Jester

• Index

Contents

• Profile configuration
• Things typically stored in a profile
• Default profile

Topics

• 01-Intro
• 02-Profiles
• 03-Sequences
• 04-Scripts
• 05-Developer

Modules

• core
• core.conf
• core_actions
• couchdb
• data
• dialplan_tools
• email
• event
• file
• format
• get_digits
• hangup
• log
• navigation
• play
• record
• service
• speech_to_text
• system
• tracker

Scripts

• jester.lua
• socket.lua
• extract_actions.lua
• action_map.lua

Examples

• log_test.lua
• phone_to_post_test.lua

Jester's profile system

A profile is a high-level configuration tool that allows you to override certain Jester global configurations, in addition to providing your own custom constants that you can access in any sequences loaded within the profile.

Jester must be given a valid profile to run when it is called.

The main advatages of profiles are:

1. They provide an easy way to store constants that are used over and over again in sequences, such as database connection configurations, or paths to custom sound files, etc.
2. They allow you to only load the modules you need for the sequences you are running, so you can load different sets of modules at different times depending on what sequences you are running. Used properly, this can make Jester more efficient.
3. If you design your sequences intelligently, you can make them behave in different ways by loading different profiles with different settings.

Profile configuration

The profile configuration lives at jester/profiles/[name]/conf.lua ([name] being the name of the profile). The configuration is loaded after the global configuration to allow overrides, but also loaded fairly early in the bootstrap process to allow for maximum control.

Profiles can use variables from two places:

1. Global configuration: Variables defined in jester/conf.lua can be accessed through the global namespace, eg.

   global.base_dir
   

   Accesses the base_dir variable from the global configuration.
2. Channel variables: Variables defined in the current FreeSWITCH channel that Jester is running in can be accessed through the get_variable() function, eg.

   get_variable("caller_id_name")
   

   Accesses the caller_id_name variable from the channel.

Profile configurations are allowed to override the main configuration for the following variables:

• modules
• sequence_path
• key_order
• debug

The default 'voicemail' profile configuration file is well commented, check it out for more details.

Things typically stored in a profile

Profiles are meant to be an easy way to keep everything together.

In typical practice, the sequences, phrase macros, database schemas, etc. that a profile uses are all stored under the main profile directory, to make it centralized and portable.

This does require a bit of extra configuration in some areas:

Sequences:

The global sequence_path variable will need to be overridden, and instead pointed to a location inside the profile. A common line would be:

sequence_path = global.profile_path .. "/[name]/sequences"

Phrase macros:

These are normally kept in the various 'lang' folders in the main FreeSWITCH configuration, but they can be stored in a custom location. A typical configuration line for that in, for example, the conf/lang/en/en.xml FreeSWITCH configuration file, would be:

<X-PRE-PROCESS
  cmd="include"
  data="$${base_dir}/scripts/jester/profiles/[name]/phrases.xml"
/>

Default profile

The included default 'voicemail' profile (located at profiles/voicemail) is a replica of Asterisk's Comedian Mail.

It is intended to be an exact replica of the original version shipped with Asterisk 1.2/1.4, a showcase of the power and flexibility of the Jester system, and a template to use as a starting place for learning and building other workflows.

Everything needed to set up the profile is included in the profile directory. Check out the INSTALL.txt there for more details.