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Problem with Outbound call

Questions and answers about IVR programming for Plum DEV

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tangz
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:50 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Problem with Outbound call

Post by tangz »

I was able to initiate an outbound call, but when it connects the call to the start_url, there's an error. The error logs says:

> DocumentParser::FetchDocument - Parse error in file "http://www.tangz.com/raco/welcome.vxml", line 1, column 50 - Expected whitespace
> errno: 205 uri http://www.tangz.com/raco/welcome.vxml

However, when I make an inbound call to the same page, it worked.

What's did I miss?

Thanks.

-- Simon

support
Posts: 3632
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 3:47 pm
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

IVR system will throw a parse error with invalid VXML

Post by support »

The outbound IVR system performs HTTP POSTs to both the start_url and the result_url. The IVR error we are receiving on our IVR system is:

Code: Select all

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>405 Method Not Allowed</TITLE>
</HEAD><BODY>
<H1>Method Not Allowed</H1>
The requested method POST is not allowed for the URL /raco/welcome.vxml.<P>
<HR>
<ADDRESS>Apache/1.3.27 Server at www.tangz.net Port 80</ADDRESS>
</BODY></HTML>
This is of course not valid VoiceXML and so the IVR system throws a parse error. You will need to use a server script that supports POST variables (php, perl, etc).

Hope This Helps :)

The Plum Support Team
Last edited by support on Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.

prasanth
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2004 12:49 am

I do get the same error

Post by prasanth »

Hi team,

I also get the same error while try for an outbound call. I used the same vxml file given by the altovaspy.

Can you please clear the statement that you have specified?

"This is of course not valid VoiceXML and so the system throws a parse error. You will need to use a server script that supports POST variables (php, perl, etc). "

You mean the start url file should be a php or perl file that i need to setup for conversation or any other? Please clarify.



And another question for me is the chance of voice recognition using plum portal. Which options/methods are provided by the system for voice recognition and the percentage of accuracy that you offered?

Another thing is the chance of scheduling the outbound call, I supposed that my hosting server(linux/windows server) is the base for initializing the outbound call every day. One file for posting queue is automatically executed and queue calls for that day. What is the best method for scheduling a script file for making outbound calls. Your opinion would be appreciable.

Thanks

support
Posts: 3632
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 3:47 pm
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

IVR platform, speech recognition, outbound system

Post by support »

The statement:
"This is of course not valid VoiceXML and so the IVR system throws a parse error. You will need to use a server script that supports POST variables (php, perl, etc). "
Means that you will need a server side script (ie - php, asp, perl) for the start_url and result_url. The Plum IVR outbound system will performs a HTTP POST when requesting start_url and result_url. In order to process a HTTP POST request the web server requires that the page being requested is a dynamic script.

Regarding speech recognition: VoiceXML has complete speech recognition built into the language and Plum supports all of these features. The engine used on the Plum IVR Hosting Site is currently SpeechWorks OSR 2.0, this is an industry leading engine and should meet or exceed all of your requirements.

If you are running on a UNIX-like system you likely have some sort of CRON engine. CRON can be used to run any arbitrary script including PHP or Perl. Plum often makes use of CRON for executing periodic PHP scripts. This functionality could be used on your system as well. Alternatively you could use the scheduled start and end time capabilities of the plum IVR platform to run a script at night that will not execute until a specified time in the morning. This feature is documented in the Plum IVR Outbound HTTP API.

Hope this helps :)

The Plum Support Team

Bertrand
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:12 am

Re: Problem with Outbound call

Post by Bertrand »

Hi team,

You indicate:
"Means that you will need a server side script (ie - php, asp, perl) for the start_url and result_url. The Plum IVR outbound system will performs a HTTP POST when requesting start_url and result_url. In order to process a HTTP POST request the web server requires that the page being requested is a dynamic script. "

I understand the problem (which I am facing too) but, forgive my ignorance, the Plum IVR platform will need a vxml script.
Can you provide me with an example of how to embed the vxml script within a php script?

Thanks,
Bertrand

support
Posts: 3632
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 3:47 pm
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: Problem with Outbound call

Post by support »

Hi Bertrand,

Below is a short code sample of how you would embed VoiceXML code into a PHP script:

voicexml.php

Code: Select all

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");
echo("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>\n");
?>
<vxml version="2.0">
  <!-- Your valid VoiceXML goes here -->
</vxml>


Thanks,
Plum Support

Bertrand
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:12 am

Re: Problem with Outbound call

Post by Bertrand »

Thanks! That's exactly what I was missing.

Bertrand
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:12 am

Re: Problem with Outbound call

Post by Bertrand »

One more question on the outbound calls.

Everything is working fine but there is a delay of about 3 seconds between the moment I answer the call received from Plum IVR platform and the moment it plays the first prompt.

Is there any parameter I can modify to reduce this delay?
Receiving a call and not hearing anything for 3 seconds is very long...

Thanks,
Bertrand

support
Posts: 3632
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 3:47 pm
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: Problem with Outbound call

Post by support »

Hi Bertrand,

This delay that you are experiencing is from the callee type detection that is enabled for your outbound account, which allows for identification of humans from answering machines. Please note that callee type detection is not 100% accurate.

If you would like us to disable callee type detection for your account, you can send an e-mail to support@plumgroup.com with your customer ID in the subject line. The customer ID can be found in your support contract with Plum. If you do not have a support contract with Plum, you may contact your account representative for more information.

Regards,
Plum Support

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