SafiServer and SafiWorkshop (version 1.3RC1) are now available for download. We've fixed several major bugs that were found in the 1.3 Beta versions.

Here are a few of the fixes and additions:

• BUG FIX: Issue with SaveAs function
• BUG FIX: Boolean Editor missing in SafiWorkshop
• ExecuteApplication: Application property changed to dynamic value
• Fixed underlying bug with ThreadLocal vars in SafiServer that was causing errors
• The Linux installer and service scripts are back (tested on CentOS)
  

  To install the Linux SafiServer, un-tar the download to a directory of your choice:
  

  tar zxfv SafiServer-1.3.0.RC1.tar.gz
  
  Run the install script (located in the SafiServer root directory)
  
  cd SafiServer-1.3.0
  ./installserver.sh
  
  
  You should see the following:
  
  Fill in the appropriate information and the service should start automatically. Note: SafiServer startup may take a few minutes. You can verify that the service is running by looking in the karaf.log file (found at my_install_dir/SafiServer-1.3.0/date/log/karaf.out). You should see the following line after the server has started:
  
  
  Listening on *:4573.
  
  

Please let us know if you come across any issues: Forum: Issues and Questions

-Eric

If you noticed that it's been a little quiet on the new Safi releases front, here's why:  Over the past few months we've been working on integrating SafiServer with Servicemix, the popular SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) platform by Apache.  Our goal is to expose many of the powerful features of ServiceMix to Saflet developers including integrations with SNMP, email, JMS (Java Messaging Service), job scheduling, Web Services, file i/o, HTTP and TCP sockets, and many other technologies.  ServiceMix 4 also provides a modular framework (OSGI-based) allowing functionality of SafiServer to be updated or extended on the fly in a more fundamental way than is possible with the current SafiServer update mechanism, all with minimal disruption of service.  ServiceMix includes a comprehensive management API that, once integrated, will provide the SafiServer administrator with a detailed view of the system, from the very high level down to individual components. 

So what does this mean to you?  One nice new piece of functionality enabled directly by the new ServiceMix integration is the Web Service-based remote Saflet invocation.  The SafiServer now hosts a Web Service (http://localhost:9090/safletInvokerPort?wsdl by default) that exposes an operation allowing Saflets to be invoked with full support for input and output parameters.  This is an incredibly powerful feature and documentation and examples will be available on the Safi Systems website in the near future. 

Other than that, SafiWorkshop/SafiServer users shouldn't see too much evidence of this new architecture.  The real payoff of this integration effort will become apparent when we're able to leverage the power of ServiceMix in the form of new ActionSteps and SafiServer services, expanding the capabilities of the SafiServer beyond the world of telephony and further into the larger realm of the modern enterprise.  This release represents the first step in that direction and consequently this is a Beta release.  However, SafiServer/SafiWorkshop users will be happy to learn that many bug fixes and enhancements have been included as well.

Download Beta Versions Here

• Improvements/Enhancements

• Saflet Invocation via Web Services
• Standalone Custom Initiator Client for invoking Saflets remotely
• under the hood uses aforementioned Web Service Saflet Invocation
  
• "Stateless" Saflets
• All Saflets are now stateless reducing memory overhead and Saflet invocation latency.
  
• New Manager API ActionStep
• Exposes complete AMI (Asterisk Manager Interface) API
• Useful for special cases where no ActionStep providing specific functionality exists
• Majority of "colorful" language removed from console output
  
• Bug Fixes
• Remote DB connections from SafiWorkshop don't always work
  
• completely new implementation of database connections from the SafiWorkshop.  All connections are now created from the SafiServer without requiring port redirection (which caused issues in some cases)
• RunQuery: Query parameters not always in sequence
• Web Service ActionStep not working
• fixed issue caused by missing classpath entry
  
• Getting CallInfo for outbound calls not working
  
• Known Issues
• Not all relevant logging messages getting logged to SafiWorkshop console
• Some debug messages are duplicated in SafiWorkshop console
• Server restart is not implemented.
• Changing sa password is not possible from SafiWorkshop
• First call to CallWSByWSDL takes a long time

The latest versions of SafiServer and SafiWorkshop are now available for download.   We've been working hard adding new features, fixing bugs and improving the overall user interface.  We believe that this release will truly showcase the power, flexibility, and user friendliness of our product offering.

