Defining General Control Elements

Learn how to define General Control Elements to use additional functionality.

The following types of controls are available:

  • General buttons: Users can directly call a function using these buttons, e.g. a button that allows call center agents to carry out a private phone call.
  • Toggle buttons: Users can turn a function on and off using these buttons, e.g. a button used by call center agents to indicate that they are taking a break, informing the system that they are unavailable to answer calls. Once the user clicks on the button a second time (to disable the function), calls are again forwarded to the agent.

    Different icons can be displayed depending on the buttons state, and the visual appearance (up or down) of the button also changes to reflect the state.

  • Icon buttons: These are not true buttons, but are used to display icons that inform users, e.g. of the system's current state.
  • Text elements: Text elements can be displayed in the CRM.phone toolbar, e.g. to inform call center agents how long a caller has waiting in the queue.

If you wish to use additional functionality that is not included in CRM.phone by default, these functionality must be programmed (contact your Aurea representative for information). The CRM.phone SDK is available for this purpose.

You can assign buttons to additional function or define text elements (to display text in CRM.phone) in the CRM.phone General Controls dialog. The individual icons and tooltips (for buttons), or texts (for text elements) need to be added to the CRM.phone General Controls dialog in the same order as in the DLL programmed using the SDK, >> CRM.phone SDK Technical Documentation.

You can assign multiple icons and tooltips (defined in the code) to a button, each corresponding to the possible states that a button can have (e.g. a button could be up or down, a function could be activated or disabled, etc.).

Note: Tooltips are not displayed for inactive buttons in the toolbar.

To define a new control element:

  1. Start the Rights module.
  2. Select Extras > CRM.phone General Controls from the menu.

    The CRM.phone General Controls dialog is displayed.

  3. Define the desired options:
  4. Save your custom elements as a format.
  5. Click on Close.

Defining Buttons

You can define various button properties, e.g. the icons and tooltips displayed. You can define different icon buttons for each of the buttons possible states.
Note: The order in which you add the icons and tooltips must match the order in your DLL, see CRM.phone SDK Technical Documentation.

To define a button (in the following example, a toggle button):

  1. Switch to the Buttons tab.
  2. Select the Button type. For further details, see Control Types.
  3. Click on (New Button) in the Buttons pane and enter the Name of the button. The name is displayed in the CRM.phone Toolbar Layout dialog. For further details, see Configuring the Toolbar Layout.

    The Button Properties pane is enabled.

  4. Click on (New Icon) in the Button Properties pane and select the icon to be displayed on the button. You can choose one of CRM.phone's default icons, or load your own bitmap image from file. If the icon you load from the file is larger than the default icon, the icon is cropped in Aurea.CRM web, i. e. only a part fitting the default icon's size is displayed.
    Note: Any icons you add from a file are added to the format. Any subsequent changes to the local file are not automatically applied to the format. If you change the icon, you need to add the icon to the format again.

    Also pay attention to the color displayed as transparent in CRM.phone. For further details, see Transparent Button Icons.

    You can assign several icons to a button. Which button is displayed at which time is determined by the DLL developed using the SDK.

    All icons assigned to a button must be the same size.

  5. Click on (New Tooltip) in the Tooltips pane to enter a tooltip.

    You can assign several tooltips to a button. Which tooltip is displayed at which time is determined by the DLL developed using the SDK.

  6. Enter an ID for each button that matches the ID used in the DLL developed using the SDK.
  7. If the function developed using the SDK requires the number of the current line, e.g. for the "Record Voice" function, enable the Include line number check box.

Transparent Button Icons

If you have added an image from a file to your format, always remember that the top-left pixel in the image is treated as transparent color. This color is therefore not displayed on the screen.

Ensure that this color is not used by the actual image itself, otherwise the image is not displayed correctly.

The default background color used by CRM.phone's default icons is bright green (RGB: 0, 255, 0). This color is only used for backgrounds in images, ensuring that the icons are displayed correctly.

Defining Text Elements

Note: The order in which you add predefined text fields must match the order in the DLL developed using the SDK, >> CRM.phone SDK Technical Documentation.

To define a text element:

  1. Switch to the Text fields tab.
  2. Click on (New Text Field) in the Text Fields pane and enter a name. The name is displayed in the CRM.phone Toolbar Layout dialog. For further details, see Configuring the Toolbar Layout.

    The Text Field Properties pane is enabled.

  3. Click on (New Text) in the Text Field Properties pane to enter the desired text.

    You can assign several predefined texts to a text field. Which field is displayed at which time is determined by the DLL developed using the SDK.

  4. Enter an ID for each text field. The ID must match the ID in the DLL developed using the SDK.
  5. Enable the Transparent background color check box to determine that the text field should be displayed with a transparent background.

Spacing Elements

If you wish to space elements in the toolbar, e.g. two buttons, you can do this using a text element.
Note: You can only use each text element once. You therefore need to define a new text element each time you wish to space elements.

To define a text element use to space elements:

  1. Define an empty text field. For further details, see Defining Text Elements.
    • Give the element a meaningful name, such as "Space1", to make it easy to identify.
    • Enable the Transparent background color option.
  2. Define the width of the empty text field. For further details, see Formatting Text Fields.
  3. Add the text field to the toolbar at the desired position. For further details, see Toolbar Layout.

Loading Controls Formats

If you have previously saved custom controls in a controls format, you can load the format, e.g. to edit it. You can add controls in the format to the CRM.phone toolbar. For further details, see Toolbar Layout.
Note: These controls are not available in Aurea.CRM web.

To load a controls format:

  1. Select Extras >  CRM.phone General Controls from the menu.

    The CRM.phone General Controls dialog is displayed.

  2. Click on (Load) under Controls Format.
  3. Select the desired format and confirm with OK.