Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Address Book and Directory
Management

The Polycom PVX, Viewstation. VSX and HDX videoconference units have the ability to store a list of videoconference sites. This feature allows for the easy selection of a videoconference site from a predefined menu.

On Viewstation models the address book is accessible through a main graphic menu option.

On VSX systems the address book is called the directory and accessed through a main graphic menu button.

For the purposes of this discussion the address storage area on all models will be referred to as the address book.

Management of the local address book can be done manually for creating new, edit old or deleting unwanted entries. This can be done using the remote control unit. It is convenient but laborious when the number of entries gets large. A more efficient method for maintaining the address book is available with a free PC program from Polycom called Address Book Utility. In addition to managing the content, it is very useful for creating a backup file of the addresses onto your PC and for easily including address lists from other sites.

NOTE: This application only works on Viewstation models (i.e., SP 128, H.323, FX) and does not work with the newer VSX models or PVX. A different method is used to manage the VSX models (i.e., 7000, 7000s, 7000e, 8800). Instructions for PVX are available to manually install the updates. It is documented elsewhere.

The latest version can be obtained from the Polycom software download site or from the IFAS library in either an executable file (14071 KB) or zip file (13785 KB) format.

The utility does not directly edit files on the Polycom or local PC. To make changes it copies the address book content from Polycom units and/or from local PC spreadsheet files into the work area in the upper left quadrant of the program window. When all entries have been made the information in the work area can be stored on the PC or uploaded to a Polycom unit.

When the utility program is started on a PC the following window will appear:

Initially you will be asked the IP address and administrative  password of a Polycom system.

• If you want to download the address book information from a Polycom unit, enter the requested information and click the "Connect" button. The address book information will be entered into the program's work area.
   

• Click on the "Cancel" button if no information is to be retrieved from a Polycom unit at this time. It can be retrieved at a later time.

The program window is divided into four areas:

1. upper left - data list work area

2. upper right - data entry/edit

3. lower left - copy data to/from the PC

4. lower right - copy data to/from a Polycom

Record Entry - To enter data into the work area it can be created with a "New" entry, modifying an existing entry,  retrieved from an existing PC file, or downloaded from any Polycom that you have administrative access.
 

When you click on the "New" button, "...New Entry ..." text will appear in the "Name" field. Left clicking on that field will erase the text and allow the entry of a unique address name. The name field can only contain upper and lower case letters along with numbers and a few special characters. If other characters are entered a notification message will appear and the changes will be discarded.

Other information that must be included is the "IP Video Number" and the "Speed". The IP address can either be the numeric number or the DNS name. The speed should be set to 384 unless you are on a cable or DSL connection. In that case the speed should be set to 256. The ISDN fields should be left blank. The remaining fields can be filled in as needed.

When all entries have been made, the "Add" button will enter the record into the work area and clear the fields.

The "Cancel" button will discard and clear the current entry fields.
 

Modify - Existing entries in the work area can be modified by left clicking on the desired entry to change. The content of the record selected will appear in the "Current Entry" fields to the right. Entries in the work area will be grayed out until the current record is added or canceled. Any information can be changed.

However, if the name field is changed (including the case change of a letter) it will be regarded as a new entry and not replace the existing entry if added. In that situation you will need to delete the old entry version from the work area if no longer needed.
 

Address book entries can be made available as locally stored PC files. The content of these files can be entered into the work area by clicking on the "Open File" button. When selected a window will appear to allow the navigation to the desired PC file. When the file has been selected the individual record entries will be entered into the work area and made available for further editing or uploading to a Polycom unit.
 

The "Connect" button is used to establish a link to the desired Polycom unit and automatically download the content of the local address book into the work area. If there are already entries in the work area you will be asked if they are to be deleted before the new entries are downloaded. If you answer "Yes" the work area entries will be deleted and the Polycom unit entries entered. If you select "No" the entries from the Polycom unit will be added to the existing work area entries listed. It is possible to "Disconnect" and "Connect" to different Polycom units to capture multiple address books in a single work area.
 

Merge - Information can be merged from multiple sources into the work area. When entries come from multiple sources the program will individually compare each entry with existing names in the work area to avoid duplication and confusion. It does not compare other information stored as part of the entry. It is, therefore, possible to have different entry names pointing to the same IP location. However, it is not possible to have two identical names listed in the address book. Each entry name has to be unique. Name comparisons are not case sensitive. When conflicts arise you will be given the opportunity to individually reject (No) or overwrite (Yes) each conflict or make a blanket acceptance (Yes To All) or rejection (No To All).

When a list is being merged and a conflict occurs, the overwrite option listed above will be displayed indicating that there may be more than one possible conflict. When a single entry is in conflict, such as when individually modifying an existing entry, the second overwrite option will be displayed.
 

To remove individual entries from the work area, left click on the entry to be deleted and click on the "Delete" button. It will be removed. If you are currently connected to a Polycom unit you will also be asked if the entry is to be removed from the connected Polycom unit.
 

If all the entries are to be deleted, select the "Delete All" key.
 

Save - The entries in the work area can be saved to one or more Polycom units and/or to a local PC file for backup purposes.
 

If you are connected to a Polycom unit, as described above, the work area can be copied onto the videoconference system. After the work area is uploaded to a Polycom unit, it requires a system restart to load and make accessible the new address book entries.
 

Select the "Save As..." button if you want to copy the work area entries into a file on the PC. Just like other windows programs, you will be prompted to select the location for the file to be stored and enter a file name. A message will be displayed when the entries have been stored in the selected PC file.

Remember, if you are maintaining a custom address book on your Polycom unit it would be wise to use this program to backup the content to a local PC. In the event that the information should be modified or corrupted on the Polycom unit it can be easily restored with an upload from the stored address book file on the local PC.
 

PC File Format - the file is stored as a Microsoft Excel comma delimited format (*.CSV). As such, it can be edited as an Excel spreadsheet. If this is done, be careful. You will need to manually check for duplicate entry names and make sure the 1st column entry is formatted correctly to be consistent with the entry name. The first column uses the "underline" character in place of any spaces in the name.
 

IFAS Address Book - for your convenience, a pre-loaded data file is available for download to your PC. It includes the complete address list of registered videoconference units in IFAS. There are a few IFAS videoconference sites that are not included in the list because the IP address is not known. It can be used to populate the address book of the Polycom videoconference unit if you have administrative access.
 

If you have made a connection to a Polycom unit to either download or upload any information, remember to "Disconnect" before you exit the Address Book Utility program.

From the notebook of Thomas Hintz
the AgriGator