Fred Posner @ Astricon 2009

It’s October and that means I’m going to Phoenix!

Astricon, the meet-up of Asterisk users / developers / fans / etc, starts October 13th, and this year I received the honor of presenting. My talk, Asterisk Applications: Unexpected Hurdles, showcases the Ann Arbor Parking “Smackdown” earlier this year.

As an added benefit… my Wife will be joining me

GRRRRR Telemarketers!

Today I posted some recordings I made using something I like to call the “Annoyatron.” Basically, using Asterisk (the open source Internet Telephony software) allows me to handle incoming calls based on a variety of issues.

Bottom Line: If I know you’re a telemarketer, you get the annoyatron.

The full article is posted on VoIP Tech Chat.

You know… while you’re checking out the link above, try other articles on VoIP Tech Chat… lots of great things to read. Some are even… dare I say… entertaining?

Take for example that link above… it has audio of the annoyatron in action. And not just one example. Please, that would be amateur. Friends, I say friends, we here have for your listening pleasure not 1 but 2, I say TWO great examples of the FIS Annoyatron. Come one, come all, welcome to the show!

So, using a simple Perl script, you can check many resources and attempt to get the calling party’s name. There are tons of caller id lookup scripts out there, but most require the Asterisk Perl AGI module, a localized NPA/NXX database, or a local database query.

Since I don’t like installing the module, don’t want to install a local lookup table, and don’t wish to cache CID names in a database, I’ve modified publicly available scripts as follows (also, check up the write up on Team Forrest, with a little more detail):

Update: AnyWho changed their url and format, the new code is live on Team Forrest but the old code is still below.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use LWP::UserAgent;
$|=1;
sub trim($);

my %AGI; my $tests = 0; my $fail = 0; my $pass = 0; my $result = ""; my $cidnum = ""; my $cidname = "";
my $npa = ""; my $nxx = ""; my $station = ""; my $name = "";

$cidnum = $ARGV[0];

while(<STDIN>) {
	chomp;
	last unless length($_);
	if (/^agi_(\w+)\:\s+(.*)$/) {
		$AGI{$1} = $2;
	}
}

my $AnyWho = '1' ;
my $Google = '1' ;
my $www411 = '1' ;

if(substr($cidnum,0,1) eq '1'){
$cidnum=substr($cidnum,1);
}

if(substr($cidnum,0,2) eq '+1'){
$cidnum=substr($cidnum,2);
}

if ($cidnum =~ /^(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})$/) {
	$npa = $1;
	$nxx = $2;
	$station = $3;
	}
elsif($cidnum =~/\<(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})\>/){
	$npa = $1;
	$nxx = $2;
	$station = $3;
	}
else {
	print qq(VERBOSE "ERROR: unable to parse caller id" 2\n);
	exit(0);
} 

if ($AnyWho > '0') {
	print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: checking AnyWho for name lookup" 2\n);
	if ($name = &anywho_lookup ($npa, $nxx, $station)) {
		$cidname = $name;
		print qq(SET VARIABLE CALLERID\(name\) "$cidname"\n);
		print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: AnyWho said name was $cidname " 2\n);
		exit(0);
		}
	else {
		print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: unable to find name with AnyWho" 2\n);
		}
	}
else {
	print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: AnyWho lookup disabled" 2\n);
}

if ($Google > '0') {
	print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: checking Google for name lookup" 2\n);
	if ($name = &google_lookup ($npa, $nxx, $station)) {
		$cidname = $name;
		print qq(SET VARIABLE CALLERID\(name\) "$cidname"\n);
		print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: Google said name was $cidname " 2\n);
		exit(0);
		}
	else {
		print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: unable to find name with Google" 2\n);
		}
	}
else {
	print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: Google lookup disabled" 2\n);
}

if ($www411 > '0') {
	print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: checking www411 for name lookup" 2\n);
	if ($name = &www411_lookup ($npa, $nxx, $station)) {
		$cidname = $name;
		print qq(SET VARIABLE CALLERID\(name\) "$cidname"\n);
		print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: www411 said name was $cidname " 2\n);
		exit(0);
		}
	else {
		print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: unable to find name with www411" 2\n);
		}
	}
else {
	print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: www411 lookup disabled" 2\n);
}

print qq(SET VARIABLE CALLERID\(name\) "$cidnum"\n);
print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: Unknown name for $cidnum " 2\n);
exit(0); 

