h1. ECHI Converter

h1. → 'echi-converter'


h2. The ECHI (External Call History Interface) Converter 

Provides a Ruby based utility for fetching Avaya CMS / ECHI files in binary/ASCII form from an FTP server, converting them, if necessary, to ASCII and then inserting them into a database via ActiveRecord.

h2. Status

This is the beta release now in production use within Call Centers using Avaya CMS.  The utility successfully and reliably imports the data provided by the Avaya CMS ECHI into various databases, including Oracle and MySQL.  This provides the repository of call segments that may then be used to provide detailed Cradle to Grave reporting for the call center.


h2. Features

The utility provides the following capabilities:
	
	# Support of ActiveRecord (means you may use Oracle, MySQL, MS-SQL, Postgres, DB2, etc)
	# Generate your schema via ActiveRecord Migrations
	# Fetch Binary or ASCII CSV files from the Avaya CMS platform via FTP
	# Convert from the defined Binary format to ASCII
	# Insert the records into the defined database table using database transactions, via ActiveRecord, on a per file basis to support recovery on failure
	# Change schema structure via YML configuration file to accommodate various releases of the ECHI format
	# Supports inserting data from the various '.dat' files provided
	# Runs as a daemon (via fork) on *NIX and a service on Windows
	# Allows for multiple FTP sessions to be used for greater performance (via "green threads":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_threads)

# Table names:
## echi_records - stores all ECHI data        
## echi_logs - stores a log entry for each file processed
## echi_agents - stores the data from the agname.dat file 
## echi_aux_reasons - stores the data from the aux_rsn.dat file
## echi_cwcs - stores data from the cwc.dat file
## echi_vdns - stores data from the vdn.dat file


h2. Requirements

	# "Ruby v1.8.6+":http://www.ruby-lang.org/
	# "Rubygems v0.9.4+":http://www.rubygems.org/
	# "ActiveRecord v1.15.3+":http://activerecord.rubyforge.org/
	# "ActiveSupport v1.4.2+":http://activesupport.rubyforge.org/
	# "Daemons v1.0.7+":http://daemons.rubyforge.org/
	# "FasterCSV v1.2.0+":http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/
	# "Rake v0.7.3+":http://rake.rubyforge.org/
	# "UUIDTools v1.0.1+":http://sporkmonger.com/projects/uuidtools/
	# "Win32-service v.0.5.0+":http://win32utils.rubyforge.org/ (Manual install for Windows only)
	# "Hoe v1.2.2+":http://rubyforge.org/projects/seattlerb/


h2. Installing

<pre syntax="ruby">sudo gem install echi-converter</pre>

or

<pre syntax="ruby">gem install echi-converter</pre>

h2. Setup

First, create the directory with all of the project files where you will run this application from:

<pre syntax="ruby">echi-converter create myproject</pre>

Once you have installed a project into your preferred directory, you then need to configure for your environment.  The first step is to modify each of these files:

	# config/application.yml
	## Change each of the 'echi' settings for connecting to your local FTP server where the CMS puts the ASCII/binary files
	## Select which schema you would like to use (ie - extended_version12.yml) based on what you have in place
	# config/database.yml
	## Change to match your local database and database login credentials, full ActiveRecord support

Once this is complete, then simply run these commands from the project directory:

	# rake migrate (creates the tables required for the system)
	# echi-converter (starts the server daemon, refer to its usage)

Note:  When using a Windows FTP server, you must configure the FTP server to provide a UNIX directory listing format

h2. Usage

# echi-converter create myproject - create the local project to run the ECHI converter from
# echi-converter upgrade myproject - location of project to upgrade after a new gem is installed

For POSIX:

# echi-converter run myproject - Run the ECHI converter interactively from the location given
# echi-converter start myproject - Start the ECHI converter in daemon mode from the location given
# echi-converter stop myproject - Stop the ECHI converter daemon
# echi-converter restart myproject - Restart the ECHI converter 
# echi-converter zap myproject - If there has been an unexpected close and the system still thinks the converter is running, clean up the pid files

For Windows:

# echi-converter install myproject - install the service (must specify complete path such as c:\path\to\my\project - if the directory name or path has any spaces, please enclose the "myproject" in double quotes )
# echi-converter start - start the service
# echi-converter stop - stop the service
# echi-converter pause - pause the service
# echi-converter resume - resume the service
# echi-converter status - returns the status of a configured service
# echi-converter delete - delete the service"

# If you would like to run the script interactively, you may also execute this command: 
## ruby "c:\myproject\lib\main_win32.rb"

Multi-byte character support:

# If you require multi-byte character support be sure to set your database to 'utf8' as well as uncomment the option 'encoding: utf8' in the config/database.yml file

h2. Demonstration of usage

Start the daemon/service:

<pre syntax="ruby">echi-converter start myproject</pre>

Stop the daemon/service:

<pre syntax="ruby">echi-converter stop myproject</pre>

h2. Supported Platforms

While the use of Ruby allows for operation on a multitude of platforms, these are the platforms that have actually been tested on.  If you have success running on other platforms, please feel free to provide details on the Google Group.

h4. Operating Systems

POSIX, Windows XP SP2, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003.

h4. FTP Servers

VSFTP and Windows 2003/XP FTP Servers.

h2. Screencast

You may view the screencast on howto install and use the ECHI-Converter "here":http://www.screencast.com/t/lQQkIVkUZMr.

h2. Forum

"Google Groups - ECHI Converter":http://groups.google.com/group/echi-converter

h2. How to submit patches

Read the "8 steps for fixing other people's code":http://drnicwilliams.com/2007/06/01/8-steps-for-fixing-other-peoples-code/ and for section "8b: Submit patch to Google Groups":http://drnicwilliams.com/2007/06/01/8-steps-for-fixing-other-peoples-code/#8b-google-groups, use the Google Group above.

The trunk repository is <code>svn://rubyforge.org/var/svn/echi-converter/trunk</code> for anonymous access.

h2. License

This code is free to use under the terms of the LGPL license. 

h2. Contact

Comments are welcome. Send an email to "jason [at] goecke.net":mailto:jason@goecke.net.