MLPhoneBook Plugin
From CinemarWiki
Contents |
About
What is MLPhoneBook Plugin?
MLPhoneBook is an MLServer Plugin application designed for the MainLobby suite of products. It expands the capabilities of MainLobby by introducing an Outlook managed contact list into the MainLobby user interface.
MLPhoneBook Outlook Addin (installed on the Outlook PC) can be installed on the same machine as MainLobby client or on any other PC on the network. The MainLobby Server MLPhoneBook Plugin is installed on the Primary MLServer PC.
Overall, here is how it works
•Your contacts are routinely managed in Outlook.
•The MLPhoneBook Outlook Addin grabs the Outlook contact data and creates a contacts.mdb that is accessible to MLServer.
•Within MLServer3, the MLPhoneBook plugin takes this mdb and creates variables in MLServer that a MainLobby Client PC can display.
•On the MainLobby client PC, the 0019_phonebook.mls scene is opened and displays a default view of your contacts. You can then resort, filter contacts by first letter, search for a particular name, Page up and down the list, and select an individual name for more contact info.
System Requirements
MLOutlook Installation Guide
The Addin uses a broadcast mechanism to self connect with all MLOutlook supported plugins (MLCalendar / MLPhoneBook / MLEmail). This requires network ports to be open. Open Ports 5015 through 5024 (UDP) on your firewall between the Outlook PC and the MLServer3 PC. Open the MLOutlook addin and you should see on the Available Servers list the MLPhoneBook PC. These ports need to be opened even if the Outlook Addin is on same PC as the MLServer software.
MLPhoneBook Plugin Configuration
1. In the MLServer\downloaded files\MLOutlook\MLPhoneBook directory, there is a MLCycleStates files to Import into the MLCycleStates plugin (running in MLServer3). This CycleStates example is used to switch sort order in the phone book user interface example. MLCycleStates Plugin
2. The MLPhoneBook plugin requires licensing and activation after the 30 day trial period. Right click on the MLPhoneBook Plugin and select Registration to add this information.
4. Open the MLPhoneBook plugin in the MLServer3 Plugins window by right clicking on the plugin and selecting Settings.
5. If MLServer3 is running, click the Process Contacts button in the Outlook Addin Contacts tab to create your first MLPhoneBook database update.
6. Open the MLPhoneBook Plugin Settings window. You should see your contact list in the PhoneBook tab.
Phone Book Tab
Your contacts should be listed here if you had the Addin send it. On the bottom is a Labels per Page field. This is set to determine how many contacts are shown in a single page that then is refreshed with the next page of contacts with a PageUp or PageDown command.
The delete records prior to adding new records is typically selected to avoid duplicates in the contacts.mdb database.
MLPhoneBook resizes images for presentation on the client. At the bottom of this tab is where you set those settings.
You can clear the contacts.mdb data tables of all contacts by clicking Clear Table. You can also clear all current MLPhonebook variables in MLServer by clicking Clear Variables.
Properties Tab
Select Quick Variable Updates to have MLServer variables created faster. Downside is that no MLServer Event processing can then detect change of a variable. Likely not an issue for MLPhoneBook usage.
Delete table before update: select this to wipe out MLPhoneBook contacts before Outlook Addin replaces them. This is the typical setting to avoid duplicates.
Number of records per page: select this to match your user interface display for proper paging.
Image resized: select your output size. Typically, you would want to keep the aspect ratio same so that the pictures don't distort on resize.
The Local Area code and country code are set in Windows Control Panel / Modem and Dial Up Configuration settings.
Events Tab
You can view plugin processing in this window and copy to the Windows clipboard.
Sample Scenes Description
The MainLobby Client MLOutlook installer puts an example phonebook scene in the Cinemar directory (by default). Open the 0019_PhoneBook1.mls. You should see your phone book listings.
