COMPLETE - dynamic field creation within ViciDial

[mflorell]

Started from this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=3952

Goal:
To have a highly scalable, dynamic custom field creation system for use with ViciDial that would be tied to the list_id and could have up to 255 dynamically-defined fields.

Development Stages:
1. Create admin interface to manage dynamic fields per list_id *COMPLETE*
2. Create display of custom fields within the ViciDial agent interface, including variables to be used in web forms and scripts *COMPLETE*
3. Add exporting of custom tables to list download feature as well as the calls export report *COMPLETE*
4. Create list loading interface to put leads into the vicidial_list table and the custom fields, includes reusable template definitions *COMPLETE*

Limitations:
- You could not dial leads sorted by any custom fields
- Only one set of custom fields per list_id

Cost: (this is a very rough estimate)
Estimated at 100 hours (USD $18,000)

Pledged: $2900

$2000 - Trying
$300 - frank220
$250 - slider
$150 - gardo
$100 - gmcust3
$100 - starfederal


Please let me know what you think...

EDIT: 2010-05-06 - changed priority of development phases

[Op3r]

How about on per campaign? I think this will be more effective?

[mflorell]

I had thought about that, but I wanted to allow for multiple sets of fields per campaign potentially because then you could have a different set of fields for each in-group for example, because new calls are tied to a list_id, not a campaign and you can have many in-groups handled by a single campaign. So doing it based on List ID allows for more flexibility that you wouldn't get doing it by campaign. Also since this includes templating, it will not be difficult to import new leads with the same custom fields as you have already done for other lists in a campaign.

[Trying]

I will commit to $500.

[Trying]

Weird........ doesn't anyone else want these fantastic features???

[Trying]

Add another $500 from me please.

[Trying]

I will contribute another $1 000. Anyone else? Only 160 people need to contribute $100 each.

[frank220]

pledge 100 gbp

[mflorell]

Pledges need to be in USD, can I put you down for $200 ?

[frank220]

go on then -

[frank220]

Ill commit to another 100 usd - come on guys its got to be worth it!

[Trying]

Great! Imagine how cool this feature will be!!

[gmcust3]

I am committing 100$.

Sorry , a small amount.

Do I need to send this amount now ?

If so, then where ?

But strange is out of 1462 views , Only 4-5 agreed to support this feature ?

.5% ??

Sorry but how about "Moderators" ?

None agreed to Support this ?

[mflorell]

You don't need to send anything yet, once we have started work on the feature we will request payment so that we can begin development. So once we get close enough to the goal amount then I will be able to schedule development time for this.

[gmcust3]

Cant Vici send an email to all users and ask for the contribution ?

May be many users are NOT aware of this who have NOT recently visited this forum !!!

[mflorell]

I wouldn't really want to do that. I have mentioned this project to some people, but I don't think they wanted to contribute.

[gmcust3]

I am SURPRISED , NO MODERATORS showed any interest in this !!

[gmcust3]

STUNNED !!!

Such a Wonderful feature but noone wants it ?

Come on guys, just invest 100$ each and we can have this feature !!!

{ On a contrary , all other dialer ( like Dhristi , Avaya and etc ) have this features and many time we DO SEE that CENTERS think twice before opting for Vici when they hear that there is NO CUSTOMISATION available of the CRM }

[gardo]

I missed this topic. I'm pledging $150 for the development. Op3r where are you? Hehehe!

This feature IMHO would put Vicidial on par if not better with the "big boys".

[mflorell]

We have had a couple clients that expressed interest in sponsoring part of this some time in the next couple months, so hopefully this will be ready for 2.4.0 some time later this year.

[gmcust3]

I missed this topic.

Maybe other Members also missed it !!!

[Trying]

That is excellent news Matt! My $2 000 contribution still stands.

[mflorell]

Since these last several posts are not relevant to the project they need to be moved to a different forum, this forum is ONLY for discussions of the bounty, not discussions of other products. I will move the content to a new topic under development.

[starfederal]

I will also contribute $100

[slider]

This may have already been covered, but would it be possible to have 5 custom fields, like custom1,custom2,etc. and let people use those to get by until this is built?

I'll pledge $250 towards dynamic field creation or even the idea above, thx!

[mflorell]

And what would be the definition of those 5 fields?

Using a VARCHAR(255) could double the storage needs of the vicidial_list table. And most people that need several custom fields need a lot more than 5.

Currently we will usually just suggest using a CRM like Vtiger or a custom table for the fields the customer needs if they don't have an internal system already.

[slider]

...using a CRM like Vtiger or a custom table for the fields the customer needs if they don't have an internal system already.

Thx for the quick reply. Can you elaborate a bit on how people have the custom table setup with the web gui?

I think your making good long term decisions and I support that. On the flip side, I was looking for something short and simple that doesn't require vtiger as I don't want to deal with another system for the type of lists I deal with.

Put me down for bounty in last post, thx.

[mflorell]

Just making a simple PHP or other web page that interacts with a custom table on the backend, then using an IFRAME in the script tab to receive and display the information.

