Clean up Duplicate Calls with Whozz Calling

[deb7890]

Hi Bill,

How can I clean up duplicate calls in my call list, dumped by the Whozz Calling device into Ascendis on rebooting my computer?

This happens in two situations:

(1) on reboot after a computer crash, if Ascendis was open when it crashed. (it is nearly always open)

(2) on reboot after a manual restart with NO crash if I did not manually close Ascendis but allowed Windows to auto-close it.

In other words, Ascendis MUST be closed by hand on closing down the computer, otherwise this dupe-dumping behavior WILL happen upon reboot.

The dump can be a lot of calls, sometimes up to the past 2-4 days of calls, or 50 or more duplicate calls, appearing in the list.

I suppose it's set up this way so as to not lose any calls, which is good, but this goes overboard in the other direction!

In the past I tried Delete Duplicate Calls that used to be a menu choice which seems to be not there any more. The calls it deleted were mostly not the newly-dumped duplicates anyway.

Perhaps it's possible to have the dump be reversible in some way programmatically, however you'd do that.

This is using Ascendis Caller ID 2.3.0.26 on Windows XP SP3, with a Whozz Calling 2-line device.

Otherwise things are going great with the program.

Thanks! Debby

[Bill Root]

Hi Debby,

I'm sorry to hear about the problem -- I'm sure it's very irritating to manually remove the duplicates.

In the past we looked into avoiding re-adding calls from the Whozz Calling? device memory for calls that were already in the calls list. Unfortunately, because of differences in date and time stamps and the fact that Whozz Calling? devices report memory calls differently from active calls, this was not trivial to do with certainty while avoiding unwanted deletions.

To avoid the problem in the first place, I uploaded a new beta version of Ascendis Caller ID that can be configured to NOT download calls from Whozz Calling? device memory. You can download this version here:
http://ascendis.com/callerid/CallerID_Beta_Setup.exe

(If you don't have an activation code, please request a free one at
http://ascendis.com/callerid/upgrade_v2 ... e_form.php
If that doesn't work, please submit a support request at
http://ascendis.com/callerid/support_form.php
with some reference to this issue and I'll provide an activation code. Note that you should be able to use the new version for 30 days without an activation code.)

Once installed, open the Options window, Devices page, Whozz Calling? subpage, and uncheck "Download calls in memory" in the check combo box to the right of "Options:".

In the past I tried Delete Duplicate Calls that used to be a menu choice which seems to be not there any more. The calls it deleted were mostly not the newly-dumped duplicates anyway.

"Delete Duplicate Calls" is available from the Calls list right-click menu when a single call is selected. However, it wants the timestamps to match to the second.

(2) on reboot after a manual restart with NO crash if I did not manually close Ascendis but allowed Windows to auto-close it.

In other words, Ascendis MUST be closed by hand on closing down the computer, otherwise this dupe-dumping behavior WILL happen upon reboot.

I could not duplicate this problem under Windows XP, but there may be other factors involved. In my case, when shutting down or restarting Windows XP, Ascendis Caller ID cleared the memory in the Whozz Calling? device. In your case, the new option to disable memory call downloading should be a good workaround.

If at some point you need to download the calls from the Whozz Calling? memory, you can enable the option and restart Ascendis Caller ID. Once the calls are downloaded you can disable the option if desired. Ascendis Caller ID will not erase device memory unless configured to download calls from memory.


Finest regards,
Bill Root
Ascendis Software LLC

[deb7890]

Hi Bill,

Couldn't ask for more--preventing the download in the first place... It's also useful that the stored calls are available to download if needed.

"Delete Duplicate Calls" is available from the Calls list right-click menu when a single call is selected. However, it wants the timestamps to match to the second.

Ah, I knew it was there somewhere. I now see why it isn't intended to be applicable to my situation, since "Delete Duplicate Calls" applies to just the single call that is selected, not "any" duplicate calls. (I think I got that right.)

I could not duplicate this problem under Windows XP, but there may be other factors involved. In my case, when shutting down or restarting Windows XP, Ascendis Caller ID cleared the memory in the Whozz Calling? device. In your case, the new option to disable memory call downloading should be a good workaround.

May I ask what other factors might be involved, say, if there is something in my Windows configuration that could affect that, or perhaps if it is a Whozz Calling function. It would be interesting to know, just for curiosity's sake. If it's too obscure to get into, that's OK.

Thanks for the excellent support. Debby.

[Bill Root]

"Delete Duplicate Calls" is available from the Calls list right-click menu when a single call is selected. However, it wants the timestamps to match to the second.

Ah, I knew it was there somewhere. I now see why it isn't intended to be applicable to my situation, since "Delete Duplicate Calls" applies to just the single call that is selected, not "any" duplicate calls. (I think I got that right.)