 Some of the new additions you'll find in this latest release are:

• Double-clickable ActionSteps with dialog boxes (double click ActionSteps to edit that ActionSteps properties)
  
• All in one SafiServer system monitor, server updater, log viewer and license updater page
• Session and Global variables
• Boolean editor: for quickly creating condition statements
  
• Feature rich scripting editor (with function tree)
• A more robust SafiServer update system
• Better cut and paste
• Updated InvokeSaflet ActionStep
• Many UI tweaks
• Bug fixes

• Installing SafiWorkshop
• Installing SafiServer
• Connecting to a Production SafiServer
• Setting up the Debug SafiServer
• Using the Prompt Managment System

• SafiWorkshop
• SafiServer

Over the past month we have been diligently working on our forth and (hopefully) final beta release of the SafiServer/SafiWorkshop environment.  This version (1.4) will be more of a release candidate and will have all the main features that will be include in the commercial release.  We hope to have this beta up and available for download sometime with in the next couple weeks.

We are very excited about all the new features and enhancements to our product.  Our goal has always been to make our software intuitive, friendly and powerful; and we believe this release will reassert that vision.

Some of the new features in version 1.4 include:

• Double-clickable ActionSteps with dialog boxes
• A SafiServer system monitor page
• Session and Global variables
• Boolean editor
• Feature rich scripting editor (with function tree)
• A more robust SafiServer updater
• ...and of course bug fixes / performance enhancements

SafiServer and SafiWorkshop Beta 3 (Version 1.3.0) are now available for download. 

Here's a list of some of the new features and fixes included in these new versions:

• Integrated Prompt Studio (with recording, importing, and editing)
• Automatic Prompt Distribution (to all the Asterisk servers connected to the production SafiServer)
• Prompt Browser (Browse prompts created in SafiWorkshop and those currently present on the Asterisk PBXs)
• Added TimebaseRouting ActionStep
• Live Saflet Validation
• Improved Custom Initiator Dialog for easier debugging
• Improved Dynamic Value Editor
• Improved Menu System
• Auto Complete and Contextual Coloring in SQL Editor
• Improved Extension ActionStep
• Added Welcome Page with Quick-start Guide
• Added Copy and Paste Features
• Updated Help Section (complete ActionStep overview)
  
• FIXED: Issue with Choice ActionStep
• FIXED: Communication errors between standalone SafiServer and SafiWorkshop
• FIXED: Issue with GetDigits ActionStep
  

We've been hard at work adding the last several features that will be included in the final beta, due for release within the next couple weeks.  Here's a sneak peak of a couple of them: Prompt Management and Time-based Routing.

One of our primary goals with this system is to provide a single intuitive interface that allows users to create and deploy powerful database-driven IVR's.  To that end, we're now introducing functionality that gets us even closer to that goal: audio prompt management.

Our prompt management system consists of 2 primary components:

1.    Prompt Creation – The Prompt Studio is a simple interface that allows you to record a prompt using the microphone on your PC, tweak it as necessary using an intuitive graphical interface, and then automatically convert it to an audio format compatible with Asterisk (GSM 06.10).

2.    Prompt Management – The prompt management feature allows you to manage all your prompts across 1 or more Asterisk servers.  Prompts that you've created locally can be deployed using the "synchronize prompts" feature with a single button press.  Any prompt in the system can be previewed, edited and deployed at any time from the SafiWorkshop, streamlining the process of IVR application development and potentially improving the quality of your audio assets as well.

The prompt manager dialog:


You can preview any prompt in the system:


With the new prompt wizard you have the option of importing an existing audio file or recording new audio.


The recording interface:


With the waveform editor you can quickly modify your recording graphically.  Cut, copy, paste, delete, mute, and volume adjustment tools are available.


The newly added prompt:



Time-based Routing:

Another piece of functionality that will be included in the next beta is time-based routing.  This feature makes it exceedingly easy to route calls based on time, day, week, or month.  


The time range editor:


Other Changes:

• Live Saflet validation
  
• Integrated help
• Improved Custom Initiator Dialog for easier debugging
• Numerous UI enhancements including improved Dynamic Value editor.
• Numerous bug fixes.