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CSTA Browser

Published on:

September 17, 2013

The Vodia PBX offers a Windows-based CSTA browser notification tool that simplifies call handling for web-based CRM users. This lightweight program runs in the taskbar, listens for incoming calls, and opens a web page at a programmable location. To prevent excessive pop-ups, users can configure when the browser opens, such as for ACD or hunt group calls, or manually trigger it via a notification balloon. The tool has been improved to handle connection losses and network changes, ensuring reliable operation. It works with Vodia PBX and other CSTA-compatible systems, with a free trial available for those without a CSTA license.

Christian Stredicke

The web browser is becoming more and more important in our digital lives. One important problem with the web browser is it has to actually open a page when a call comes in. For example, if your CRM tool is web-based, this is the easiest way to look up a contact or phone number.

But how can this be achieved? One way would be to have the web browser running already. For example, the JavaScript running in the browser could connect to the PBX and wait for an incoming call - then it would open another window. A pop-up blocker could be a road blocker here, but it can be turned off. The main problem remains that most people don’t necessarily log into the PBX first thing in the morning.

We have instead provided a small program for Windows that sits in the task bar and listens for incoming calls. When a call comes it, it opens the web browser at a programmable location. The name “CSTA browser” probably doesn't win a marketing prize, but it uses the CSTA protocol to listen for events - and it opens the browser.

On a side note, it should not only work with snom ONE, but also with other CSTA-compatible services in the network.

After using this program ourselves, we found it wasbn't very useful if the browser window opens for each and every call. So we limited the opening function to ACD calls, hunt group calls or extension calls. We had a setting control for the browser to open automatically, but even this was too intrusive for us. So we decided the opening should be controlled explicitly by the user by clicking on the balloon - this way the user has full control over the browser opening and doesn't have to be afraid the screen is cluttered with open windows after lunch.

A few months after using this program we also found situations where the connection got lost. For example, internet connections aren't always stable. In the event of disconnect, we found out it lost connection and didn't recover, so we fixed that as well. The current version is 1006, which seems to recover even from situations such as when the whole laptop goes into sleep mode and wakes up hours later in a different network.

If you want to try out the CSTA notification, check out the documentation (currently at wiki.snomone.com) and install it on your Windows PC. The CSTA browser itself is free of charge. If your PBX license doesn't include the CSTA feature, you can at least get a 30-day trial to get a taste of it.

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