Help For Blink Pro

Version 145 (Tijmen de Mes, 01/07/2013 11:49 pm)

1 141 Adrian Georgescu
h1. Help for Blink Pro and Blink Lite on MacOSX
2 140 Adrian Georgescu
3 65 Adrian Georgescu
4 66 Adrian Georgescu
[[KnownIssues|Known issues and critical bug fixes]]
5 1 Tijmen de Mes
6 1 Tijmen de Mes
7 141 Adrian Georgescu
Blink allows you to communicate in real time over the Internet. To use Blink you need a SIP account from a SIP service provider. Like using an email program, you must configure Blink with the account you have obtained from your service provider. If things do not work they way you expect, the reasons can be caused mainly by two things, one is Blink software itself and the another one is the communication with the SIP Service Provider.  
8 1 Tijmen de Mes
9 141 Adrian Georgescu
For help about Blink-Qt see {{wiki(blinkqt, help, "Help for Blink QT for Windows and Linux" )}}
10 1 Tijmen de Mes
11 141 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Features
12 1 Tijmen de Mes
13 141 Adrian Georgescu
For the complete feature set see http://icanblink.com/blink-pro.phtml
14 1 Tijmen de Mes
15 141 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Blink Pro and Blink Lite differences
16 1 Tijmen de Mes
17 141 Adrian Georgescu
Both versions support the same type of media. Compared to Blink Lite, Blink Pro has the following extra usability features: 
18 1 Tijmen de Mes
19 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * iCloud synchronization for accounts
20 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * History menu for outgoing and incoming calls
21 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * History browser for all supported media
22 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * System AddressBook "plugin":http://download.ag-projects.com/BlinkABPlugins/
23 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * Answering machine
24 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * Audio call transfers
25 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * Audio call recording
26 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * LDAP directory services
27 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * Incoming call web page integration
28 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * Phone number translations
29 1 Tijmen de Mes
30 141 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Refund Policy
31 1 Tijmen de Mes
32 141 Adrian Georgescu
Mac App Store does not provide refunds. If you purchased an application from Mac App Store and you do not like it, you are stuck with it. We have no information about paying customers, credit card transactions, payments or refunds from Apple and we cannot provide any refunds even you provide proof of payment to Apple. If you are not happy with this policy it is Apple you must complain to, not us.
33 140 Adrian Georgescu
34 141 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Connectivity Problems
35 140 Adrian Georgescu
36 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Cannot establish sessions
37 140 Adrian Georgescu
38 141 Adrian Georgescu
If you encounter connectivity problems like inability to receive incoming calls or failure to make outbound calls, you can easily find the reason by going to _Menu Window -> Logs -> SIP_. You should contact your SIP Service Provider and provide it with the information obtained from Blink logs.
39 140 Adrian Georgescu
40 141 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-SIPTRace.jpg!
41 138 Tijmen de Mes
42 142 Adrian Georgescu
h3. No audio media
43 1 Tijmen de Mes
44 141 Adrian Georgescu
Sometimes sessions are established but no media can be established. The fault can be caused by equipment or software in the media path, like Blink software itself, the computer it runs on, its audio hardware, the firewall software installed, the router used for the Internet access or the provider offering the SIP service.
45 135 Adrian Georgescu
46 141 Adrian Georgescu
To remove the SIP service provider uncertainty in order to isolate the cause, first register a *Free SIP account* with Blink. There is a test SIP address *4444* that you can call to see if audio media works both ways through your network. If it does, it means that network and equipment works fine, but your SIP service provider might have difficulties. In such case you must request support from your SIP service provider. 
47 140 Adrian Georgescu
48 141 Adrian Georgescu
If Blink does not work using the free SIP account, you may contact our support address, we will help you find out the cause for calls with no media.
49 1 Tijmen de Mes
50 141 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Software Problems
51 140 Adrian Georgescu
52 141 Adrian Georgescu
To report a problem, send an email to "support@ag-projects.com":mailto:support@ag-projects.com. Please paste the relevant logs as explained below.
53 140 Adrian Georgescu
54 141 Adrian Georgescu
You can also check the history of the public "Blink Support Forum":http://support.icanblink.com.
55 140 Adrian Georgescu
56 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Exceptions and Errors
57 140 Adrian Georgescu
58 141 Adrian Georgescu
Programming errors are logged in the OSX system log file _/var/log/system.log_. You can find them by opening _Applications -> Utilities -> Console_, selecting _LOG FILES -> system.log_ and typing Blink in the search bar. Please provide us with this information when you report the problem you encountered.
59 140 Adrian Georgescu
60 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Complete Crashes
61 140 Adrian Georgescu
62 141 Adrian Georgescu
If you experience a software crash, please send the complete crash report available in the crash reporter window (just copy and paste from it). 
63 1 Tijmen de Mes
64 141 Adrian Georgescu
Crash reports are saved in _~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/_ and can be viewed with the Console application.
