Asterisk Call Files
Asterisk call files are structured files which, when moved to the appropriate directory, are able to automatically place calls using Asterisk. Call files are a great way place calls automatically without using more complex Asterisk features like the AGI, AMI, and dialplan, and require very little technical knowledge to use.
Page Contents
- How Does It Work?
- Syntax of call files
- Minimal Call File Example
- The 'failed' extension
- Scope of variables
- Creating and Moving Call Files
- VB Scripts for creating your call files from a simple text file and then moving the files to asterisk spool directory using pscp.
- Examples
- How to schedule a Call in the Future
- Tip on managing the number of simultaneous outbound calls
- More examples
- Callfiles and Call Detail Records
- Tips and hints
- A Few Ideas
- Programming Libraries For Creating / Using CallFiles
- See also
The Asterisk dial plan extensions.conf responds to someone calling an extension on a channel. If you want to initiate a call from an external application, there are several ways to do this.
There are basically four ways to initiate outgoing calls in Asterisk
- Use .call files. A call file is a text file that when placed in the correct directory makes Asterisk make an outgoing call.
- Use the manager API to activate a call. See Asterisk manager dialout
- Use the Asterisk CLI originate command
- FollowMe command of Asterisk 1.4: Since this has the abitility to fork (create multiple calls) it could be 'misused' to initiate outgoing calls.
See also additional Digium documents.
New in Asterisk 1.8: A new application Originate has been introduced, that allows asynchronous call origination from the dialplan. ...