Event Handler

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Event Handler - Block Diagram

The AlphaCom exchange is an intercom exchange of which the main task is to enable uni- and bi-directional speech. In order to be able to meet as many customer requirements as possible when it comes to special features an Event Handler has been implemented. The underlying idea is that by customer-programming this event handler functionality can be implemented which is not part of the standard feature list. The event handler is unique in the world of intercom. It is what gives the exchange its flexibility and makes it possible to meet most, if not all, customer requirements.
The Event Handler is based on the software concept that when the intercom functions run, they report 'events' to a part of the software called the Event Handler. The event can be described as a trigger that sets off an action in the system depending on the information entered in AlphaPro, the programming tool for the AlphaCom exchange. In this way, the Event Handler provides a powerful engineering tool for configuring system behaviour to meet requirements from customers.

Actions can be simple, just to operate a relay under certain circumstances. Actions can also be programmed using a scripting language and can include conditional statements. An action can itself trigger a new event, making it possible to start a chain of actions.

The principal

An event has an owner, the source which triggers the event. The following possible owners are defined:

A single station
A group of stations (UDP group) with common behaviour
The scheduler, the internal AlphaCom clock which generates a ‘tick’ every minute
EDI Text, a data port set up to receive ASCII text strings from external devices

In the case of the scheduler the event is the ‘minute tick’. Stations can trigger many different types of event.
Many events can trigger an action when the event is activated and when the event is de-activated, for instance event type 07: Conversation – Incoming. The On/Off action can be differentiated by the ‘When Change To’ flag.
Events can be, but don't have to be, related to a specific directory number or a group of stations, for instance:

Owner: Station 1
Event: Conversation - Outgoing
Related to: Directory number 102
When change to: ON
Action: RCO 2 ON

In this case the relay connected to RCO 2 will only be activated if 'Station 1' is in conversation with a station with directory nr 102, AND if Station 1 was the station which made the call. If 'Related to' was not specified, that same relay would be activated on any call which Station 1 would make.

Events Types

The list shows the available event types, grouped by function.

Event Type	No.	When triggered
Single Station Events
Audio	01	When audio is played in the speaker
Door Open - Automatick Lock	03	When the Code Lock feature is dialed
Station in Use	04	When a station becomes busy or free
Microphone Open	05	When the microphone is alive
Faulty Station Line	13	When a station is reported faulty or OK
M-key	31	When the M-key is pressed or released
Off-hook	32	When the handset is lifted or replaced
Conversation Events
Conversation Incoming	07	When a call is received
Conversation Outgoing	08	When a call is made
Private Ringing mode	09	During private ringing
Door Opening - During Conv.	02	When door opening feature (digit 6) is activated during conversation
Mail (Call Queue) Events
Received Mail	10	When a mail or a call request is received
Call Requester Mode	13	When a station sends a Call Request
Priority Mail Present	06	When a mail with priority level 100 (programmable) is present in the mail queue
Priority Mail in Idle	12	When a priority mail is present, and the station is not in conversation
Mail Timeout	20	When a mail times out
New Current Mail	23	When the current mail in the queue is changed
New First Mail	24	When a new mail arrives first in the queue
Conference Events
Simplex Conference Audio	16	When listening to simplex conference, and the $VOX command is activated
Simplex Conference Member	17	When a station joins a simplex conference
Open Duplex Conf. Ringing	18	During ringing to an open duplex conference
Open Duplex Conf. Connect	19	When a station connects to an open duplex conference
Event Triggers
Event Trigger	15	When dialing a directory number with feature number 52, 85, 95 or 105
Event Trigger with parameter	25	When dialing Event Trigger feature 95 or 105, preceeded by a directory number or digit
Start: Event Trigger with param.	26	When dialing a directory number with feature number 95
Event Timeout	21	When a timer started by the $ST command expires
Station DAK key as RCI	30	When a DAK key is pressed
Scheduling
Scheduler (Minute Tick)	22	When matching the specified date (or weekdays) and time
EDI - External Data Input
External Data Input	28	When receiving ASCII data on EDI port
System Events
System Status	27	When a device is reported up or down
AlphaNet Link	29	When an AlphaNet link is reported up or down

Action Commands

There are two types of Action Commands which can be used by the Event Handler, Built-In Action Commands and Data Protocol Commands.

Both type of commands can include parameters and macros (e.g. %1.dir and %clk(8))

Built-In Action Commands

Built-in Action Commands are three- or four-letter commands. The commands are case-insensitive as from AMC 08.20. Most of the Built-In commands also have a Data Protocol implementation.

Command	Description	From AMC ver.
PRS	Audio Program to Station
PRG	Audio Program to Group
CNG	Simplex Conference to Group
MST	Mail to Station
MGR	Mail to Group
MPP	Mail to Pocket Pager
AMS	Alarm Message to Station
AMG	Alarm Message to Group
RCO	Set Remote Control Output
EDO	Send text to serial port External Data Output EDO 1 - 4
LOG	Send text to exchange’s log port (including date/time)
IND	Indicator control for CRMIV LEDs, buzzer etc.
OWN	Modify Event Owner (%1) and/or Related_To (%2) values
WUDD	Write a value to an User Defined Data UDD
TMP	Write a string to a temporary variable

Data Protocol Commands

Data Protocol Commands are using ASCII commands in the Simple Link Layer format. The commands begin with $ or @. Data Protocol Commands became available for use in the Event Handler from software version AMC 08.00.

