Combining multiple similar flows

I am setting a system for a medical office. The office have 5 doctors, and the flows are very similar. Each has his own DID, and the announcements are somewhat different - but the rest is the same. Also, they share a single receptionist.

I set up the first two (Routes, Announcement, Call Flow, etc.) - and there is a lot of duplication there. If it were not for different recordings and different ring groups - it would be one.

So, I am wondering are there any tips / best practices of somehow parametrize the flows? Since all is tied to DID number in the incoming route (say, I have 213-555-1111 and 213-555-2222), if I could set it as a variable $DID, and had two announcements (Welcome-2135551111 and Welcome-2135552222) and could reference announcement Welcome-$DID - I would cut the number of objects five-fold.

Am I dreaming? What if I drop into asterisk config files?

Apparently, there is a bigger user inconvenience. Given that I have multiple call flows, the receptionist will have to toggle each one separately (two now; five eventually). She would much prefer to have one code to have one call flow that controls all branches.

I’ve ran into the same limitation. We use Aastra 675x phones and specifically their xml feature to “flip” the call flow toggles and light associated keys on the phones as a reminder that night service is on. I’m also looking for a way to engage several call flow toggles from a single command.

I found a way to “flip” multiple toggles through some dialplan code in /etc/extensions_custom.conf I add two custom contexts as in:
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[set-call-flow-on]
exten => *285,1,Answer
exten => *285,2,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C0)=NIGHT)
exten => *285,3,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C1)=NIGHT)
exten => *285,4,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C2)=NIGHT)
exten => *285,5,Hangup

[set-call-flow-off]
exten => *286,1,Answer
exten => *286,2,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C0)=DAY)
exten => *286,3,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C1)=DAY)
exten => *286,4,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C2)=DAY)
exten => *286,5,Hangup

(remember to “include” these custom contexts!)

So, when I dial *285 it sets three Call Flows to “Night” (mine are numbered 280, 281 and 282 by default, but only the 0,1,2 matter) and when I dial *286 they go back to “Day”. I think with a little more work; using DBget and GotoIF these could probably be turned into a single toggle, but it is simpler than setting three Call Flows individually and of course by adding more “Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/Cn)=” you can increase the number of Call Flows toggled.

As I said, “a little more work” and voila;
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[set-call-flow-toggle]
exten => *287,1,Answer
exten => *287,2,Set(togglestate=${DB(DAYNIGHT/C0)})
exten => *287,3,GotoIf($[${togglestate} = NIGHT]]?9:4)
exten => *287,4,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C0)=NIGHT)
exten => *287,5,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C1)=NIGHT)
exten => *287,6,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C2)=NIGHT)
exten => *287,7,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C3)=NIGHT)
exten => *287,8,Hangup
exten => *287,9,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C0)=DAY)
exten => *287,10,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C1)=DAY)
exten => *287,11,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C2)=DAY)
exten => *287,12,Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/C3)=DAY)
exten => *287,13,Hangup

This sets four Call Flow toggles with one dialed code (*287) back and forth from day to night to day again. Add as many “Set(DB(DAYNIGHT/Cn)” as you have toggles to flip and modify the label numbering and the label digits in “GotoIf($[${togglestate} = NIGHT]]?9:4)” to land on the right lines.

EasyPeezyAsteriskIsEasy!