Forums
« Back to Reference applications

Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle

Combination View Flat View Tree View
Threads [ Previous | Next ]
Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/12/11 12:19 PM
The gagdet brings Cisco telephony to Google applications users, directly in the browser. Built on top of the Jabber SDK, it allows users to place and receive calls from the GMail, Calendar and iGoogle page.
The gadget is a work in progress, part of the Jabber SDK team innovation effort.
 
Click here to see it in action.
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/18/11 8:43 PM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
Hi Thomas,
I wasn't able to find the gadget xml definition. Could you post the link for it?
thanks
bernhard
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/23/11 10:52 AM as a reply to Bernhard Albler.
Hi Bernhard,
The gadget is currently hosted at a temporary location, here is how to install it:
1. enable the "Add any gadget by URL" lab in the GMail settings
2. in the Gadgets section of the GMail settings,add the CWIC gadget with this URL:
http://tvanier.dyndns.org:1789/gadget/cwic_gadget.xml
Note the CWIC gadget does not use OpenSocial.
3. enter your CUCM user name and address given by your administrator

The gadget was mainly tested in Chrome on Mac, any feedback is welcome !
Have you ever developed any gadget yourself ?
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/30/11 2:34 PM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
Thomas,

is this gaget still available? I tried to install it and I receive the message 'plugin not available'.

Thanks,
Victor
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/30/11 3:27 PM as a reply to Victor Vazquez.
Hi Victor,

Thanks for looking at the Jabber SDK and the phone gadget. See the getting started page, you are probably missing the Cisco Web Communicator (CWC) browser plugin, which can be downloaded from CCO
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/type.html?mdfid=283882159&flowid=28521

Note you also need a device configured in CUCM. Device type is "Cisco Unified Clients Services Framework" (CSF) with name ECP{user}, where {user} is your CUCM ed user name.
Are you setting up the gadget for yourself or in a lab/showroom ?

Thomas
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/30/11 4:35 PM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
Thanks Thomas,

yes, I needed to install the plugin, now it works. I'm setting the gadget for myself.
I was able to make it work with gmail and igoogle, but not with google calendar. What do I need to do to setup the plugin in Calendar?

Victor
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/30/11 4:46 PM as a reply to Victor Vazquez.
To install the gadget in Calendar, you can open your Calendar from this URL
http://www.google.com/calendar/render?gadgeturl=http://tvanier.dyndns.org:1789/gadget/cwic_gadget.xml

Alternatively, the "Add any gadget by URL" labs is also available in the Calendar (see Calendar settings => Labs), you can enable it and follow the same process than in Mail.

The gadget is shown in the right sidebar, which you might need to expand.
Note the gadget UI is not fully ready yet, it does not support multi browser windows and/or tabs open at the same time.

Any comment or suggestion is welcome !

Thomas
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
9/5/11 8:41 AM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
Thomas,

do you know if Jabber SDK will support video calls too?

Thanks,
Victor
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
9/5/11 9:54 AM as a reply to Victor Vazquez.
Hi Victor,

Video is the main feature to be added to the next Jabber SDK release. We are currently planning the next release, there is no committed date yet, probably early 2012.
Are you interested in the video in the gadget, or in general (any web application) ?
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
9/5/11 11:21 AM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
Thomas,

I'm interested in Web soft phone capabilities with video, for example for on line customer support.

Thanks,
Victor
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
9/5/11 1:38 PM as a reply to Victor Vazquez.
Thanks Victor. Can I ask you how you would sort these web phone video features by priority order ?

A. cross platform (Windows/Mac/Linux)
B. cross browser (IE/Firefox/Chrome/Safari)
C. pop out/in video (separate window)
D. manual camera device selection
E. manual video resizing
F. full screen
G. picture in picture (see both participants)
H. escalate from audio to video
I. escalate from chat to video
J. multi call
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
9/25/11 7:42 PM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
Thomas, here you have:

B, J, G, A, H, I, D, C, E, F

Thanks,
Victor
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
2/14/12 11:35 AM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
The gagdet brings Cisco telephony to Google applications users, directly in the browser. Built on top of the Jabber SDK, it allows users to place and receive calls from the GMail, Calendar and iGoogle page.
The gadget is a work in progress, part of the Jabber SDK team innovation effort.
 
Click here to see it in action.

 
Thomas, looking good!
 
Question 1: The Youtube video shows a 'full screen' icon which makes it easier to lookup users. This does not seem to be available using the XML provided.
 
