A tool for converting vCards into an XML calling directory suitable for Cisco 79xx phones. Still incomplete.
This tool is written in Ruby, and requires the ‘narf’ CGI library. See http://narf-lib.sf.net.
Copy directory.cgi into a web server directory. Make sure that it’s executable. Create a file called /etc/ciscodirectory.conf that looks like this:
category=Shared
vcarddirectory=/home/bob/vcards
The ‘category’ line is optional; the ‘vcarddirectory’ argument isn’t. The vCard directory should contain one vCard per contact, in files using the ‘.vcf’ extension. Suitable files can be generated by most email address books; on the Mac, take a look at my ab2vcard tool.
Finally, edit your Cisco Phone’s SIPDefault.cnf file and make sure that the ‘directory_url’ entry looks like this:
directory_url: "http://www.example.com/directory.cgi?dosearch=1"
If you leave off the ?dosearch=1, then you’ll never be prompted for a search string. You’ll need to reboot your phone for it to pick up the change to SIPDefault.cnf.
After the phone reboots, press the ‘Directory’ button on the phone (on the 7940G, it looks like a phonebook), then select ‘External Directory’ (#5 on 7940G firmware 6.3). You should get a search screen. Enter a few letters to perform a search, or just hit ‘search’ without entering anything to show all contacts. Cisco phones can only display 32 contacts at a time; if your search matches more contacts then that, the press the ‘more’ soft key and then press ‘next’ to see the next batch of 32.
These directions aren’t very good, and directory.cgi is new. Parts of it are ugly, and will be cleaned up in future versions. However, it works for me. If you have problems, then please mail me at scott@scottstuff.net, and I’ll try to help.
You can find the latest version at http://svn.scottstuff.net/public/cisco-phone-directory/trunk/.