User Answering Rules

Last updated: 2024-01-31Contributors
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User Answering Rules can be used to create and manage the logic for routing incoming calls to a particular user/extension. If you are unfamiliar with answering rules, we recommend you read our Answering Rules Overview.

Create a User Custom Answering Rule

Be mindful of the following when constructing a request to create a user custom answering rule:

  • Provide a meaningful name for the rule using the name parameter.
  • Set the type parameter as "Custom."
  • Set the enabled parameter to True if the rule needs to be in effect immediately. Otherwise, set it to False.
  • Specify one or more conditions (see below).
  • Specify the action to take using the callHandlingAction field (see table below).
  • Specify required parameters for callHandlingAction option accordingly. More details

Finally, make a POST request to the following endpoint:

/restapi/v1.0/account/{accountId}/extension/{extensionId}/answering-rule

Call Handling Conditions

The following parameters are used for specifying call handling conditions.

  • callers: a list of callers' phone numbers or contact names
    • callerId:
    • name:
  • calledNumbers: a list of recipients' phone numbers
    • phoneNumber: a phone number belonging to the user/extension
  • schedule: week day and time or time ranges or business hours and after hours parameters
    • weeklyRanges: week day and time ranges
    • ranges: date and time ranges
    • ref: "BusinessHours" or "AfterHours". Business hours can be set using the Business Hours API Reference

Call Handling Actions

Action Description
ForwardCalls Re-route an incoming call to multiple phone numbers in a specific order with greeting settings apply.
UnconditionalForwarding Forward an incoming call immediately to a specified number.
TakeMessagesOnly Play back a voicemail greeting then forward an incoming call to a voice mailbox.
PlayAnnouncementOnly Play back a pre-recorded announcement then hang up.
TransferToExtension Forward an incoming call (dialed to a Call Queue extension) to a specific extension.
AgentQueue Forward an incoming call (dialed to a Call Queue extension) to one or more specified agents.

Required Fields

If ForwardCalls is specified for callHandlingAction, the forwarding parameter object is required. You can use the call forwarding APIs to create or retrieve call forwarding information then use the the uri, id to specify the forwardingNumbers parameter under the rules object.

If "TransferToExtension" is specified for callHandlingAction, the transfer parameter object is required.

If "AgentQueue" is specified for callHandlingAction, the queue parameter object is required.

Required permission(s): EditExtensions

Sample Code

Create Answering Rule

The following code sample shows how to create a user custom answering rule that will re-route all incoming calls to a voice mailbox during a user's weekly meeting times on Monday and Friday.

const RC = require('@ringcentral/sdk').SDK
require('dotenv').config();

var rcsdk = new RC({
    'server':       process.env.RC_SERVER_URL,
    'clientId':     process.env.RC_CLIENT_ID,
    'clientSecret': process.env.RC_CLIENT_SECRET
});
var platform = rcsdk.platform();
platform.login({ 'jwt':  process.env.RC_JWT })

platform.on(platform.events.loginSuccess, () => {
  create_user_custom_rule()
});

async function create_user_custom_rule() {
  var params = {
    enabled: true,
    type: "Custom",
    name: "My weekly meetings",
    schedule: {
      weeklyRanges: {
        monday: [{ from: "09:00", to: "10:00" }],
        friday: [{ from: "10:00", to: "15:00" }]
      }
    },
    callHandlingAction: "TakeMessagesOnly"
  }
  try {
    var resp = await platform.post('/restapi/v1.0/account/~/extension/~/answering-rule', params)
    var jsonObj = await resp.json()
    console.log(jsonObj)
  } catch (e) {
    console.log(e.message)
  }
}
#!/usr/bin/python

