Book Image

Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6 Programming

By : Nir Simionovich
Book Image

Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6 Programming

By: Nir Simionovich

Overview of this book

<p>Asterisk is the world's leading open-source PBX, telephony engine, and telephony applications toolkit with immense flexibility.<br /><br />This book will give you a firm understanding of Asterisk Gateway Interface (AGI) development and proper AGI development practices. You will learn how to formulate Atomic AGI-enabled scripts, enabling rapid development within a well-defined Asterisk execution and runtime environment.<br /><br />This book builds from the simplest form of an Asterisk application, the dialplan-based application, gradually building a full understanding of AGI scripting. The book also introduces a new concept of AGI development named "Atomic AGI" or "Particle Programming". It will introduce you to various techniques of interacting with the user, where user interaction isn't limited to keypad-based input, but also includes recording messages from the user, sending output to the user, and controlling the call flow.<br /><br />The book takes a pragmatic approach with clear and complete examples, and a service development project &acirc;&euro;&rdquo; allowing you to understand the project cycle of developing an Asterisk-based service or application.</p>

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Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6 Programming
Nir Simionovich
Feb, 2009 | 220 pages
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Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6 Programming
Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6 Programming
Credits
Credits
About the author
About the author
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement
About the reviewers
About the reviewers
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Installing a 'Vanilla' Asterisk
Installing a 'Vanilla' Asterisk
Downloading Asterisk
Zaptel—Zapata Telephony Driver
DAHDI—Digium Asterisk Hardware Device Interface
Libpri—ISDN PRI Library
Asterisk—the open source PBX
Asterisk-addons—the open source PBX
Asterisk—SVN source packages
Compiling the source code
Summary
2
Basic IVR Development: Using the Asterisk DialPlan
Basic IVR Development: Using the Asterisk DialPlan
The dialplan is a set of "finite state machines"
The dialplan syntax
Summary
3
More IVR Development: Input, Recordings, and Call Control
More IVR Development: Input, Recordings, and Call Control
Grabbing and processing user input
Summary
4
A Primer to AGI: Asterisk Gateway Interface
A Primer to AGI: Asterisk Gateway Interface
How does AGI work?
The ten rules of AGI development
A preface to what's coming ahead
Summary
5
AGI Scripting with PHP
AGI Scripting with PHP
PHP-CLI vs. PHP-CGI
The php.ini configuration file
AGI script permissions
The structure of a PHP based AGI script
Communication between Asterisk and AGI
The AGI Hello-World program
AGI debugging
Summary
6
PHPAGI: An AGI Class Library in PHP
PHPAGI: An AGI Class Library in PHP
Obtaining PHPAGI
The file structure of PHPAGI
A very simple PHPAGI example
The AGI/Dialplan high-wire act
A slightly more complex PHPAGI example
AGI Scripts in popular Asterisk applications
Summary
7
FastAGI: AGI as a TCP Server
FastAGI: AGI as a TCP Server
FastAGI argument handling
FastAGI error handling
FastAGI with PHPAGI and xinetd
FastAGI with PHPAGI and Google
FastAGI with other tool kits
Summary
8
AMI: The Asterisk Manager Interface
AMI: The Asterisk Manager Interface
AMI—the history
AMI—understanding basics
PHPAGI and the AMI Interface
Click-2-Call and Web-Callback
Summary
9
Final Programming Project
Final Programming Project
ACRG—Asterisk Call Recording Gateway
Project implementation guide
Additional programming projects
Summary
10
Scaling Asterisk Applications
Scaling Asterisk Applications
Scaling Asterisk platforms
Summary

About the author

Nir Simionovich has been involved with the open source community in Israel since 1997. His involvement started back in 1997, when he was a student at Technion—Israel's Technology Institute—in Haifa. Nir quickly became involved in organizing open source venues and events, promoting the use of Linux and open source technologies in Israel.

In 1998, Nir started working for an IT consulting company (artNET experts Ltd.), where he began to introduce Linux-based solutions for enterprises and banks. By the year 2000, Nir had become a SAIR/GNU certified Linux trainer and administrator, slowly educating the future generations of Linux admins.

In 2001, Nir moved to the cellular content market, working for a mobile content delivery company (m-Wise Inc.—OTC.BB: MWIS.OB). During his commission at m-Wise, Nir successfully migrated a company—built purely on Windows 2000 and ColdFusion—to open source technologies, such as Mandrake Linux (today Mandriva), Apache Tomcat, and Kannel (an open source SMS/WAP gateway).

By 2006, Nir had co-founded Atelis (Atelis PLC—AIM: ATEL). Atelis is a Digium distributor and integrator. During the course of 2006, Nir developed an Asterisk-based international operator services platform for Bezeq International, which replaced a Nortel DMS-300 switch. This platform is currently in use by Bezeq International in Israel, serving over 4000 customer a day.

In mid 2007, Nir left Atelis to become a freelance Asterisk promoter and consultant. Nir is currently providing Asterisk consulting and development services for various companies, ranging from early-stage start-up companies, through VoIP service providers and VoIP equipment vendors. Nir is the founder of the Israeli Asterisk users group. In his spare time, he acts as the website maintainer of the group, and an Asterisk developer, dealing mainly with the localization aspects of Asterisk to Israel.

Coming to 2008, Nir's company (Greenfield Technologies Ltd) won the Digium Innovation award at AstriCon 2008, in the pioneer division—for its implementation of a phone-based prayer system, allowing people from around the world to pray at the western wall in Jerusalem.

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