User's Guide to Business Manager

• Introduction
  • Overview
  • Terms
• The Application Configuration Box
  • Control Buttons
  • Application List
  • The Application Description Field
• Using the Application Configuration Box
• Beginning to Edit an Application
• Creating Variants of the ECS Phone Applications
  • Why Create a Variant Application?
  • Adding the New Variant Application
• Deleting a Variant Application

Chapter 5: Managing Applications

Introduction

Overview

This chapter discusses the controls found in the Application Configuration box, and how you may use them to perform certain operations. In this chapter, you learn about:

• The Application Configuration box and its controls

• Using the Application Configuration box

• Editing an application tree

• Adding an application

• Deleting an application

Terms

Application ID	This is the number that Business Manager assigns to each phone application. Each application has its own unique Application ID number.
System Tree	When we say 'Tree' or 'System Tree', we're referring to the structure of your phone applications as they appear in the System Editor.

The Application Configuration Box

To begin using the Application Configuration box, you must first access it. While viewing the Business Manager program window, click the Applications! option on the menu bar. The Application Configuration box appears, similar to the one shown in Figure 15:

Figure 15 - The Application Configuration box

This box contains the controls that allow you to manage and modify your ECS phone applications. Using the controls on this box, you may add new phone applications that you make yourself, delete applications that you are no longer using, and edit existing phone applications.

The controls on the Application Configuration box are divided into three groups: control buttons, the Application list, and the Application Description field. At the bottom of the Application Configuration box is a status bar, which displays a message pertaining to the function or use of the control that the mouse pointer is currently over.

The App ID display shows the number that your system assigns to each application. The usage of this number is explained in the Remote Access chapters of the ECS phone application manuals.

Control Buttons

These are the buttons that you use to perform functions on the applications appearing in the Application list. The following is a description of the buttons and their functions:

• Close - Clicking this button closes the Application Configuration box.

• Add - You use this button to add a new application to the Application list.

• Delete - You use this button to delete an application from the Application list. Once you delete an application, the name no longer appears in the Application list.

• Edit - Clicking this button opens the System Editor Window. The selected application appears in the work area, and you may use the System Editor's controls to edit the application.

Application List

This is a listing of all of the phone applications currently installed on your computer. The original ECS phone applications in the list appear with a star (_*) after them.

To perform an operation on an application in the list, you must first select the desired application by clicking on it. The application is then highlighted (i.e., a box appears around it). Once you select an application, you may then use the control buttons to perform the necessary operation.

The Application Description Field

The Application Description field on the Application Configuration box serves two purposes. Firstly, it displays the name of the application that is currently selected in the Application list. Secondly, you type the name of the application you wish to add in this field.

Using the Application Configuration Box

The Application Configuration box is a portion of the Business Manager Program that you use to manage the phone applications themselves. You would use it any time you want to change the actual workings of an application, such as changing the speeches callers hear or modifying a part of an application's structure.

In fact, the major function of the Application Configuration box is to allow you to access applications for editing. This means that you may directly change the structure and purpose of your applications.

You also use the Application Manager box to add new phone applications that you make. These are custom applications that you design based on one of your existing ECS phone applications. Using the Application Configuration box, you may also delete these custom applications when they are no longer needed.

Beginning to Edit an Application

For information on editing a particular application's system tree, refer to the User's Guide pertaining to that phone application.

This section contains the procedures you follow to select an application to edit, and then how to enter the System Editor. Using the Application Configuration box, you may edit any application appearing in the Application list. Business Manager contains a System Editor program that allows you to modify a phone application's system tree, using the System Editor's tools.

Use the following procedure to select an application to edit, and then enter the System Editor:

You may also double click the application name in the Application list to edit an application.

While viewing the Application Configuration box, select the phone application you wish to edit from the Application list by clicking it. The application you select highlights. Click the Edit button. The System Editor window appears, displaying the work area and logo of the selected application. Click the File menu heading, then select the Tree option by clicking it. The system tree of the selected application the appears in the work area. Figure 16 shows an example of how the System Editor appears with the system tree displayed:

Figure 16 - The System Editor window (Voice Mail)

At this point, you may begin editing the application.

Creating Variants of the ECS Phone Applications

The Application Configuration box allows you to create custom phone applications based on your ECS phone applications. This gives you the ability to make multiple versions of an application, which you may configure to suit your needs. These created applications are variants of your original ECS telephony applications. Once created, these variants work exactly like the original application until you modify or customize them for your use.

Why Create a Variant Application?

Variants give you a great deal of flexibility in meeting the needs of your market. Here are just two examples of how creating variant applications allows you to do this:

You are using the Voice Mail application, and you get a call from a large company responding to an advertisement. They want to set up everyone in their company with a voice mailbox on the same system. Seeing a golden opportunity, you say that it can be done. You can create a new version of your Voice Mail application (a variant application), and customize it according to the needs of the subscribing company. If you have multiple phone lines, you could dedicate one line to the company's voice mail system, or you could use the Combination Application to run the customized variant application on a single line with your other original ECS applications.

You are using the Parent Teacher Hotline application for one school, and another school system calls you and wants the same service. "No problem" you say, and you create a variant of the Parent Teacher Hotline program, customized to suit their needs. If you have multiple phone lines, you could dedicate one line to each school's Parent Teacher Hotline, or you could use the Combination Application to run both hotline applications on a single line with your other original ECS applications.

Adding the New Variant Application

When choosing a name for your variant applications, it is best to choose names which easily identify the purpose of the variant application -- School 59 Hotline, ABC Corp. VM, etc.

The procedure for adding a new variant application is very simple. First, open the Application Configuration dialog box. Click on the application name (Voice Mail System, Talking Classifieds, etc.) of the original ECS application on which you wish to base the variant. Then, highlight the original application name in the Application Description field, and type the name of the new variant application. Click the Add button, and the new variant application's name appears in the Application list.

If this sounds a bit confusing, then use the following detailed procedure to add your new variant application:

• While viewing the Application Configuration box, select (click on) the application in the Application list on which you wish to base the new application. The selected application highlights, and the application's name appears in the Application Description field.

• Click on the Application Description field, and a cursor appears in the field. Use the c, key and the x z keys to remove the original ECS application's name. Then, type in the name of the new variant application.

When you finish typing, click the Add button. The name of the variant application now appears in the Application list in alphabetical order. Note that a new and unique Application ID appears in the App ID display. When you click on the new variant application in the Application list, the new variant application's name appears in the Application Description field.

At this point, the variant application is added, and you may edit it and build the variant application's structure the same way you would the original application’s structure.

Deleting a Variant Application

When a variant application has outlived its usefulness, you may use the Application Configuration box to delete the unwanted variant application from the Application list. A deleted variant application's name no longer appears in the Application list, as it is no longer on your computer.

The original ECS telephony applications cannot be deleted, as indicated by the star (_*) after the application's name in the Application list. This is a safeguard against accidental deletions.

Use the following procedure to delete a variant application:

• While viewing the Application Configuration box, select (click on) the variant application in the Application list that you wish to delete. The selected variant application highlights when selected.

• Click the Delete button. An Advisory message appears as shown in Figure 17:

Figure 17 - The Delete Advisory message

• The 'associated data' that this message refers to are things like the variant application's name, Application ID number, all speech files, the system tree, and run times in the Application Scheduler.

• If you decide you do not want to delete the variant application, click the No button. The Advisory message box closes, and the variant application remains on your system.