65 1 Tijmen de Mes
66 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Configuration File
67 138 Tijmen de Mes
68 141 Adrian Georgescu
Blink accounts and settings are stored in a flat-text configuration file. The passwords are not stored in the configuration file, they are stored the system keychain. The location of the configuration files:
69 1 Tijmen de Mes
70 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * _~/Library/Containers/com.agprojects.Blink/Data/Library/Application\ Support/Blink\ Pro/config_
71 141 Adrian Georgescu
 * _~/Library/Containers/com.agprojects.BlinkLite/Data/Library/Application\ Support/Blink\ Lite/config_
72 1 Tijmen de Mes
73 140 Adrian Georgescu
74 141 Adrian Georgescu
Do not edit this file manually. If you did and Blink does not start you must delete the file and start all over again. If file gets corrupted a new file is generated and the old file is preserved with a suffix. In case of such occurrence, you may send the file to our support in order to find a fix for the cause.
75 140 Adrian Georgescu
76 141 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Accounts
77 141 Adrian Georgescu
78 141 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-Enrollment.jpg!
79 141 Adrian Georgescu
80 1 Tijmen de Mes
To use Blink, you need a SIP Account. At first start, Blink shows the _Add Account_ "window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#enrollment that helps you configure the initial SIP Account.
81 140 Adrian Georgescu
82 124 Adrian Georgescu
You may configure Blink to use multiple SIP Accounts. To add a new SIP Account, go to menu _Preferences->Accounts_ and click the + button. The _Add Account_ window shows up and you can repeat the steps described above. After you have configured a SIP Account, you can see the status of the registration in the account list of _Main Window_ window. Solid color means that the account has successfully registered, gray color means that the registration has failed or is in progress. You can also see the status of the registration in the account list of _Preferences_ window. Green color means that the account has successfully registered, Red color the registration has failed and Yellow means that he registration process is in progress. A successful registration means that you are able to receive incoming calls with Blink.
83 138 Tijmen de Mes
84 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Add an Existing SIP Account
85 140 Adrian Georgescu
86 1 Tijmen de Mes
If you already have a SIP account from a SIP service provider, select this option then enter the SIP address in the form of _user@domain_ and the _password_. If the SIP service provider has set his infrastructure correctly, all server address settings will be automatically discovered from DNS by Blink. Some SIP service providers are incapable of setting up correctly their infrastructure like the DNS records used for discovering the address of the SIP server. Such providers typically provide separate login/username/phone number and a server address instead of a SIP address. In such case, use the username@server format for the SIP address field. Additional manual settings for the server location can be made in Advanced Account Settings explained below.
87 1 Tijmen de Mes
88 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Create a Free SIP Account
89 1 Tijmen de Mes
90 141 Adrian Georgescu
If you do not have a SIP Account, Blink can create one for you using the free service provided by SIP2SIP. All Blink features are supported by this service.
91 135 Adrian Georgescu
92 1 Tijmen de Mes
For more information about the features of the SIP service go to "http://sip2sip.info":http://wiki.sip2sip.info
93 138 Tijmen de Mes
94 138 Tijmen de Mes
95 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Advanced Account Settings
96 1 Tijmen de Mes
97 140 Adrian Georgescu
h4. Outbound Proxy
98 1 Tijmen de Mes
99 138 Tijmen de Mes
If the SIP provider does not have proper DNS records set for his domain to point to its SIP server address and port numbers as defined by RFC3263, Blink will not be able to auto-discover its location. In such case you must set the Outbound Proxy setting in _Preferences -> SIP Account -> Advanced -> SIP Signaling_. Also you can use this setting to force a specific transport or port different than the ones discovered from DNS. The outbound proxy format is _host.example.com:5060;transport=udp_.
100 1 Tijmen de Mes
101 140 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Main Interface
102 1 Tijmen de Mes
103 141 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-Contacts.jpg!
104 141 Adrian Georgescu
105 140 Adrian Georgescu
Blink presents a _Contacts driven_ "interface":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#main_interface as the main window. The design allows to locate a Contact then to start an action for it, for example to start an _Audio Call_. You can toggle to and from a dial-pad interface in the _Contacts_ menu.
106 140 Adrian Georgescu
107 140 Adrian Georgescu
The main interface can be collapsed into a "compact mode":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#collapsed_gui that hides the Contact List or dialpad. Click on the *+* Green button of the window to collapse and expand the main interface.
108 1 Tijmen de Mes
109 1 Tijmen de Mes
Hover the mouse over the GUI elements to see a short description of their function.
110 1 Tijmen de Mes
111 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Active Account
112 1 Tijmen de Mes
113 141 Adrian Georgescu
You can select the Account used for outbound sessions in the _Accounts drop down box_ presented on the top of the main interface. _Bonjour Account_ is a special type of account that is designed to announce itself and discover other neighbours on the local area network. This account does not require a server or SIP service in order to operate.
114 1 Tijmen de Mes
115 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Search Bar
116 1 Tijmen de Mes
117 1 Tijmen de Mes
The Search bar is used for finding an existing contact or for entering a SIP address or telephone number.
118 1 Tijmen de Mes
119 1 Tijmen de Mes
To search for a contact in Blink's _Contacts List_, system _Address Book_ and optionally configured LDAP directory of the active account, fill in the name in the _Search Bar_. You may select a Contact that matched the typed text or use the typed text as the Contact for the next action.
120 1 Tijmen de Mes
121 1 Tijmen de Mes
Use the buttons presented at the bottom of the main window to start a session to the current selected Contact or press on _Add Contact_ to add the typed address to the _Contacts List_.