sub anywho_lookup {
	my ($npa, $nxx, $station) = @_;
	my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( timeout => 45);
	my $URL = 'http://www.anywho.com/qry/wp_rl';
	$URL .= '?npa=' . $npa . '&telephone=' . $nxx . $station;
	$ua->agent('AsteriskAGIQuery/1');
	my $req = new HTTP::Request GET => $URL;
	my $res = $ua->request($req);
	if ($res->is_success()) {
		if ($res->content =~ /<!-- listing -->(.*)<!-- \/listing -->/s) {
			my $listing = $1;
			if ($listing =~ /<B>(.*)<\/B>/) {
				my $clidname = $1;
				return $clidname;
			}
		}
	}
	return "";
}

sub google_lookup {
  my ($npa, $nxx, $station) = @_;
  my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( timeout => 45);
  my $URL = 'http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=phonebook:' .  $npa . $nxx . $station . '&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8';
  $ua->agent('AsteriskAGIQuery/1');
  my $req = new HTTP::Request GET => $URL;
  my $res = $ua->request($req);
  if ($res->is_success()) {
    if ($res->content =~ /<font size=-2><br><\/font><font size=-1>(.+)<font color=green>/) {
      my $temp = $1;
      my $clidname = "";
      if ( $temp =~ /(.+)<font color=green>/o ) {
        $clidname = substr($1, 0, -3);
      } else {
        $clidname = substr($temp, 0, -3);
      }
      if ($clidname =~ /<a href(.+)\//) {
        $clidname = $1 ;
        if ($clidname =~ />(.+)</) {
          $clidname = $1 ;
        }
      }
      return $clidname;
    }
  }
  return "";
} 

sub www411_lookup {
  my ($npa, $nxx, $station) = @_;
  my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( timeout => 45);
  my $URL = 'http://www.411.com/search/Reverse_Phone?phone=' .  $npa . $nxx . $station;
  $ua->agent('AsteriskAGIQuery/1');
  my $req = new HTTP::Request GET => $URL;
  my $res = $ua->request($req);
  if ($res->is_success()) {
    if ($res->content =~ /Location: <strong>(.*)<\/strong>/s) {
      my $temp = $1;
      my $clidname = "";
      $temp =~ s/&amp\;/&/g;
      $temp =~ s/%20/ /g;
						$clidname = $temp;
		    return $clidname;
     }
  }
  return "";
}

Basically, what the script does is lookup the cidname from the CID number. I pass the script an argument (the caller id number) and it checks AnyWho, Google, and 411.com (in order). I chose 411 last and just use it to replace an NPA/NXX table. Basically, if AnyWho and Google fail, I’m assuming it’s a cell phone or unlisted number and will assume 411 will only return a location. If all fails, the script sets the callerid name to be the callerid number.

I’ve integrated it into asterisk by first creating a lookup context:

[cidname-lookup]
exten => s,1,NoOp(looking up callerid name)
exten => s,n,GotoIf($["foo${CALLERID(NAME)}" = "foo" ]?getname)
exten => s,n,GotoIf($["${CALLERID(NAME)}" = "${CALLERID(NUM)}" ]?getname)
exten => s,n,NoOp(caller id name exists as ${CALLERID(NAME)})
exten => s,n,Return
exten => s,n(getname),AGI(calleridname.pl,${CALLERID(NUM)})
exten => s,n,NoOp(Caller ID Name is now ${CALLERID(NAME)})
exten => s,n,Return

Basically, if the callerid name is present (and not the phonenumber), run the script. You can then call the script from anywhere in your Asterisk dialplan using a gosub routine. Such as:

exten => s,n,Gosub(cidname-lookup,s,1)
exten => s,n,dial(${FREDPHONE},30,mt)

Are there other ways to do this? Absolutely. And some even better This way works for me… until I see a better way of doing it.

Fred with family at Thanksgiving

Good morning world and welcome to the snowed in Monday morning edition of Fred Posner dot com. Let’s discuss the weekend…

Not much happened. Let’s see, in random order:

• Yeni and I had Pizza so good I reactivated Fat Freddy Says
• The Gators beat Alabama and are headed to Miami for the Championship Game
• My Harley is back from the dealer… and is pretty much packed away until March (but sounds GREAT with my new pipes)
• Thanksgiving Pictures were posted
• Blogged about an idiotic FBI Warning
• Yeni and I started on the Holiday Vegitation
• and the Chicago Tribune filed for bankruptcy.

And how’s your day? Feel free to comment