Overview

Contact directories are managed from the ''-> Features -> Contact Directories section. Directories can be created, edited and deleted and imports can be run and scheduled. The status of each directory is shown with the number of contact records they contain and each directory can be searched to find specific contacts - see the Searching Contact Directories section.

Configuration

To add or edit a contact directory:

1. Access the Configuration -> Features -> Contact Directories section.
2. Click on New or Edit.
3. Select the Details tab.
4. Enter a Name for this directory.
5. Check the Global box to automatically assign this directory to any new Users created on the system.
6. If importing data into this directory then select the Import source from the drop down selection.
7. Configure the import source, see the Import sources section for details.
8. To schedule the import set the Import interval to the required value and the Next import time to when this should be run.
9. Check the Delete unmatched records if required
   • If checked, any records that no longer exist at the import source location will be removed
10. Select the Field Names tab.
11. Enter the custom labels for the numbers and fields.
12. Select the Users tab and add/remove the Users that will have access to this directory.
13. Click on Save.

Delete Directory button will delete the directory contents and the definitions of the directory

Clear Directory Contents button will clear all the records from the selected directory, but leave the definition intact so it can be re-imported

Import sources

The system supports importing contact information from the following listed source types. Each import will require specific configuration:

• CSV File
• ODBC Query
• OLE DB Query

When importing contact data the following information needs to be provided:

• id: this must be unique and is used to identify the contact. This is used instead of the name or number as these are not always unique. This is also used to enable directory entries to be updated on an import as any fields that have changed will be updated as long as the id remains the same.
• name: this is the value that is used when the contact is displayed in search results and on the client toaster.
• number1, number2, number3, number4, number5: 5 different telephone numbers can be imported for a contact.
• field1, field2, field3, field4, field5, field6, field7, field8, field9, field10: 10 custom fields can be imported for a contact.
• vip: this flags the contact as a VIP and will be highlighted on any matches on the client toaster. If this is a VIP then set this value to true or 1, if this is not then false or 0.
• vipText: this is the text that will be displayed if the contact is a VIP match.

CSV File

This requires a text file that has been saved in a CSV file format. The first line of the file must contain the column headers, this allows any number and any order of columns to be used. All headers are case insensitive and will ignore any spaces.

id, name, number1, number2, number3, number4, number5, field1, field2, field3, field4, field5, field6, field7, field8, field9, field10, vip, vipText.

Not all of the columns have to be provided, but there needs to be at least the id, name and number1 present. The file must provide a unique value in the id column that can be used to identify this contact. Each of the columns must also be contained within double quotes. For example:

id, name, number1, number2

"1","John Smith","1233211231","6544566544"

"2","Jane Doe","3699633696","2588522585"

If no value is available for a specific column then use a blank entry. Any additional columns will be ignored.

Set the Import source to be CSV File to configure the location of the import file. For scheduled imports this needs to be a file path location that is accessible from the server, for example on the local C:.

For one off or manual imports then the File path does not need to be configured as this will be prompted for when the import is run.

ODBC & OLE DB Query

The configuration for the ODBC & OLE DB is the same. Set the Import source to be either ODBC Query or OLE DB Query and configure the Connection string that will be used to connect to the database. 

This needs to be set to the DSN data source for the ODBC/OLE DB database in the format of “DSN=dbserver”. Alternatively a valid database connection string can be used and depending on the value an appropriate database driver may need to be installed on the server.

In the Command text field enter the T-SQL expression that will be used to retrieve the data. The query must provide a unique value in the first column that can be used as the primary key to identify this contact. The columns will be inserted into the directory in the following order:

primaryKey, displayName, number1, number2, number3, number4, number5, field1, field2, field3, field4, field5, field6, field7, field8, field, field10, vip, vipText.

If no value is available for a specific column then use a blank entry. Any additional columns will be ignored.