122 1 Tijmen de Mes
123 1 Tijmen de Mes
Pressing enter or return after entering text in the search bar will start an audio call to that address.
124 1 Tijmen de Mes
125 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Contacts List
126 1 Tijmen de Mes
127 141 Adrian Georgescu
Contacts can be organized in Groups. The Groups support ordering and can be collapsed or expanded when clicking on their left-side triangle. Groups can be dragged in different order. Contacts can be dragged from one group to another.
128 1 Tijmen de Mes
129 141 Adrian Georgescu
Right click on a Contact to see all possible actions for each of them.
130 135 Adrian Georgescu
131 141 Adrian Georgescu
h4. Address Book
132 138 Tijmen de Mes
133 1 Tijmen de Mes
The group named _Address Book_ cannot be deleted, it is dynamically populated with entries from the system _Address Book_. To reload changes made in the _Address Book_ collapse and expand the group again.
134 1 Tijmen de Mes
135 1 Tijmen de Mes
For Address Book entries, to have a SIP Address recognized by Blink you must have entries in either Email or URL sections that start with the _sip:_ prefix.
136 140 Adrian Georgescu
137 1 Tijmen de Mes
One can initiate an audio call using Blink Pro directly from the AddressBook application by clicking on the Phone, Email or URL fields of an AddressBook contact. For this you must install the AddressBook plugins available at:
138 140 Adrian Georgescu
139 1 Tijmen de Mes
"http://download.ag-projects .com/BlinkABPlugins/":http://download.ag-projects.com/BlinkABPlugins/
140 140 Adrian Georgescu
141 141 Adrian Georgescu
The plugins work with Blink Pro version 1.8.2 or newer.
142 1 Tijmen de Mes
143 141 Adrian Georgescu
h4. Bonjour Neighbours
144 115 Adrian Georgescu
145 1 Tijmen de Mes
_Bonjour Neighbours_ appear in the _Contacts List_ as a separate Group. When selecting _Bonjour_ as the default account, _Bonjour Neighbours_ group is expanded and moved on top of the Contacts list. When changing back to a regular SIP Account, the groups in the Contacts list reshuffle to their previous positions.
146 1 Tijmen de Mes
147 1 Tijmen de Mes
Chat sessions are automatically accepted from Bonjour Neighbours.
148 1 Tijmen de Mes
149 1 Tijmen de Mes
Audio sessions can be automatically accepted based on the correspondent setting from Account menu.
150 140 Adrian Georgescu
151 134 Tijmen de Mes
h4. Edit Contact
152 123 Tijmen de Mes
153 128 Tijmen de Mes
You can edit a Contact by right clicking on it and select Edit menu option. _Edit Contact_ "window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#add_contact appears. To set the _Icon for the Contact_, click on the Icon area, a file selection dialog appears.
154 123 Tijmen de Mes
155 128 Tijmen de Mes
h4. Add Contact
156 138 Tijmen de Mes
157 141 Adrian Georgescu
You can add a Contact to the _Contacts List_ by clicking on the + button presented on the bottom left of the main interface. _Add Contact_ "window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#add_contact appears.
158 138 Tijmen de Mes
159 138 Tijmen de Mes
h4. Server Storage
160 134 Tijmen de Mes
161 123 Tijmen de Mes
If a contact is associated with an account and the SIP service that provides the account has XCAP storage capabilities, the contact is then also stored on the XCAP server. Multiple Blink instances can be synchronized in real time by using this feature. If your particular SIP service does not support XCAP storage, just add a SIP account from within Blink.
162 134 Tijmen de Mes
163 141 Adrian Georgescu
h4. Special Groups
164 134 Tijmen de Mes
165 141 Adrian Georgescu
In Preferences Contact section, special groups like Favorites or Missed Calls can be enabled.
166 141 Adrian Georgescu
167 128 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Start Session
168 138 Tijmen de Mes
169 128 Tijmen de Mes
Use the buttons presented at the bottom of the main window to start a session to the current selected Contact.
170 138 Tijmen de Mes
171 138 Tijmen de Mes
Clicking on _Return key_ or double-clicking a Contact will start the default session type depending on the preferred media configured for each Contact. The default action is to start an _Audio Call_.
172 138 Tijmen de Mes
173 141 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Incoming Session Alerts
174 134 Tijmen de Mes
175 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Alert Panel
176 134 Tijmen de Mes
177 141 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-AlertPanel-DS.jpg!
178 141 Adrian Georgescu
179 141 Adrian Georgescu
Incoming session requests bring up the "Alert Panel":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#alert_panel Click on the _Accept Button_ to accept a session request. There are two options for rejecting an incoming session request:
180 141 Adrian Georgescu
181 138 Tijmen de Mes
* Click on the _Reject button_. The session is rejected with SIP response code 603 and all other SIP devices registered for the same account stop ringing. Forwarding to voicemail or other destinations, when available in the SIP server is also cancelled. You must use this option to terminate all call processing associated with the request.
182 138 Tijmen de Mes
* Click on the _Busy button_. Blink sends a 486 code back to the caller and stops ringing, other SIP devices keep ringing and forwarding to other destinations remains active as set in the SIP server. You must use this option when you want to pick up the call at a different location or allow the Server to perform other pre-configured routing decisions.
