VoIP Development with FreePBX

Anyone who has looked around our site will quickly realize we have done a significant amount of development in VoIP systems. The vast majority of the work done to date has been on Asterisk based VoIP systems. We found the Asterisk engine was easy to install, simple to configure at a basic level, and allows for a fair amount of scalability. After getting a variety of Cisco IP Phone models to work with an Asterisk backend we have had a lot of fun customizing the operation of the Cisco IP Phones themselves. Everything from dial pattern based routing right in Asterisk to custom built Cisco XML services scripts.

This lead us to our next development project. We are currently working on creating FreePBX modules for administration of extended Cisco IP Phone functionality. Our starting point has been the XML services that can be used by these phones and integrating them with customized user profiles. Currently the module will contain two components, ‘User Profiles’ and ‘XML Services’.

The ‘User Profiles’ module will be for exactly what everyone things, managing user profiles and their associated customizations. These user profiles can be expanded to include other data for custom services and more advanced functionality. Here are a couple screenshots of the ‘User Profiles’ component:

Show User Profiles:

Add User Profile:

Also included in this module is the ‘XML Services’ component. Again, as expected this part of the module will allow for administration of installed Cisco XML Service scripts. Service scripts are added to the “services” folder in the module on the server. Once added to the server, the service can be added and filename of the service specified. Once added, services can be previewed as they would appear on the Cisco IP Phone screens as well. Here are some screenshots of the ‘XML Services’ component:

Show XML Services:

Add XML Service:

*NOTE*: Announcements about FreePBX v3 have indicated that it will have a user portal as well as an administration portal. With this in mind we will look to make our module(s) FreePBX v3 compatible, incorporating user-level profile management and other extended customization of XML services used.