It's been quite awhile since our last post so I thought it was time to let people know what we've been working on and what's coming. It's been an exciting several months for us. We've been busy pursuing a number of interesting business opportunities related to SafiWorkshop/SafiServer and are actively engaged in one that has already materialized. The recent radio silence can largely be attributed to this diversion of attention but that's not to say we haven't been busy developing and improving the product. In fact, we have some significant and exciting updates to the product coming soon. Here's a few of the changes in the pipeline:

• FreeSWITCH support - We've been planning on doing this for awhile now but, after spending some time with a newer FreeSWITCH build recently (and loving it), we decided it couldn't wait any longer. All the underlying socket and event work has been done, the domain models have been created, and some of the UI stuff is already in place (i.e. FreeSWITCH ActionPak). We'll roll out an Alpha version with just minimal IVR functionality first (DTMF capture, play audio, etc) with an expanded suite of ActionSteps to follow.


• More Modular Modules - Our original goal with this product was to create a platform for creating Asterisk IVR and call-routing applications graphically. While we achieved our purpose (admirably we think), the product wasn't as platform-agnostic as we would have liked it to be--it was designed as an Asterisk-specific product and was essentially implemented accordingly. In support of the FreeSWITCH module development and some of the contract work we've been doing, SafiWorkshop and SafiServer have undergone a comprehensive refactoring. The core SafiServer and SafiWorkshop modules are now free of all platform-specific code (i.e. Asterisk, FreeSWITCH). Platform-specific functionality is provided in the form of plug-ins or modules. Currently an Asterisk module is available and a FreeSWITCH module is in the works. Current users won't notice any difference but this change will facilitate future support for other telephony systems (or even non-telephony-related technologies) and will make the system even more easily extended.


• Support Services - Due to popular demand we'll be rolling out software support packages for SafiWorkshop/SafiServer. There will be a number of flexible pricing options with varying levels of support available. We hope to make these services available some time 4th quarter 2010. Stay tuned.

This is a seminal release for us as the product is now more stable, powerful, and easy to use than ever.  We've also added a new ActionStep "CallWSByWSDL" that allows you to easily consume Web Services from your Saflet, providing you with even more integration possibilities for your IVR/Callflow applications.  The release of this ActionStep is merely the first of many non-telephony-specific ActionSteps that are in the works, representing an overall commitment to making SafiWorkshop and SafiServer the most flexible and powerful development and integration tools for Asterisk on the market (free or otherwise). 

The Web Services integration functionality is currently in Alpha and we'd love to hear your feedback and ideas for how to improve it.  This screencast should help get you started.

Here's a summary of some of the changes with this release:

SafiWorkshop

• Added Web Services features (alpha)
• Undo/Redo now works correctly for ActionStep dialogs
• Fixed bug where moving ActionStep connections would fail and cause workshop to hang
• (UI) Variables all synched up appropriately with SaifServer and editors.
• Added pre-execution busy check for the Extension ActionStep
  
• Fixed issue with deleting Saflets on SafiServer
• Added recursive audio file import for Asterisk system prompts
  
• Added full channel support (i.e. Local, SIP, ZAP, IAX, etc) for Extensions ActionStep
• Performance improvements and bug fixes for Prompt Manager
• Fixed bug in SAR (Safi Archive) imports causing null pointer exception
• Added auto-complete for all Dynamic Value editors.
• Variable editor enhancements

• Fixed an issue causing the SafiServer to bind to an invalid IP address in some cases
• Fixed Global variable issue.
• Improved Linux install script that installs SafiServer as a service
• Added ami.retry.period property to environment.properties to control how frequently to retry broken manager connection (in seconds)
  
• Added useManagerPing (true/false) to environment.properties to toggle the manager "ping" function (ping command is broken in some versions of Asterisk 1.6.x)
• Removed bind.ip from environment.properties and install scripts.
• Fixed issue with certain linux (e.g. Ubuntu) distro picking up wrong localhost ip address and route based on misinformed hosts file information.

I'm happy to announce that SafiWorkshop and SafiServer Release Candidates are now available for download! This build addresses a number of issues uncovered during the beta-testing process and features some fundamental changes in how the SafiWorkshop talks to the remote SafiServer. With the improvements implemented over the past couple months, what we believe was already the most powerful Asterisk enhancement platform available is now one of the simplest to configure and use as well.

Here's a quick rundown of the primary changes since out last release:

• Live Remote Debugging – The local debug server has been scrapped in favor of live debugging on the remote SafiServer. This bypasses some of the firewall issues and port conflicts people were running into when running a debug server from the SafiWorkshop itself.

• Firewall Friendly/Simplified Setup – The SafiWorkshop / SafiServer communication now occurs over a single port (8822 by default) using a built-in SSH-based tunneling system.

• Database Connectivity – Database connections from the SafiWorkshop are now obtained from the SafiServer itself. That allows the user to create SQL connections and queries for databases that may only be accessible from the SafiServer machine. That way, any database development that occurs in the SafiWorkshop is guaranteed to behave correctly when running in production.

• Multiple SafiServer Management – We've added a facility that makes it easy to switch between SafiWorkshop workspaces. Typically each workspace corresponds to a unique SafiServer instance

• Import/Export – With the new Safi Archive (SAR) import/export feature Saflets, database resources (queries, connections), audio prompts, and global and local variables can be exported to a .sar archive or conversely imported into the SafiWorkshop and optionally published to the remote SafiServer. WARNING: this feature is still experimental-use with caution.

• Numerous bug fixes

We're confident this is by far the best version of the product we've produced so far and we're extremely excited to make it available to you now. Documentation for this new version is lacking at the moment but please check out these forum posts to get started:

SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 1. Installation

SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 2. Updates

SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 3. Setting up a license

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

This last Friday (10/10/2008) Zac and myself had the privilege of being guests on the VoIP Users Conference.  We talked about SafiWorkshop and SafiServer and there where lots of great questions.  We look forward to being on the program in the future.

Here's a link to the podcast (through blubrry): http://www.blubrry.com/voip/285688/safi-systems-visual-call-flow-and-ivr/

Also, Jong has been putting together a list of walkthroughs in the forums that should help in getting you up and running with the newer versions of SafiServer and SafiWorkshop:

• SafiServer Windows Installation Walkthrough
• SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 1. Installation
• SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 2. User Manager
• SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 3. Committing a Saflet
• SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 4. Asterisk Manager
• SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 5. FreePBX Module
• SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 6. Running and Debugging

We're currently in the process of putting the finishing touches on our first beta release of SafiServer & SafiWorkshop, tentatively called SafiCenter.  The beta will be available for download Monday morning (9/15) to registered beta testers.  There's still spots available so if you haven't signed up yet you can do so here!