183 138 Tijmen de Mes
184 138 Tijmen de Mes
When the _Answering Machine_ is enabled, a countdown appears in the Alert Panel. While the countdown counts you can still disable the _Answering Machine_ from the Account menu.
185 138 Tijmen de Mes
186 138 Tijmen de Mes
The currently selected input and output audio devices are showed for incoming Audio Call requests.
187 138 Tijmen de Mes
188 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. HTTP Alert URL
189 141 Adrian Georgescu
190 141 Adrian Georgescu
You can configure Blink Pro to automatically open a HTTP URL for an incoming session request either before or after accepting the session. For this set the _Alert Web Page_ in Advanced -> Web Alert section of each SIP account. The URL is opened in a web view controlled by Blink. Alternatively, you can configure Blink to launch the system default web browser in the Preferences -> Advanced -> GUI settings.
191 141 Adrian Georgescu
192 141 Adrian Georgescu
The URL may contain the following variables that will be replaced with the actual information from the incoming session:
193 141 Adrian Georgescu
194 141 Adrian Georgescu
* $caller_party - the SIP address of the caller party
195 141 Adrian Georgescu
* $called_party - the SIP address of the account being called
196 141 Adrian Georgescu
* $caller_username - the username part of the SIP address of the caller party
197 141 Adrian Georgescu
198 141 Adrian Georgescu
Example: http://www.example.com?caller=$caller_party&called=$called_party
199 141 Adrian Georgescu
200 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Voice Assistance
201 141 Adrian Georgescu
202 141 Adrian Georgescu
In Tools menu one can instruct Blink to speak the name of the caller or/and accept or reject calls using speech recognition.
203 141 Adrian Georgescu
 
204 141 Adrian Georgescu
205 141 Adrian Georgescu
206 140 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Audio Calls
207 140 Adrian Georgescu
208 140 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-AudioSessions.jpg!
209 140 Adrian Georgescu
_Audio Calls_ are displayed in the lateral "drawer":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#audio_sessions attached to the main interface.
210 140 Adrian Georgescu
211 140 Adrian Georgescu
To start an _Audio Call_, select an existing contact or enter a SIP address or telephone number in the search bar. Once text is entered in the search bar just press enter to start an audio call to that address. Alternatively, you can turn on the dialpad in the Contacts menu and press its keys.
212 140 Adrian Georgescu
213 140 Adrian Georgescu
When a Contact is selected, you may click on the _Green Handset_ located at the bottom of the main interface or right click on thr Contact and select _Start Audio Session_ from the contextual menu. For each new call an entry is added to the _Audio Calls_ drawer.
214 140 Adrian Georgescu
215 140 Adrian Georgescu
To switch between multiple calls just click on another call in the audio sessions drawer. When switching to a particular session, the audio stream is connected to the input and output device and all other Audio Calls are put on hold.
216 140 Adrian Georgescu
217 140 Adrian Georgescu
To add _Chat_ to an existing _Audio Call_, right click on the session displayed in the Audio Drawer and select an _Add Chat_
218 140 Adrian Georgescu
219 140 Adrian Georgescu
To mute your microphone click on the bottom right microphone icon. To un-mute click it again.
220 140 Adrian Georgescu
221 141 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Codecs
222 140 Adrian Georgescu
223 138 Tijmen de Mes
Audio codecs can be set in _Preferences -> Advanced -> RTP Media_ section and can be overwritten per account in _Advanced -> RTP Media section_. By default, the audio codecs are prioritized to allow for highest quality and second, compatibility with SIP services.
224 8 Tijmen de Mes
225 141 Adrian Georgescu
If you have changed the defaults or want to set the codecs manually, for high quality conversations is recommended to use G.722 codec as first choice and leave PCMA and PCMU enabled for compatibility reasons. Some details about the codecs used by Blink:
226 36 Tijmen de Mes
227 141 Adrian Georgescu
* PCMA (G711A) and PCMU (G711U) are the most interoperable codecs narrowband that work with any device
228 141 Adrian Georgescu
* G.722 is the most compatible wideband codec supported by both software and hardware phones
229 141 Adrian Georgescu
* Speex is another high quality codec that is built in softphones
230 141 Adrian Georgescu
* GSM and iLBC use less bandwidth than the other codecs but they have less support in other devices
231 1 Tijmen de Mes
232 57 Adrian Georgescu
h3. DTMF
233 1 Tijmen de Mes
234 57 Adrian Georgescu
Dial tones are used to interact with PBX and IVR systems or legacy PSTN gateways. To send DTMF tones, focus the Audio Call by clicking on it. The current call is already focused if you just started it. What you then type on the keyboard is automatically translated into DTMF tones. Alpha-numeric keys are translated into numeric DTMF keys as they are on a numeric telephone keypad. Also you may use the dialpad for this purpose.
235 1 Tijmen de Mes
236 141 Adrian Georgescu
If a telephone number with a # sign is dialed, what comes after the # sign will be automatically entered as DTMF codes once the call is connected. Supported DTMF codes are 0-9*#. You can use the comma sign ',' to insert a one second pause (version >=1.5.1). You can use other delimiter by setting it in Phone Numbers advanced section of the SIP Account.  
