TeleFlow Step 0015
From TeleFlow
Place Call Step
Initiates an outgoing telephone call. The Server can place a new call by allocating either a new telephone line, or by using the currently utilized telephone line. Most calls will probably use 'Initiate connection' unless a central telephone switching system is being used to transfer or conference calls.
No matter the result of the attempt to place an outbound call, the system variables @CALLOUT_RESULT and @CALLOUT_REASON will be set to values indicated what the result was, and why that result occurred.
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Properties
Telephone number to dial: The telephone number to place a call out to. Number must be passed in numerical format (I.e. No dashes or parentheses). e.g.:16045551234 or @TELNUMBER
Rings before TIMEOUT: The number of rings to wait for the remote side to answer before following the path of the 
'Time Out' action step. e.g.: 4 or @RINGS
Connection: Indicates the type of connection to use to place the call. The options are:
- Initiate connection: Takes the current port off-hook to get a single party on the line.
- Current connection: Uses a flash-hook to put the current party on hold, and dials out to a second party in an attempt to transfer the call. This is only possible if flash-hook transfers are supported by the lines in use.
Connect on CED (will connect to a Fax): If checked, place call will connect the call if a fax (CED) tone is detected during the out-bound call. Otherwise, TeleFlow will not connect, and will follow the 
Fail path.
Connect on SIT (will remain connected after SIT tone): If checked, place call will connect the call if a special information tone (SIT) is detected during the out-bound call. Otherwise, TeleFlow will not connect and follows the Fail path.
Call Progress Analysis / Answering Machine "Detection" settings: The following three fields work in tandem to provide information to the application about the voice detection phase of call progress analysis.
- Human Variable to receive initial voice length: Receives the duration of the voice that was detected answering the phone. The value received will be measured in milliseconds. This field is optional, and the default is blank.
- Silence Timeout: Specify a value in milliseconds in the Silence timeout(ms) field to override the default end-of-voice detection. The silence timeout is the minimum duration of silence following the end of the initial voice that will cause call progress analysis to end with a result of voice-detected.
- Maximum voice length (ms): In the Maximum voice length (ms) field, specify the maximum time to wait for the voice to end before exiting voice length detection. The default value supplied by the Designer is 60000 ms (1 minute). This value ensures the voice detection will end, even if it encounters answering audio that lasts an extremely long time.
Caller Id to send (ISDN or SIP only): If the line protocol in use supports it, and the Telco will send it, this field indicates the Caller Id to send to the remote party(I.e. This is what a remote party will see as Caller Id when they receive a call initiated by the Place Call step). Note that this setting carries no guarantees: There are situations that cause the Caller Id sent by your application to not make it all the way to the remote side. This is particularly likely when crossing country borders, but other boundary issues may exist as well.
ISDN Calling number plan: Use this field to set the ISDN Number Plan of the calling number (ie: the phone number associated with the TeleFlow Port placing the call). This feature is only available on ISDN circuits. If unsure, leave setting at "DEFAULT".
ISDN Calling number type: Use this field to set the ISDN Number Type of the calling number (ie: the phone number associated with the TeleFlow Port placing the call). This feature is only available on ISDN circuits. If unsure, leave setting at "DEFAULT".
Action Steps
Time Out: The outgoing call was not answered in the number of rings indicated in the "Rings before TIMEOUT" property.
Busy: The remote side (called party) was busy or engaged.
Fail: The outgoing call failed. This could indicates that the channel was not able to dial out, perhaps because there was no dial tone, or a bad phone number was supplied.
Supported Telephony Hardware Platforms
AudioCodes (Ai-Logix)
Dialogic
NMS Communications
Special Hardware Considerations
Using "current connection" to place a second call will only work if the telephone circuit the port is connected to supports call transfer.
AudioCodes (Ai-Logix): As of TeleFlow 2006, Place Call is now supported on AudioCodes (Ai-Logix) active hardware. However, the ability to place a second call using "current connection" is still under development for AudioCodes (Ai-Logix) hardware.
NMS Communications: On NMS hardware, the flash-hook duration for using "current connection" must be set to 500 milliseconds, or left empty to use the default value (also 500 ms).
Related Steps