This sample scene demonstrates the ability to scroll up / down
MLServer Variables
When you click on a PageUp or PageDown on the sample scene, MLServer variables will be created in MLServer
{{mlphonebook_current_image}} mlphonebook_current_business_image
mlphonebook_current_businessaddress
mlphonebook_current_businessaddresscity
mlphonebook_current_businessaddresspostalcode
mlphonebook_current_businessaddressstate
mlphonebook_current_businesstelephone
mlphonebook_current_companyname
mlphonebook_current_emailaddress
mlphonebook_current_firstname
mlphonebook_current_fullname
mlphonebook_current_fullname_rev
mlphonebook_current_home_image
mlphonebook_current_homeaddress
mlphonebook_current_homeaddresscity
mlphonebook_current_homeaddressstate
mlphonebook_current_hometelephone
mlphonebook_current_id
mlphonebook_current_imaddress
mlphonebook_current_isfavorite
mlphonebook_current_lastname
mlphonebook_current_mobile_image
mlphonebook_current_mobiletelephone
mlphonebook_current_spouse
mlphonebook_current_user1
mlphonebook_current_user4
mlphonebook_current_webpage
The below variables are duplicated by the number of Rows configured in the MLPhoneBook Plugin
mlphonebook_businessaddress_0001
mlphonebook_businessaddress_0008
mlphonebook_businessaddresscity_0001
mlphonebook_businessaddresscity_0008
mlphonebook_businessaddresspostalcode_0001
mlphonebook_businessaddresspostalcode_0008
mlphonebook_businessaddressstate_0001
mlphonebook_businessaddressstate_0008
mlphonebook_businesstelephone_0001
mlphonebook_businesstelephone_0008
mlphonebook_companyname_0001
mlphonebook_companyname_0008
mlphonebook_emailaddress_0001
mlphonebook_emailaddress_0008
mlphonebook_firstname_0008
mlphonebook_firstname_0008
mlphonebook_fullname_0001
mlphonebook_fullname_0008
mlphonebook_fullname_rev_0001
mlphonebook_fullname_rev_0008
mlphonebook_homeaddress_0001
mlphonebook_homeaddress_0008
mlphonebook_homeaddresscity_0001
mlphonebook_homeaddresscity_0008
mlphonebook_homeaddresspostalcode_0001
mlphonebook_homeaddresspostalcode_0008
mlphonebook_homeaddressstate_0001
mlphonebook_homeaddressstate_0008
mlphonebook_hometelephone_0001
mlphonebook_hometelephone_0008
mlphonebook_id_0001
mlphonebook_id_0008
mlphonebook_imaddress_0001
mlphonebook_imaddress_0008
mlphonebook_isfavorite_0001=False
mlphonebook_isfavorite_0008=False
mlphonebook_lastname_0001
mlphonebook_lastname_0008
mlphonebook_mobiletelephone_0001
mlphonebook_mobiletelephone_0008
mlphonebook_spouse_0001
mlphonebook_spouse_0008
mlphonebook_user1_0001
mlphonebook_user4_0008
mlphonebook_webpage_0001
mlphonebook_webpage_0008
MLServeCmds
For beta, see the 0019_phonebook.mls and the 0019_phonebook_jumpletter.mls and 0019_nav_phonebook.mls for examples.
select_catergory~Category_name
GetNumbers~ID
NEXT_PAGE
PREVIOUS_PAGE
TOGGLE_DELETE_RECORDS
CLEAR_TABLE
LAST_NAME~FirstLetter
FIRST_NAME~FirstLetter
TOGGLE_FAVORITE
SHOW_FAVORITES
SHOW_ALL
SEARCH~FirstName~LastName note can use % as wildcard
SORT~ASC or DSC
Troubleshooting
Once in a while (usually with a MLPhoneBook.dll version update) you might have to delete the registry keys for MLPhoneBook. The keys are kept in: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cinemar\MLPhoneBook Only advanced users should use regedit as improper changes can create major issues with Windows.
Bugs
Feature Requests
Release Notes
May 4, 2008
Plugin released to production