237 1 Tijmen de Mes
238 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Hangup
239 1 Tijmen de Mes
240 1 Tijmen de Mes
To hangup click on the _Red handset_ displayed for each Audio Session in the right hand side of the drawer or press the Escape key.
241 1 Tijmen de Mes
242 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Hold/Unhold
243 1 Tijmen de Mes
244 1 Tijmen de Mes
The shortcut key for hold and unhold of the selected session is Space.
245 1 Tijmen de Mes
246 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Record
247 1 Tijmen de Mes
248 33 Tijmen de Mes
To record click on the _Black circle_. While recording, the circle will toggle between red and black. Recorded sessions can be found in menu _Audio -> Recordings_.
249 6 Tijmen de Mes
250 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Transfer
251 1 Tijmen de Mes
252 1 Tijmen de Mes
To blindly transfer a call, just drag it to a contact in the Contacts list. You can also enter a number or address in the search bar, to transfer a call to an arbitrary address.
253 1 Tijmen de Mes
254 6 Tijmen de Mes
To perform an assisted call transfer, first establish a call to each party. Then, click on the T button for completing the transfer, a contextual menu is presented.
255 6 Tijmen de Mes
256 36 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Call History
257 8 Tijmen de Mes
258 61 Adrian Georgescu
History of previous sessions is available in the _History_ menu. If you have registered a SIP Account with Blink, you can review the missed calls while Blink was off-line in _Account-> Settings on SIP Server -> History_ menu.
259 1 Tijmen de Mes
260 33 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Redial
261 6 Tijmen de Mes
262 6 Tijmen de Mes
To redial the last session type Command-R, to redial a previous session select it in the History menu.
263 1 Tijmen de Mes
264 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. iTunes Integration
265 33 Tijmen de Mes
266 33 Tijmen de Mes
iTunes automatically pauses playing before any _Audio Call_ pauses and resumes playing after all _Audio Calls_ have finished. This functionality does not work when Blink runs in Sandbox mode (starting with Pro version 1.9.0 and Lite version 1.7.0) due to Apple imposed restrictions.
267 6 Tijmen de Mes
268 6 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Audio Information
269 6 Tijmen de Mes
270 75 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-ICE.jpg!
271 75 Adrian Georgescu
272 36 Tijmen de Mes
Audio Calls have status indication about the progress of establishment of the RTP stream and ICE negotiation, the negotiated codec and the presence of encryption for signaling and media.
273 8 Tijmen de Mes
274 38 Tijmen de Mes
The RTP end-points and negotiated ICE candidates (when ICE negotiation succeeded) are displayed when hovering the mouse over the Audio codec information area.
275 22 Tijmen de Mes
276 6 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Phone Numbers
277 1 Tijmen de Mes
278 33 Tijmen de Mes
To dial a phone number, just enter the number in the _Search Box_ followed by Enter or Return key.
279 6 Tijmen de Mes
280 33 Tijmen de Mes
When dialing numbers by selecting entries from the Address Book it is recommended that you store your numbers in international E.164 format (that is + sign followed by the country code then the subscriber number).
281 1 Tijmen de Mes
282 6 Tijmen de Mes
You can set in the account _Advanced -> Phone Numbers_ preferences section how to replace the + sign with another prefix recognized by your SIP service provider or PBX. For example if you set _Replace Starting +_ with 001, when you dial +44XXX the number will be dialed as 00144XXX.
283 6 Tijmen de Mes
284 1 Tijmen de Mes
Optionally, phone numbers can be also prefixed before dialing out, for example if a 9 is required by your PBX by setting the _External Line Prefix_ option.
285 6 Tijmen de Mes
286 33 Tijmen de Mes
If you have created a SIP Account with Blink, you can call to PSTN numbers if you must have a positive credit. You can use a Credit Card to add _Credit_ to your SIP Account in menu _Tools -> Call To Phone Numbers..._. You may request the assignment of a PSTN Caller Id by opeing a ticket in the server support interface. Recognized number formats are + or _00_ followed by the _Country Code_ and then _Subscriber Number_.
287 1 Tijmen de Mes
288 33 Tijmen de Mes
If you use another SIP Account than the one provided by Blink, access to the PSTN is subject to the support provided by your SIP service provider. The number format depends as well on the conventions imposed by the SIP service provider in question.
289 6 Tijmen de Mes
290 6 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Voicemail
291 1 Tijmen de Mes
292 1 Tijmen de Mes
Voicemail is a feature provided for SIP accounts created by Blink. It is provided by the network while Blink is offline, when the call forwarding to Voicemail is activated. To change the settings of your SIP2SIP voicemail box dial _1233_. You can record your unavailable message and listen to your messages stored on the server. The voicemail delivered method (by email attachement or by dialing into the server) is set in menu _Tools -> Settings on SIP server_ in the Voicemail section.
293 6 Tijmen de Mes
294 88 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Answering Machine
295 88 Adrian Georgescu
296 88 Adrian Georgescu
When the _Answering Machine_ is enabled, Audio Call requests will be automatically answered with either the standard or the custom recorded message after the delay configured set in _Preferences -> Answering Machine_ settings.
297 88 Adrian Georgescu
298 6 Tijmen de Mes
You can enable the _Answering Machine_ using the menu item _Tools -> Enable Answering Machine_. The incoming Audio Calls are then recorded and can be listened to later in _Tools -> Recordings_ menu.