[arvindsandilya24]

Hi All,

Buzzworks is company located in India and we use highly modified vicidial (mostly agent/reports side) at our current install base of 400+ seats spread out in 5 cities across country and for different clients.. custom fields were always needed for different processes and we had to try to implement them..

when at first we tried the webform approach it didnt worked well because of 2 separate screens which were not communicating well, our current approach is much cleaner and well integrated.
Features :
0. Everything in Single agent screen.
1. Unlimited dynamic fields per Campaign
2. Easy Web based list loader (all you have to do is select campaign, download the template for the campaign, fill it and load back.) you can also load any number of alt numbers.
3. Disposition-vise feedback form. :- Every disposition can be attached with a separate feedback form which gets activate when the disposition is selected. this allows to capture specific information and can also act as sub-disposition.
eg
after selecting Not Interested (NI) you can have a drop-down in which you can select exact reason and finally get a report based on this.
4. Custom fields can be used with scripts easily.

some of the screenies are located here : http://buzzworks.com/data/dialer.zip
Based on Vicidial version : 2.0.5
please ask back if you have any queries.

Thankyou.

[gmcust3]

Cool..

Anyway , to download the code ?

May be by paying $$ ?

[Trying]

Excellent. Same question from me..... where can we download the code?

[mflorell]

As the original copyright holder of this modified code I formally request the full source code.

[arvindsandilya24]

Hi Matt,

since you formally requested (pun intended) please find below links for the code.. there are also some db changes done (mostly increasing the column size in some tables..) but are not a pre-requirement to run this one.

so here goes.. changes are just too many if you ask me, we are not using the vicidial method of hidden and visible divs/spans they were too slow on slow systems. now we store all html in javascript variables and make them render when needed.

## we have stopped using the vicidial_list tables original fields.. existing fields are used only for indexing purpose. all data except phone_number goes into the comments field.
## alt numbers mechanism is changed
## added a config file varconfig.php which can be moved to admin interface later
## completely changed the calls lists (callback and other)
## single login page

lot of changes are less than optimum for handling huge lodes but they have worked for data in a few millions..we have done a lot of optimizations when needed.

anyways.. as you can see this is edited on 2.0.5 which is fairly new, we are still heavily editing the code.. lot of features are incomplete (eg generalisation of firing mail per campaign on marked dispositions..) which also means you might be having completely different priorities on the changes.

on closing note, i hope we get some credit if u like some of the additions.

Thanks

http://buzzworks.com/data/agc.zip

[gmcust3]

Tried it. Looks pretty cool , after a long time, something new and fresh !!

Functionality wise, many not working, though may be DB update reqd.

[mflorell]

Looking at the code, a few comments:
- there are no headers on the files you have created/separated, a legal requirements of the license is that you maintain the copyright notice
- there are several tables/db changes that need to be documented for this to even function properly
- if you made changes to the backend scripts then this code doesn't do much for anyone
- I don't quite understand the "all data goes in the comments fields" statement, could you explain exactly how this works?

[arvindsandilya24]

Hi,

1. as fas as I understand, GPL is enforced only when publishing/distributing the modified work. as we only used the changes on our own hardware I dont think we are required to comply (it is as good as internal use of the software)

however will try to make it done ( this would be so unproductive..)

2. DB changes needed :


CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `buzzworks_alert` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`user` int(11) NOT NULL,
`alert` varchar(512) NOT NULL,
`dateofexpire` date NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;


CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `custom_field` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`campaign_id` varchar(8) NOT NULL,
`name` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`vname` varchar(128) NOT NULL,
`type` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
`mandatory` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
`comment` varchar(5000) NOT NULL,
`edit` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
`default` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`size_text` int(11) NOT NULL,
`size_content` int(11) NOT NULL,
`type_text_box` varchar(10) NOT NULL,
`group` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`position` int(11) NOT NULL,
`mainform_priority` varchar(3) default NULL,
`status` varchar(512) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
UNIQUE KEY `campaign_id` (`campaign_id`,`name`,`position`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

ALTER TABLE `vicidial_list` CHANGE `province` `province` VARCHAR(10000) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci NULL DEFAULT NULL, CHANGE `comments` `comments` VARCHAR(10000) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci NULL DEFAULT NULL;
ALTER TABLE `vicidial_log` CHANGE `alt_dial` `alt_dial` VARCHAR( 10000 ) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci NULL DEFAULT 'NONE' ;



3. No changes to backend scripts. so i guess this can be useful.

4. Storing of Lead data/custom fields :- what is happening now is for a perticular campaign custom_field table contains the field description (meta about firlds)

now comments column of vicidial list will be in this format : "FieldName1~FieldValue1|FieldName2~FieldValue2|..." javascript takes care of everything else.

[arvindsandilya24]

5 . If you cant run some of the functionalities you might need to do some config changes (varconfig.php) ...

Thanks

[mflorell]

1. Ah, but vicidial 2.0.5 is AGPL, not GPL. Under this license the software is considered "distributed" if any users outside of your company are actually using the software. You must offer a full source code download.

If you had based this on 2.0.4(which was GPL) you would not.


4. where are the Admin changes for configuring the custom fields? Do you have to do this manually in the database or is there a GUI interface?

[brett05]

i think they are a gui interface because no way to use all this dynamic forms and comments without having a interface for it
we hope it share it here
thanks again arvindsandilya24

[DarknessBBB]

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