voipGauge README file

 

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I would like to say thanks to those people who have contributed (although, unknowingly :)

Vonage 

For making a great service using open-standards and clever design!  The definitive "disruptive technology"!

Yahoo! Widget Engine team 

Well, clearly this wouldn't work without the fine work of the Yahoo! Widget Engine (Y!WE) team! 

Aaron Rubin

Author of the original vonMessage and vonCall widgets.  It was due to these widgets that I even bothered to get Y!WE in the first place.  It was disappointing that his widgets didn't work on Windows (without the installation of a lot of other stuff, that is), but never-the-less, I became challenged to solve the problems, then make this widget!

Version Notes

Version 1.3.0 (10 May, 2006)

New Features

  • Added a link to this web-site in lieu of a distributed readme.txt file.

Fixes/Updates 

  • Several changes made to disassociate the widget from Vonage Inc.
    • Removed "Vonage" from the name throughout.
    • Changed the default fluid-color to be blue (still configurable to any color, however) 
  • Removed an accented character from these version notes so that it would work with Y!WE 3.1.0

 

Version 1.2.3 (2 Jan, 2006)

New Features

  • Added a FAQ to this readme file.
  • Added iChat call actions (Mac only)
  • Added Yahoo! Messenger call actions (Mac only)
  • Added a Mac-only Call Actions tab
  • Added call action support for the WRTP54G (Thanks to Mike #1 and Mike #2) 
  • Added call action support for the RTP300 (Thanks to Beryt)
  • Configurable gauge background color.

Fixes/Updates

  • Y!WE-ified this file.
  • Fixed a pile of typos and style errors.
  • Added a preference to force voipGauge to always check the router with the settings provided.  This should only be checked when the configuration is known to be good, but the network is flaky and occasional outages triggers the widget's "... tried 10 times...".
  • Fixed a bug where the widget will complain that the function _showBalloon() isn't a valid function on the Mac. (because it isn't!).
  • Added more choices to the line status check frequency preference.
  • Fixed a bug relating to the month of January for the pacing indicator

 Features

  • Added robustness to the line-monitoring functionality
  • Added phone busy/idle monitoring/not-monitoring indicator/animations
  • Visible means successfully monitoring the line
    • phone down means line idle
    • phone up means line busy

 

Version 1.2.0 (2 Oct, 2005)

New Features:

  • Take actions when the line goes busy/idle!  Currently, support for these VoIP devices:
    • LinkSys RT31P2
      (if you have another device that you'd like incorporate, please contact me)
  • Improved appearance with preference icons and panes (now requires Konfabulator/Y!WE 2.1 or later)
  • Configurable gauge "fluid" color.
  • Configurable and automatic text coloring.
  • Updated curl-ssl installation instructions (Windows-users, see below)
  • Incorporated readme file into widget, added context-menu to copy to user's filesystem and open.
  • You can now set voipGauge to poll your router's interface for line-status information and configure "call-actions".  Call actions are, well, actions that happen when your voip line is being used.  In particular, if a call comes in, or you pick up your phone to make a call, zero or more of these actions can occur:
    • iTunes pause/unpause or reduce-volume/restore-volume
    • PC volume mute/unmute or reduce-volume/restore-volume
    • custom "tellWidget" actions.  With this, you can make your own widgets react to incoming/outgoing calls.

      Examples:
      • Make a note-pad widget that pops up when you get on the phone so you'll have a notepad always ready.
      • Make a IM widget that auto-sets/unsets your favorite IM program's status to "on phone" when you're on the phone!  (If you make this for MSN Messenger, please let me know, I want it! :-)
         

Fixes/updates

  • fixed typo in initial dialog "”K" -> "OK"
  • some efficiencies
  • preparing code for K2.5

 

Version 1.1.0 (5 Feb, 2005)

This version is the result of feedback from others (and myself) from the previous version of voipGauge.

New features:

  • Added support for Vonage Canada.
  • Added support for Vonage UK.
  • Added support for Earthlink Voice Unlimited.
  • Update now function by double-clicking anything orange.
  • Click the voicemails number or "new msgs" to go to Vonage.com (or the appropriate place according to your service) in your default browser.
  • A graphical indicator to help you gauge your monthly usage over the duration of your plan.
  • Popup balloon appears when you've got new messages.
  • Tooltips now optionally displayed in HH:MM instead of just no. of minutes.

You can now select which service you are using in the preferences panel.  Also, there is better support within voipGauge to support more Vonage-brands in the future.

If you need to update your account now, just double-click any of the "liquid" in your gauge.  It is wise not to abuse this or Vonage may one day make their service reject requests from these widgets.  If you wish to move your widget, click and drag on the vial glass.  Alternatively, CTRL-Click and drag on any part of the widget.

Click the voicemail textual indicators to send your default browser to your services web page.

The graphical time indicator starts at the top of the vial and moves down slowly over the course of your monthly plan.  This provides a visual indication of when your plan will reset and, by comparing your usage gauge to this time indicator, you can easily pace your minutes usage over the whole plan.

This helps you to get the most out of your plan by:

  • helping you to not over-use your minutes.  Don't use them up too fast!
  • helping you to not under-use your minutes.  Use them all before they disappear!
  • If you're not using a monthly plan, or wish to not use the time-indicator, set your plan's reset date to "Off" in the preferences.

Fixes/updates:

  • Fixed some occasional floating-point rounding issues in the tool tip.
  • More robust handling of bad data (avoiding NaN-displays, etc.).
  • More gracefully handle bad data from Vonage (better automatic retries on invalid results).
  • Added more tooltips for ease of understanding and use.

 

Version 1.0.x (Nov, 2004) 

Initial release sporting the basic look and feel and functionality.

Installation of an SSL-capable cURL

The INSTALLATION OF SSL-capable cURL has been moved to a separate page.

 

Support

The best way to get support for voipGauge is to log into the Yahoo! Widget Engine forums and search for "voipGauge" or "Vonage".  It is likely that the problem you're having has already been encountered and solved by others there.

If you still need help, you can try to contact the author at the e-mail address displayed in the "fuzzy" graphic below (this is to prevent automatic e-mail harvesting of e-mail address for spam and other purposes).  If you have trouble reading it, click the image below for a larger, clearer view and compare it to the URL of this site for plenty of cues.

Please keep in mind that this widget is maintained by its author as time permits.  This widget is provided to the community free of charge.