299 116 Adrian Georgescu
300 116 Adrian Georgescu
While the _Answering Machine_ is handling an Audio Call, you can hear what the remote party is speaking while your microphone is muted. If you wish you can take over by clicking on the _Green Handset_ icon in the Audio drawer. The recording stops and the session is connected to the microphone.
301 116 Adrian Georgescu
302 116 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Audio Conference
303 76 Adrian Georgescu
304 120 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-AudioConference.jpg!
305 120 Adrian Georgescu
306 120 Adrian Georgescu
Drag and drop _Audio Calls_ on top of each other to create a "Conference":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#audio_conference or use the button presented at the botton at the _Audio Drawer_ to start a _Conference_ with all active _Audio Calls_.
307 120 Adrian Georgescu
308 6 Tijmen de Mes
Add new participants to a Conference by dragging Contacts from the _Contacts list_ onto an _Audio Call_.
309 124 Adrian Georgescu
310 124 Adrian Georgescu
Each participant can be muted individually by pressing on the microphone symbol that appears on each conferenced session.
311 124 Adrian Georgescu
312 124 Adrian Georgescu
To end an _Audio Conference_ drag the session out of the conference area or press the _Conference_ button again.
313 6 Tijmen de Mes
314 36 Tijmen de Mes
There can be only one active _Audio Conference_ at any given time.
315 9 Tijmen de Mes
316 132 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Chat Sessions
317 132 Adrian Georgescu
318 132 Adrian Georgescu
Chat sessions work like Audio Calls in the sense that a session is established after the called party explicitly accepts the invitation and for each message there is a delivery report available.  This is different to Send Message, which is a fire and forget action with no guarantees of the delivery.
319 132 Adrian Georgescu
320 6 Tijmen de Mes
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-ServerConference.jpg!
321 6 Tijmen de Mes
322 6 Tijmen de Mes
_Chat Sessions_ are displayed into the "Chat window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#chat_sessions. For each recipient there is a new Tab created at the bottom of the window. The Tabs are matched based on the SIP Address of the recipient and the _Chat Aliases_ configured for the Contacts.
323 1 Tijmen de Mes
324 135 Adrian Georgescu
The lateral drawer display the active participants present in the chat session or multi-party conference.
325 135 Adrian Georgescu
326 135 Adrian Georgescu
_Chat Sessions_ are encrypted using TLS and handled like the _Audio Sessions_, a _Chat Session_ is established only to the device where the user accepts the session. _Chat sessions_ can carry arbitrarily large amounts of text information.
327 135 Adrian Georgescu
328 33 Tijmen de Mes
You can start a _Chat Session_ by right-clicking on a _Contact_ and chose _Start Chat Session_.
329 9 Tijmen de Mes
330 1 Tijmen de Mes
Messages typed before the session is accepted by the remote party are queued and delivered once the session has been established. If the session fails to establish, the undelivered messages will be resent at the next successful attempt.
331 140 Adrian Georgescu
332 140 Adrian Georgescu
Message marked with a red color background have failed to be delivered.
333 140 Adrian Georgescu
334 140 Adrian Georgescu
To an established _Chat Session_ you can add _Audio_ or start a _Screen Sharing_ session by clicking on the buttons presented on the toolbar.
335 33 Tijmen de Mes
336 6 Tijmen de Mes
To review previous chat conversations go to menu _History -> Chat Conversations_.
337 1 Tijmen de Mes
338 6 Tijmen de Mes
To insert an empty line use Shift-Enter combination.
339 18 Tijmen de Mes
340 36 Tijmen de Mes
The rendering of Emoticons can be disabled in each chat window, this can be useful to transfer programming code snippets without interpreting the special characters as emoticons.
341 9 Tijmen de Mes
342 33 Tijmen de Mes
h2. Short Messages
343 6 Tijmen de Mes
344 6 Tijmen de Mes
_Short Messages_ is the way to interact with legacy SIP IM clients that do not support session based _Chat Sessions_ using MSRP protocol. 
345 9 Tijmen de Mes
346 6 Tijmen de Mes
_Short Messages_ are stand-alone entities that operates in a fire and forget fashion. There is no guarantee for delivery or alerting of the final recipient. _Short Messages_ end-up on all SIP devices registered for the remote SIP Account, including hardware phones that accept such messages but do not display them, the recipient has no control where to receive them.
347 1 Tijmen de Mes
348 1 Tijmen de Mes
_Short Messages_ have no end-to-end delivery report and cannot be encrypted the way Chat Sessions are. For guaranteed message delivery and encryption you must use Chat Sessions.
349 1 Tijmen de Mes
350 1 Tijmen de Mes
A _Short Message_ cannot exceed 1300 characters on IP networks and 160 on PSTN mobile networks.
351 1 Tijmen de Mes
352 1 Tijmen de Mes
You can send a _Short Message_ by right-clicking on a _Contact_ and chose _Send SMS_.
353 1 Tijmen de Mes
354 1 Tijmen de Mes
Previous exchanged messages can be reviewed in the menu _Window -> Chat History_.
355 1 Tijmen de Mes
356 1 Tijmen de Mes
h2. File Transfers
357 1 Tijmen de Mes
358 1 Tijmen de Mes
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-FileTransfer.jpg!