Question 2: When I have my web-communicator open in another tab (connecting to Quad for example) it looks like the gadget in gmail doesn't work. Is that by design or a limitation?
 
Cheers & keep up the good work!
DJ
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
2/14/12 1:31 PM as a reply to Dirk-Jan Uittenbogaard.
Hi Dirk-Jan,

Thanks for the feedback, some answers to your questions:

[1]
The expanded view (also called 'canvas' view) is available since gadget version 0.1.1. Version 0.1.2 was just published a few days ago with URL
http://tvanier.dyndns.org:1789/gadget/0.1.2/cwic_gadget.xml
Note both versions 0.1.1 and 0.1.2 will not load in Internet Explorer, working on a fix.
The gadget is best viewed with the 'classic' GMail look, and is styled for the 'preview' theme.

[2]
This is a known issue which can be fixed, just need some time ;-)
One problem could arise if you sign in as a different user in Google and Quad, not sure about the user experience ?

Thomas
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
2/22/12 7:31 AM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
hi thomas,

Besides the Phone gadget, do you have the Directory IM/Presence gadget for GMail, Calendar and iGoogle ?

Ive tried out the Phone Gadget and it works pretty well !


Thanks, lili
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
2/22/12 12:11 PM as a reply to Lili Chan.
Hi Lili,

Thanks for the feedback. What do you mean by "Directory IM/Presence" gadget ? Would you want a gadget which connects to CUPS (on-prem) or WebEx (cloud) to access Cisco chat and presence ? The Jabber SDK has an API called CAXL which allows web apps do so.
What about the built-in Google chat ? Should it be "replaced" by Jabber ?
There are also some possibilities around server-side federation, today for example userA@cisco.com can chat with userB@gmail.com.

Thomas
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
2/22/12 2:13 PM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
hi thomas,

Ive attached a JPEG snapshot of the 'Contacts Gadget' highlighted in the red box. Do you happen to have any gadget xml definition for that emoticon ?

Currently, Im more looking towards WebEx Connect to access IM/Presence from a demo standpoint in my environment.

I think its a good point to also show the cross-domain chat via server-side federation ..


Thanks! lili



http://www.pictureshoster.com/viewer.php?file=wclxgt45dlpgiqfqt0da.jpg
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
2/28/12 3:00 PM as a reply to Lili Chan.
Hi Lili,

There is no "Contacts gadget" available at the moment, sorry about that. This could be done using the chat & presence (CAXL) API of the Jabber SDK.

Thomas
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/6/12 3:08 PM as a reply to Thomas Vanier.
Hi Thomas

I've just had this pointed out to me by a customer. Everyone is impressed by the simplicity of it... however...

A query has been raised over the security of it - or lack of it :-)

For example, say we configure everyone in our org for the app by adding lots of ECP devices.

Now - I log into google, and I can enter any user I like, and if they are configured for ECP then I can make and receive calls as if I was the person I entered.

So the question is - Is there any provision for making this more secure? 'Authentication' seems to be based on nothing more than a device name, and it would seem sensible to be able to make this based on a username/password combination.

I realise that this is perhaps down to the fact that we are using a 'known' CUCM device type so it is authenticating based on the 'device name', but this is barely acceptable for physical phones (i.e. it's easily spoofed) and this app makes it an even more obvious loophole.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts...

Thanks

Aaron
Flag

RE: Phone gadget in Google Mail, Calendar and iGoogle
Answer
8/7/12 6:09 PM as a reply to Aaron Harrison.
Hi Aaron,

Good point about authentication. The current gadget provides unauthenticated registration for 2 reasons:
- legacy: the first version of the SDK did not support username/password verification
- evaluation: facilitate testing in lab environments for example

There are plans to enforce authentication, among which:

[1] in the case the CUCM and Google user ids match, rely on Google authentication and register with CUCM as the same user, optionally prompting for a CUCM password.
Example: sign in as foo@gmail.com, and register to CUCM with device ECPfoo after user grants the gadget access to his Google profile.

[2] as the latest SDK supports CUCM user/password authentication, add a new password field to the UI. After successfully authenticating the user, CUCM returns the list of devices associated to him/her, making device names more flexible and less predictable. For example, user foo could have a device named ABC1234 usable by the gadget.
The SDK plugin has some encryption capabilities which would allow to store the encrypted password locally (ex: browser local storage) for subsequent registrations.

[3] any other idea developers or administrators might have !

Thanks, Thomas
Flag