to this article which begins with I WANNA GO. Just tell us why you'd like or need to go to the course. And be sure to include your real name and email address in the required fields. Email addresses do NOT get shown on the web but do give us a way to get in touch with you. Except for the winning entries, none of the other comments will actually be posted on the blog so feel free to lie your ass off beg. To be eligible, we must receive your comment before 7 a.m., Eastern time, on Thursday, February 15, 2007. We will pick two lucky winners tomorrow morning. Decision of the judges (Nerd Uno) is final. If you don't hear from us by noon (Eastern time) tomorrow, then you didn't win. Sorry. Make up a better story next time. Winners are, of course, responsible for their own transportation, lodging, food and beverage expenses. This is a perfect opportunity to get certified on the TrixBox platform at minimal expense. Offer void where prohibited by law. Good luck!

Nerd Vittles Demo Hot Line (courtesy of les.net). You now can take a number of Nerd Vittles projects for a test drive... by phone! The current demos include (1) MailCall for Asterisk with password 1111 (retrieve your email by phone), (2) NewsClips for Asterisk (latest news headlines in dozens of categories), (3) Weather Forecasts by U.S. Airport Code, and (4) Weather Forecasts by U.S. ZIP Code. You're not prompted for #4 yet, but it does work! Just call our number (shown in the left margin) and take any or all of them for a spin. The sound quality may not be perfect due to performance limitations of our ancient Intel 386 demo machine. But the price is right.

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