359 36 Tijmen de Mes
360 1 Tijmen de Mes
To send a file you can use drag and drop from Finder or other application like iPhoto onto a Contact, to a Chat Window or by right clicking on a Contact and then selecting _Send File..._ option.
361 1 Tijmen de Mes
362 1 Tijmen de Mes
_File Transfers_ are displayed in a "separate window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#file_transfers. Each file has a progress bar attached with estimated transfer speed and remaining time.
363 38 Tijmen de Mes
364 33 Tijmen de Mes
h2. Screen Sharing
365 6 Tijmen de Mes
366 6 Tijmen de Mes
Screen Sharing is implemented by using standard VNC protocol over an MSRP connection. The minimum bandwidth required for a reasonable experience us 1 Mbit/s. Make sure that all debugging is disabled during Screen Sharing as it can overload the CPU.
367 33 Tijmen de Mes
368 6 Tijmen de Mes
The party sharing the Screen must have enabled _Screen Sharing_ in _System Preferences_ and set the option _Anyone may request permission to control screen_ in Computer Settings section of the _Share Screen_ panel.
369 33 Tijmen de Mes
370 6 Tijmen de Mes
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-ScreenSharingServerSetup.jpg!
371 16 Tijmen de Mes
372 6 Tijmen de Mes
373 36 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Screen Sharing Party
374 6 Tijmen de Mes
375 38 Tijmen de Mes
First Blink alerts the user about an incoming request for Screen Sharing. If accepted, MacOSX VNC server will asks to confirm the Screen Sharing request. The request originates from the localhost (127.0.0.1) as the connection runs through Blink.
376 1 Tijmen de Mes
377 6 Tijmen de Mes
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-ScreenSharingServerConfirmation.jpg!
378 6 Tijmen de Mes
379 25 Tijmen de Mes
380 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Screen Viewer Party
381 6 Tijmen de Mes
382 1 Tijmen de Mes
The party asking for Screen Sharing must select the option 'Connect by Asking for Permission' when prompted by the VNC viewer.
383 33 Tijmen de Mes
384 6 Tijmen de Mes
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-ScreenSharingClientRequest.jpg!
385 6 Tijmen de Mes
386 1 Tijmen de Mes
387 33 Tijmen de Mes
h2. NAT Traversal
388 1 Tijmen de Mes
389 24 Tijmen de Mes
For NAT traversal you must rely on your SIP service provider. In general, every SIP service provides relaying for both signaling and media, which takes care of the NAT issue. This means that no special settings are necessary in the client.
390 6 Tijmen de Mes
391 33 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Audio
392 9 Tijmen de Mes
393 6 Tijmen de Mes
For _Audio Calls_ you can enable the use of ICE negotiation in _Advanced -> NAT Traversal -> Use ICE_. ICE requires the presence of STUN servers, they must be provided by the SIP service provider. The ICE negotiation details are displayed in "RTP Logs window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#logs_ice. While the ICE negotiation progresses, its status is also displayed in the Audio Call information, for example the gathering of ICE the candidates and the probing of the remote candidates.
394 1 Tijmen de Mes
395 101 Adrian Georgescu
Once the audio stream is established, the audio information area is updated with the negotiated codec type and the sample rate. The active RTP end-points and the ICE candidates types are displayed while "hovering the mouse":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#rtp_endpoints over the audio status information area.
396 6 Tijmen de Mes
397 116 Adrian Georgescu
h3. IM and File Transfers
398 116 Adrian Georgescu
399 116 Adrian Georgescu
To traverse the NAT for MSRP related sessions (Instant Messaging, File Transfer) a "MSRP relay":http://msrprelay.org configured for the called party domain is needed. The SIP service provider that provides the SIP Account must support this feature (e.g. http://sip2sip.info).
400 116 Adrian Georgescu
401 116 Adrian Georgescu
h3. Screen Sharing
402 120 Adrian Georgescu
403 120 Adrian Georgescu
To traverse the NAT for Screen Sharing sessions a "MSRP relay":http://msrprelay.org configured for the called party domain is needed. The SIP service provider that provides the SIP Account must support this feature (e.g. http://sip2sip.info).
404 120 Adrian Georgescu
405 120 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Growl Notifications
406 120 Adrian Georgescu
407 124 Adrian Georgescu
Growl notifications are raised for missed sessions and the Dock Icon badge is updated with the number of missed sessions.
408 124 Adrian Georgescu
409 124 Adrian Georgescu
When sessions are accepted elsewhere and the SIP server supports the Reason header, the sessions will be logged in the incoming section rather than the missed section.
410 124 Adrian Georgescu
411 124 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Logs
412 124 Adrian Georgescu
413 124 Adrian Georgescu
"Logs Window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#logs helps troubleshoot network traffic for various protocols used by Blink. For example, one can follow in the self scrolling interface the time sequence of all DNS lookups and SIP messages exchanged with the other end-points.
414 132 Adrian Georgescu
415 132 Adrian Georgescu
To see what Blink is doing under the hood go to the menu _Window -> Logs_. It is advisable not to leave MSRP Trace and Notifications Logs turned on unless you really need them for debugging purposes, they are very demanding in terms of CPU load during File Transfer and Screen Sharing sessions.
