This document was generated from CDN thread
Created by: Larry Michalewicz on 10-09-2010 11:25:00 AM
We would like to understand from a developer's point of view what Cisco APIs are important to you. This will help us define the current knowledge base of our audience and will help understand which technology interactions will provide the most value in the short run.
Larry M.
Cisco Systems
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: David Blair on 24-09-2010 12:54:50 PM
Personally I use the JTAPI interface for Call Control. Also, the XML objects for displaying text and images on the phones with displays. Hmm...that brings up an interesting question. Is the Cius running a softphone application when it is docked to allow these interactions with the device, kind of like how the IP Communicator emulates a 7970?
I also use just enough of the AXL API to run SQL queries against the Call Manager and Call Center Express databases.
When the Cius SDK comes out, I'd like to try my hand at writing a Supervisor Desktop (CCX) application for the device similar to the existing PC application and the iPhone Mobile Supervisor App...or failing that, a simple call center wallboard display.
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: Larry Michalewicz on 24-09-2010 02:30:08 PM
Thanks for replying David. I had started to wonder if I had done something wrong which didn't allow people to answer. If I had a prize (I don't) you would have won
The Cisco Cius does not run a softphone, it is a Cisco IP Phone. The phone functionality is part of the platform, not an application running on top of the platform. Also, the phone functiality is there docked or not. The XSI (XML) APIs really don't make sense when you have the full power of Android at your finger tips, at the same time, we acknowledge that there are already a large number of applications in the field that are built on the XSI technology, so our plan is to try to ease the pain a bit by providing some tools, technologies and best practices that will assist in migrating existing XSI applications to something that makes more sense on Cisco Cius.
For JTapi and AXL, we are actively looking at what components of those technologies that make sense at the device. Some of those will be built into the platform but for things like AXL, there is no real reason you couldn't create an AXL client, that runs on the Cius using the same basic techniques you would use on a PC.
Thanks for your response,
Larry M.
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: Bryan Lathrop on 24-09-2010 03:01:46 PM
Created by: Larry Michalewicz on 10-09-2010 11:25:00 AM
We would like to understand from a developer's point of view what Cisco APIs are important to you. This will help us define the current knowledge base of our audience and will help understand which technology interactions will provide the most value in the short run.
Larry M.
Cisco Systems
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: David Blair on 24-09-2010 12:54:50 PM
Personally I use the JTAPI interface for Call Control. Also, the XML objects for displaying text and images on the phones with displays. Hmm...that brings up an interesting question. Is the Cius running a softphone application when it is docked to allow these interactions with the device, kind of like how the IP Communicator emulates a 7970?
I also use just enough of the AXL API to run SQL queries against the Call Manager and Call Center Express databases.
When the Cius SDK comes out, I'd like to try my hand at writing a Supervisor Desktop (CCX) application for the device similar to the existing PC application and the iPhone Mobile Supervisor App...or failing that, a simple call center wallboard display.
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: Larry Michalewicz on 24-09-2010 02:30:08 PM
Thanks for replying David. I had started to wonder if I had done something wrong which didn't allow people to answer. If I had a prize (I don't) you would have won
The Cisco Cius does not run a softphone, it is a Cisco IP Phone. The phone functionality is part of the platform, not an application running on top of the platform. Also, the phone functiality is there docked or not. The XSI (XML) APIs really don't make sense when you have the full power of Android at your finger tips, at the same time, we acknowledge that there are already a large number of applications in the field that are built on the XSI technology, so our plan is to try to ease the pain a bit by providing some tools, technologies and best practices that will assist in migrating existing XSI applications to something that makes more sense on Cisco Cius.
For JTapi and AXL, we are actively looking at what components of those technologies that make sense at the device. Some of those will be built into the platform but for things like AXL, there is no real reason you couldn't create an AXL client, that runs on the Cius using the same basic techniques you would use on a PC.
Thanks for your response,
Larry M.
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: Bryan Lathrop on 24-09-2010 03:01:46 PM
...or failing that, a simple call center wallboard display.
I set up an app like this last year, before the phone was
announced, for myself. We had an existing application for the phones
that shows us some info such as time in queue, etc. it was pretty simple
to write an app to get/parse/display the xml on the phone.
I'd like to know if we'll be able to configure the phone similar to the way
we do now: Configure an idle display and services w/URL of the
application and have it show up at the phone. Our internal app uses the
info returned from the phone to get defaults for a user, so it would be
good to know if it will have that also.
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: Larry Michalewicz on 24-09-2010 03:23:42 PM
...I'd like to know if we'll be able to configure the phone similar to the way
we do now: Configure an idle display and services w/URL of the
application and have it show up at the phone....
I'm not sure the concept of an Idle URL translates completely to the Cius. It may be configurable from the CUCM as it is today for our other devices, I honestly don't know at this time. But either way, since Cius runs Android and Android is a multitasking OS, the concept of "idle" is an interesting one.
The first two things that come to mind for me for displaying live information while "idle" are a live walpaper or a home screen widget. We'll cover both in some upcoming blog posts.
Another option is sort of a "screen saver". I don't think there is a formal screen saver defined in android, but it could easily be built. One challenge for any live data based app on a potentially mobile device is preserving battery life. We hope to develop some best practices around application behavior differences when the Cius is docked/externally powered versus when it is undocked/battery powered.
Thanks for your comments,
Larry M.
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: Kelly Stearns on 30-09-2010 03:52:01 PM...I'd like to know if we'll be able to configure the phone similar to the way
we do now: Configure an idle display and services w/URL of the
application and have it show up at the phone....
I'm not sure the concept of an Idle URL translates completely to the Cius. It may be configurable from the CUCM as it is today for our other devices, I honestly don't know at this time. But either way, since Cius runs Android and Android is a multitasking OS, the concept of "idle" is an interesting one..
The Cius devices will not support the Idle URL - as Larry states, it simply doesn't make sense for the Android user experience and framework. The Idle URL is a pretty blunt instrument in the sense that a) it only allows a single app to display information when idle, and b) the definition of "idle" is fixed in the firmware to mean that all apps are closed and there is no user input ... neither of these limitations make sense for Android. By far, the best approach is to use Widgets on the home screen. We've intentionally kept the Widget grid cell sizes to standard (for compatibility), leaving a 9x5 grid, so there's lots of space available for those widgets to display useful info that is also directly actionable by the end user - and they'll work on any Android device (although you typically have a lot less space on other devices). If you have background events/notifications, then just follow the standard Android design and put that logic into a Service which runs in the background and triggers Intents to open any GUI Activities that are needed to interact with the user.
Subject: RE: What other Cisco APIs or technologies do you use?
Replied by: Kelly Stearns on 30-09-2010 04:11:49 PMPersonally I use the JTAPI interface for Call Control. Also, the XML objects for displaying text and images on the phones with displays.
The XML GUI objects will no longer be supported because they just don't fit well with the Android user experience (which doesn't have softkeys and is very touch-centric). However, we will continue to support the non-GUI-related features, including ability to push CiscoIPPhoneExecute objects over CTI/JTAPI, and any HTTP URLs included in the CiscoIPPhoneExecute objects will be handled by the web browser ... so your app can replace the XML GUI markup with XHTML GUI markup and use pretty much the same logic for push interaction with the Cius.
We're also investigating a mechanism for encapsulating and pushing Android Intents over the CTI tunnel (and possibly via HTTPS) so that you could deliver events directly to your native Android apps, in addition to just launching HTML pages/apps. How important would this be for you guys ?