Back in the old days of PureConnect and manual manipulation of Polycom provisioning/config files, it was possible to load a default directory by dropping an XML formatted file into the firmware directory (tftp root) called 000000000000-directory.xml. A user could also create a directory on their phone and it would be saved as -directory.xml.
Today I have a PureCloud customer that wants this directory on their phone, more than they want their next breath for a couple different reasons. One is to facilitate an unattended lobby phone, the other is for executives that refuse to use the desktop UI,
We've already done the heavy lift of writing code that will automatically pull the needed fields from the PureCloud directory via the API, parse it out, and generate the XML tags for the directory.xml file. What we're stuck on at the moment is trying to find some way to get PureCloud phones to consume the file we've created.
There is extraordinarily little information on the under-the-hood process of phone provisioning and phone configuration parameters aside from what is exposed through the UI. (I'm sure that is intentional and I understand all the reasons why.) However there are a few things that ARE exposed with no context or documentation that I think may lead me to resolution of my challenge.
For example, in a phones base settings, there is a custom parameter called "phone_configExpressions" which is a list of AWS URLs pointing to *.i3exp files. More specifically things like phone.cfg.i3exp. I'd like to know more about what these files are and what functional purpose they serve. I'd also like to know what other custom parameters are avaialble for use?
I can tell on my VVX500 that directory_enable="1" (polycom config parameter) is set because I have a directory icon.
My question in its simplest form is, Is there a mechanism in PureCloud that will allow the phone to consume a config file or configuration override file from a 3rd party URL.
Things I've tried:
1.) RTFM
2.) Adding the url of my directory.xml file to the phone_configExpressions parameter value list.
3.) Adding CONTACTS_DIRECTORY as a custom parameter on the phone configuration in PureCloud with a text value of "https://url.to.file/" in the hopes it would go there and pick up "00000000000-directory.xml" (This is a polycom parameter)
4.) Used PolycomSimulator to try to see what files were being pulled and parameters that were configured but I think the picture I'm being presented from that is incomplete at best as there is no registration information in the parameters that came down. My PolycomSim tool is also older than dirt and was originally built to troubleshoot PureConnect provisioning issues. It is not, how shall we say, a reliable test.
5.) Opened a support ticket some months ago on this resulting in an enhancement request that has not been roadmapped. (Even provided our code to help shortcut the process and entice Genesys to throw in some functionality)
6.) This.
Other steps to be tried:
1.) Taking a PCAP from a Polycom during startup to determine if it ever tries to download a directory.xml file, or if it ever does a PUT for one on a graceful reboot, and if so, to/from where, in an attempt to see where it's being told to put/pull the file to/from.
If anyone has any ideas or inside knowledge they can share on how I might be able to accomplish this, I will buy you all the beers. My customer is threatening to withold payment or drop their use of PureCloud over this missing functionality.
I'd also like to head off the "not supported" response right now. I get this likely isn't officially supported/documented functionality we're talking about right now and I get that, but I'm more interested in the art of the possible. I just want to see if there is any way that we CAN do it, I'm happy to have the debate over supported/unsupported at any point after that.
Thanks in advance for all your help. Please let me know if there is any additional detail you would like to know on this.
--C#