Context Parameters and macros

Action commands used in the Event Handler can contain context parameters and macros. They both return a value.

Context Parameters are related to the actual event, and refer to the involved station(s) or functions. A parameter always starts with the character "%". Context parameters are useful for defining the action of a rule where the condition is a UDP_group.

%1: the parameter is associated with the Owner field
%2: the parameter is associated with the Related to field
%3: the parameter is associated with the When change to field

A macro is unrelated to the event itself. It reads information from the memory (nvram) or performs a calculation. Also a macro always starts with the character "%".

Macros and parameters can be nested freely, and makes it possible to build complicated expressions.

List of context parameters

Parameter	Short name (owner)	Returned value	From version
%1.phy	%1p	The physical number	AMC 06.00?
%1.dir	%1d	The directory number	AMC 06.00?
%1.nam	%1n	The name (display text)	AMC 06.00?
%1.exp	%1e	The User defined parameter	AMC 06.00?
%1.dak	%1k	The number of the DAK key containing a specified string	AMC 06.00?
%1.nod		The node number	AMC 06.00?
%1.ref		The node and directory number %1.ref is equivalent to "L(%1.nod) %1.dir"	AMC 06.00?
%1.mpri		Priority of the mail. Available in mail related events only	AMC 06.00?
%1.mfre		Free-text of station mail if available, else ”-”. Available in mail related events only	AMC 06.00?
%1.tag		Mail tag. Unique mail identification. Available in mail related events only	AMC 06.00?
%1.dev		The device number	AMC 09.03
%1.brd		The board number	AMC 09.03
%1.port		The board number	AMC 09.03
%3.chg	%3c	ON_txt when the event goes ON OFF_txt when the event goes OFF Example: LOG “Door %1.dir is %chg(OPEN ,CLOSED)“ Result, event ON: - “Door 123 is OPEN ” Result, event OFF: - “Door 123 is CLOSED”	AMC 06.00?
%3.rft	%3r	Action command parameter which substitutes the parameter with a text describing the on/off transition of the event. Some events can be reported many times (e.g. line errors), and it's possible to have different actions depending on if this is the first time, or a Refresh.	AMC 06.00?

Note: %2 can be used instead of %1. %2 will refer to the 'Related To' filed instead of the 'Owner' field.

List of macros

Macro	Description	From version
%op	Macro for numeric calculations	AMC 08.20
%udd	Read User Defined variable	AMC 08.20
%tmp	Read Temporary variable	AMC 10.00
%sng	Next group which station is member of	AMC 08.20
%gns	Next member station of group	AMC 08.20
%sgm	Is station member of group	AMC 08.20
%clk	Read current date/time	AMC 08.20
%clkyear	Read current year	AMC 08.20
%clkmon	Read current month	AMC 08.20
%clkday	Read current day	AMC 08.20
%clkmin	Read current minute	AMC 08.20
%clksec	Read current second	AMC 08.20
%clkwday	Read current day of week (1 = Monday, 7 = Sunday)	AMC 08.20
%1.clk, %1.clkyear etc	Read the sceduling tick time	AMC 08.20
%gnv	The value of the NVRAM-parameter	AMC 09.05

Formating

Text adjustment parameters can be added to all %xxx macros

%xxx(width,filler)

width: Length of field

If ‘<’ is put immediately after the width, it means left-adjustment. Default is right adjustment

filler: If width is wider than the returned value, the specified filler character is filled in

Typical fillers are

” ” (space)

”0” (leading zero)

”F” (MPC protocol)

The filler can be omitted: %xxx(width). Then ” ” (space) will be used as filler if required. It is not allowed with space between the formatting parameters

Examples:

%1.dir

Minimum:         %1.dir        - Example result:  “123”
MPC format:      %1.dir(4,F)   - Example result:  “F123”
Two last digits: %1.dir(2)     - Example result:  “23”

%1.nam

Minimum:           %1.nam      - “Mr. Smith”
5 last characters: %1.nam(5)   - “Smith”
12 char, right :   %1.nam(12)  - “   Mr. Smith”
12 char, left :    %1.nam(12<) - “Mr. Smith   ”

%udd (assuming decimal value 65 is stored in UDD 12)

%udd(12)         - “65”
%udd(12,4)       - “  65”
%udd(12,4<)      - “65  ”  
%udd(12,4,f)     - “ff65”  
%udd(12,4<,f)    - “65ff”

Statements

PAUSE pauses the event handler command interpreter for 100ms

IF/ENDIF Conditional statement. If the text/expression after the keyword IF evaluates to ‘0’, all following commands/statements are skipped until the keyword ENDIF is encountered; IF/ENDIF statements can be nested

STOP The statement STOP stops the execution of the action string. Is only useful in front of the keyword ENDIF

TMP - Write Temporary Variable

WUDD - Write User Defined Data

Debugging Event Handler Actions

EDO port

TST Console

DT - data protocol trace

CSI - Command String Intepreter