416 132 Adrian Georgescu
417 132 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Server Settings
418 132 Adrian Georgescu
419 132 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-DND.jpg!
420 132 Adrian Georgescu
421 132 Adrian Georgescu
Blink is integrated with the SIP2SIP server functionality. One can change settings directly on the SIP server like Call Forwarding, Do Not Disturb, list of last missed sessions and other settings.
422 135 Adrian Georgescu
423 135 Adrian Georgescu
The settings are displayed in "Server Settings window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#server_settings. The window is actually a web interface that loads the URL configured in the _Advanced -> Server -> Settings URL_ for each SIP Account. The remote web server can support digest authentication, Blink sends the SIP Account credentials when prompted by the server.
424 135 Adrian Georgescu
425 135 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Audio Devices
426 135 Adrian Georgescu
427 135 Adrian Georgescu
Blink auto-detects audio devices there are plugged in and out on the fly and prompts the user to switch to a new added device. You can switch automatically by setting this option in Preferences -> Audio section.
428 135 Adrian Georgescu
429 140 Adrian Georgescu
To selected a particular audio device use the menu _Audio_.
430 140 Adrian Georgescu
431 140 Adrian Georgescu
h2. Preferences
432 140 Adrian Georgescu
433 140 Adrian Georgescu
!http://icanblink.com/images/BlinkScreenshot-Preferences.jpg!
434 140 Adrian Georgescu
435 140 Adrian Georgescu
To change Blink configuration go to menu _Preferences_. The Preferences "window":http://icanblink.com/screenshots.phtml#preferences appears.
436 140 Adrian Georgescu
437 140 Adrian Georgescu
Find out more information about a particular setting by hovering the mouse over it.
438 140 Adrian Georgescu
439 140 Adrian Georgescu
Each SIP Account has advanced options available, to reveal them click on the small triangle presented under the SIP Address.
440 140 Adrian Georgescu
441 140 Adrian Georgescu
Blink preferences are stored in _~/Library/Application Support/Blink Pro_ folder. You can reset Blink by deleting this folder.
442 140 Adrian Georgescu
443 140 Adrian Georgescu
Blink SIP accounts and settings are stored in _~/Library/Application Support/Blink Pro/config_ file.
444 140 Adrian Georgescu
445 1 Tijmen de Mes
GUI preferences are stored in _~/Library/Preferences/com.agprojects.Blink.plist_ file. (e.g. size, location of the windows and other MacOSX related settings).
446 1 Tijmen de Mes
447 1 Tijmen de Mes
If you ever want to move your Blink configuration to another login account you must edit the content of your _config_ file and replace the absolute file paths accordingly. You can edit this file with any text editor as long as you do not break the return lines and formatting of the file.
448 1 Tijmen de Mes
449 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Codecs
450 1 Tijmen de Mes
451 1 Tijmen de Mes
Blink supports _G722_ and _Speex_ wide-band codecs. The order of the codecs can be configured in menu _Preferences -> Advanced -> RTP Media_ and for each SIP Account in _Preferences -> Accounts -> Advanced -> RTP Media_.
452 1 Tijmen de Mes
453 1 Tijmen de Mes
h2. History Database
454 1 Tijmen de Mes
455 1 Tijmen de Mes
Blink stores the history of sessions and chat messages in a Sqlite database. The location of the database is:
456 1 Tijmen de Mes
457 1 Tijmen de Mes
<pre>
458 1 Tijmen de Mes
~/Library/Application Support/Blink Pro/history/history.sqlite
459 1 Tijmen de Mes
</pre>
460 1 Tijmen de Mes
461 1 Tijmen de Mes
462 1 Tijmen de Mes
If for any reason the database becomes corrupted, which may manifest itself by errors reported graphically by Blink itself or in the Console application you may work around the problems in several ways.
463 1 Tijmen de Mes
464 1 Tijmen de Mes
First, backup your database in case you need the uncorrupted data in the future. You can do this by copying the history.sqlite file to another location. The file can be opened in *Terminal* application using *sqlite3* program. You can dump the old data in the corrupted database as follows:
465 1 Tijmen de Mes
466 1 Tijmen de Mes
<pre>
467 1 Tijmen de Mes
#:~/Library/Application Support/Blink Pro/history$sqlite3 history.sqlite 
468 1 Tijmen de Mes
SQLite version 3.7.7 2011-06-25 16:35:41
469 1 Tijmen de Mes
Enter ".help" for instructions
470 1 Tijmen de Mes
Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"
471 1 Tijmen de Mes
sqlite> select * from sessions;
472 1 Tijmen de Mes
sqlite> select * from chat_messages;
473 1 Tijmen de Mes
</pre>
474 1 Tijmen de Mes
475 1 Tijmen de Mes
476 1 Tijmen de Mes
h3. Restore Procedure
477 1 Tijmen de Mes
478 1 Tijmen de Mes
Try the following in this order to solve a data corruption problem:
479 1 Tijmen de Mes
480 1 Tijmen de Mes
* Clear the session history table, go to menu _History-&gt; Clear History_. The session table will be emptied and the chat messages are not affected. Restart Blink.
481 1 Tijmen de Mes
* Stop Blink. Remove history.sqlite file, the history database will be recreated at start time. Use the backup file for reading the old data using the sqlite3 command line utility.