Directory not working

I am having trouble getting the Directory service to work. for example, i dial 411 from one of the extensions, it asks for 1st 3 letters (i have set for 1st and last), i type 3 letters, SMI for SMITH, and it says “no directory entry matches your search”. What field is it looking for to pull this information? under the extension, the only name field it has is “Display Name” and it has David Smith in it. I also tried DAV for the 1st name with same results.

Thanks
David

Go to the “Tools” tab and click on the “Asterisk Phonebook” module. You can populate the phonebook from there. I have not seen any way of doing this during extension creation. That would be a nice feature; checkbox to enable extension in phonebook.

thx, it at least does something now. however, it just reads from the beginning of the name field. i.e., i put in David Smith in the phone book. after dialing 411, it only recognizes dav and not smi. tried all 3 settings of first/last/firstlast with same result.

I can confirm that too. No matter what is set on the “General Settings” page it always looks at the first name only. I’ve confirmed this with FreePBX 2.4.0beta1.0 (phonebook 2.4.0) and 2.3.1.1 (phonebook 1.1.5.7).

David,

There are two different systems that can do directory services. One is called phonebook (or pbdirectory) and the other is directory.

Phonebook requires you to load names into the asterisk berkley DB tables, and searches for them from there. That is the same DB that speed dials usees and some others… (Normally get to this via dialing 411). The ways you get information into the database, and removed is a bit of work.

Directory is a directory of extensions that have voice mail on the phone system. You normally get to that by dialing #, This is populated by reading the voicemail configuration files, and builds it’s directory in that way. This will use the pre-recorded name if a user does that in voice mail instead of spelling out the name and does pay attendtion to the first name, last name or both settings.

So there are two ways that might get you what you want, each working in a slightly different way.

I have some patched code that will allow for multiple systems to be integrated together using the directory code so that you can create a single directory that operates the same from any system.

Thanks for the info
Pressing # gives fast busy for about 4 seconds and hangs up. I have the directory enabled as far as i can tell.

figured out the why, dialing rule is not passing the #, changed to another number and it works and the # works from the IVR. So I’m good,

Thanks for the help

Sorry, It’s been a long day and I am a little slow and need some help here…

In my IVR 411 - Phonebook Directory [Phonebook Directory]

But even though there are 40 Some extensions and 12 Voicemail boxes nothing comes up regardless of the keys pressed.

So I looked at Tools / Asterisk Phonebook …

But I am unclear as to what goes where for the system to do a lookup, play back the extension # and connect the user…

Does the Extension go in the number field or the Speed Dial Field.

Lookup gives you the option of [First Name], [Last Name] [First or Last Name] but the only field on the entry form is Name !

How does this equate to what I am trying to do or did I miss something…

TIA, 

I am trying to set up a directory ( # ) and currently having no luck, I
Dial in to the PBX and press # listen to the message and type in the
first 3 letters and it says there is no directory intery that maches you search

Im not sure even were to cread this dirrectory or even if I have to.

qed3001,

Please don’t hijack a posting with a new question. Yes you’d think it’s the same but it’s not. There are two directory systems. one is called “Directory” and the other is called Phonebook Directlry". The directory uses voicemail as I explained on the post above from Dec 14th, the phonebook directory uses a berkley db that asterisk uses as it’s base. that is loaded via the database tool in the gui.

If you still need more information try checking the documentation section and if after that you still need help post a new message with a clear subject and I’m sure somebody will help you out.

Hi David,

If I understand correctly, it sounds like your patched code would allow two trixboxes to seem as one when it comes to the directory. If that is true, is your patched code available. I have 7 trixboxes installed in our elementary school district and would love some way to have a central directory that works by dialing # from any phone at any of the trixboxes. Thanks!

rsarver, send me a private message and I can get you the code that I’ve done so far, and what extra things you’ll need to setup to make it work. It’s not hard just a pain to setup the first time.

I’m also working on some Directory enhancements. Namely support of the hidefromdir switch (which Asterisk directory supports) and a new idea I have to grouping extensions. Will probably eventually mean a nice little module for adding directory groups, with their own custom extensions, and then tagging extensions to be in multiple groups.

fskrotzki, I’ll PM you to see what you have going and maybe we can come up with some good stuff to contribute to the project.

Thanks all, I’ll post back here with progress–or maybe I need to create a Wiki page.