A-Series Contacts

Contacts

Sangoma A-Series Phones provide a Contacts application that allows searching and dialing from a list of parties. On the phone, the application supports both locally added contacts as well as remote lists of contacts. This page focuses on the use of remote lists of contacts.

Loading a Contact List

Remote retrieval, as a part of the phone's configuration file, is controlled with the AUTOUPDATE CONFIG MODULE configuration section with the Auto Pbook Url configuration parameter, e.g.:

<<VOIP CONFIG FILE>>Version:2.0000000000
    
<AUTOUPDATE CONFIG MODULE>
Auto Pbook Url     :http://server.example.com/phoneprov/phonebook.xml
<<END OF FILE>>

Contacts XML skeleton

Because Contacts are constructed in XML, and because Sangoma phones do not point out XML errors to you, it is very important to verify the syntax of your XML before sending it to the phone. If your syntax is invalid, the XML file will fail to load, and you might wonder why your Contacts don't show up. So, you should use an XML editor or some other tool (Chrome, xmllint, etc.) to verify your syntax before sending XML to the phone.

A basic Contacts XML structure is defined here:

Contactx XML Structure example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AsteriskIPPhoneDirectory>
    <DirectoryEntry>
        <Name></Name>
        <Telephone></Telephone>
        <Mobile></Mobile>
        <Other></Other>
        <Ring></Ring>
    </DirectoryEntry>
</AsteriskIPPhoneDirectory>

And, a more fleshed-out example looks like:

XML Contact Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AsteriskIPPhoneDirectory>
    <DirectoryEntry>
        <Name>Bob Jones</Name>
        <Telephone>2564286000</Telephone>
        <Mobile>2565558000</Mobile>
        <Other>8005551234</Other>
        <Ring>1</Ring>
    </DirectoryEntry>
    <DirectoryEntry>
        <Name>Susan Smith</Name>
        <Telephone>2564286100</Telephone>
    </DirectoryEntry>
</AsteriskIPPhoneDirectory>

AsteriskIPPhoneDirectory Element

DirectoryEntry: Child Element of <AsteriskIPPhoneDirectory>

Option	Values	Description

Option	Values	Description
Name	string	Specifies the name of the contact.
Telephone	string	Specifies the number to be dialed for this contact.
Mobile	string	Specifies a mobile number to be dialed for this contact.
Other	string	Specifies an additional, other number to be dialed for this contact.
Ring	Integer, 1-9, Defaults to 2	Sets the ringing type, from 1-9, of the phone for calls received from numbers matching this contact. Defaults to 2.