Actually, "Delete Duplicate Calls" applies to all calls, but since it's invoked by right-clicking on one call, I can see how it would interpreted as applying to one call.

The issue is how Ascendis Caller ID determines whether two calls are "identical". Even if Ascendis Caller ID considered two calls that started and ended up to 60 seconds apart to be "identical" if the phone numbers matched, if Ascendis Caller ID was configured to use the computer time to determine call start and end and the Whozz Calling? device specified times that were 2 minutes off, the calls would not be considered duplicates. There is no unique identifier (in general terms) for a call.

I could not duplicate this problem under Windows XP, but there may be other factors involved. In my case, when shutting down or restarting Windows XP, Ascendis Caller ID cleared the memory in the Whozz Calling? device. In your case, the new option to disable memory call downloading should be a good workaround.

May I ask what other factors might be involved, say, if there is something in my Windows configuration that could affect that, or perhaps if it is a Whozz Calling function. It would be interesting to know, just for curiosity's sake. If it's too obscure to get into, that's OK.

The clear factors are:

1. If a program takes a while to end, Windows XP throws up a window giving the user a chance to end the program. If this happened with Ascendis Caller ID and you clicked "End Now", Ascendis Caller ID wouldn't complete the shutdown cleanup, which could prevent clearing of the Whozz Calling? device's memory.
2. The Whozz Calling? 2 device takes almost 30 seconds to clear the memory. (You can tell when the Whozz Calling? 2 is clearing memory because the power LED goes off, while the line LEDs remain lit.) During program shutdown Ascendis Caller ID does not wait for it to finish, since that would frustrate most users (including me). I don't know what happens if the power is cut to the Whozz Calling? device while it's erasing memory. It's conceivable that it's causing the problem you're experiencing. If your Whozz Calling? device is plugged into a smart power strip that cuts power to non-computer outlets when the computer is shut down, this could happen without you expressly cutting power to the device.

Another possibility is a third-party program to speed Windows XP shutdown. Such a program could forcefully terminate programs that don't shutdown quickly. I'm not certain such programs exist, but programs do exist that forcefully terminate other programs.

Finest regards,
Bill Root
Ascendis Software LLC

[deb7890]

Actually, "Delete Duplicate Calls" applies to all calls, but since it's invoked by right-clicking on one call, I can see how it would interpreted as applying to one call.
The issue is how Ascendis Caller ID determines whether two calls are "identical". Even if Ascendis Caller ID considered two calls that started and ended up to 60 seconds apart to be "identical" if the phone numbers matched, if Ascendis Caller ID was configured to use the computer time to determine call start and end and the Whozz Calling? device specified times that were 2 minutes off, the calls would not be considered duplicates. There is no unique identifier (in general terms) for a call.

OK. Understood now.

--

Re: other factors that could interfere with XP's auto-closing:

I can rule out all of the things you mentioned, except possibly one.

-No hardware is causing power interruption to the WC. The WC stays on permanently.

-I never get the dialog to force an "End Now" for Ascendis.

-No shutdown-accelerating utilities are on the system, to my knowledge. It's possible something is doing this without my knowledge, but I can't imagine what.

I should have been alert to any new software installed around when the dupe-dumping behavior started. However, at the time, I didn't think to make the correlation.

The test, now, should be to try shutdowns in minimal configuration, adding things back one by one.

As a long shot, I get at times a "Runtime error 217." This hasn't yielded to the usual suggestions to keep patches up to date, clean registry, replace msvcrt.dll and certain other possibly corrupt dlls, etc. No idea if this could be related. It occurs on closing the last of a series of explorer windows and is only a minor annoyance.

Well, just thinking out loud here, nothing more....

The problem is effectively worked around now with the 2.3.0.37 update. Have a great day.

[Bill Root]

As a long shot, I get at times a "Runtime error 217." This hasn't yielded to the usual suggestions to keep patches up to date, clean registry, replace msvcrt.dll and certain other possibly corrupt dlls, etc. No idea if this could be related.

Since the original problem has been worked around, you may ignore this. If you're curious, however...

"Runtime error 217" usually indicates a problem with a Delphi program, which Ascendis Caller ID is. If Ascendis Caller ID is not causing the problem, you could verify this by closing Ascendis Caller ID manually (File->Exit) before shutting down Windows. If the error message still appears, it must be something else.

It occurs on closing the last of a series of explorer windows and is only a minor annoyance.

If you mean Internet Explorer, many others have reported this problem:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums ... 7ce6ef10af


The posts suggest a problem with the Norton Confidential browser helper for IE or other IE add-ons.


Finest regards,
Bill Root
Ascendis Software LLC