# You get the environment parameters from your 
# application dashbord in your developer account 
# https://developers.ringcentral.com

import os
import sys

from dotenv import load_dotenv
from ringcentral import SDK
load_dotenv()

rcsdk = SDK( os.environ.get('RC_CLIENT_ID'),
             os.environ.get('RC_CLIENT_SECRET'),
             os.environ.get('RC_SERVER_URL') )
platform = rcsdk.platform()
try:
  platform.login( jwt=os.environ.get('RC_JWT') )

except Exception as e:
  sys.exit("Unable to authenticate to platform: " + str(e))

params = {
    'enabled': True,
    'type': 'Custom',
    'name': "My weekly meetings",
    'schedule' : {
      'weeklyRanges': {
    'monday': [{ 'from': "09:00",'to': "10:00" }],
    'friday': [{ 'from': "10:00", 'to': "15:00" }]
      }
    },
    'callHandlingAction': "TakeMessagesOnly"
  }
resp = platform.post('/restapi/v1.0/account/~/extension/~/answering-rule', params)

print(resp.text())
<?php
/* You get the environment parameters from your 
   application dashbord in your developer account 
   https://developers.ringcentral.com */

require('vendor/autoload.php');
$dotenv = Dotenv\Dotenv::createImmutable(__DIR__ . '/../');
$dotenv->load();

$rcsdk = new RingCentral\SDK\SDK( $_ENV['RC_CLIENT_ID'],
                                  $_ENV['RC_CLIENT_SECRET'],
                                  $_ENV['RC_SERVER_URL'] );
$platform = $rcsdk->platform();
$platform->login( [ "jwt" => $_ENV['RC_JWT'] ] );

$params = array (
    'enabled' => true,
    'type' => "Custom",
    'name' => "My weekly meetings",
    'schedule' => array (
      'weeklyRanges' => array (
    'monday' => array ( array ('from' => "09:00", 'to' => "10:00")),
    'friday' => array ( array ('from' => "10:00", 'to' => "15:00"))
      )
    ),
    'callHandlingAction' => "TakeMessagesOnly"
);
$resp = $platform->post('/account/~/extension/~/answering-rule', $params);

print_r ($resp->text());
?>
using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using RingCentral;

namespace UserCustomAnsweringRule
{
    class Program {
        static RestClient restClient;
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
            restClient = new RestClient(
        Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("RC_CLIENT_ID"),
        Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("RC_CLIENT_SECRET"),
        Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("RC_SERVER_URL"));
            restClient.Authorize(
                Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("RC_JWT")).Wait();
        create_user_custom_answering_rule().Wait();
    }
    static private async Task create_user_custom_answering_rule()
    {
        var parameters = new CreateAnsweringRuleRequest();
        parameters.enabled = true;
        parameters.type = "Custom";
        parameters.name = "My weekly meetings";
        var schedule = new ScheduleInfo();
        var weeklyRanges = new WeeklyScheduleInfo();
        TimeInterval meetingTime = new TimeInterval();
        meetingTime.from = "09:00";
        meetingTime.to = "10:00";
        weeklyRanges.monday = new TimeInterval[] { meetingTime };

        meetingTime = new TimeInterval();
        meetingTime.from = "10:00";
        meetingTime.to = "15:00";
        weeklyRanges.friday = new TimeInterval[] { meetingTime };

        schedule.weeklyRanges = weeklyRanges;
        parameters.schedule = schedule;
        parameters.callHandlingAction = "TakeMessagesOnly";

        var response = await restClient.Restapi().Account().Extension().AnsweringRule().Post(parameters);
        var jsonStr = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(response);
        Console.WriteLine(jsonStr);
    }
    }
}
package com.ringcentral;

import com.ringcentral.*;
import com.ringcentral.definitions.*;
import java.io.IOException;

public class CreateCustomUserAnsweringRule {
    static RestClient rc;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        var obj = new CreateCustomUserAnsweringRule();
    rc = new RestClient( System.getenv("RC_CLIENT_ID"),
                 System.getenv("RC_CLIENT_SECRET"),
                 System.getenv("RC_SERVER_URL") );
    try {
        rc.authorize( System.getenv("RC_JWT") );
        obj.create_user_custom_answering_rule();
    } catch (RestException | IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    }

    public void create_user_custom_answering_rule() throws RestException, IOException {
    var schedule = new ScheduleInfo();
    var weeklyRanges = new WeeklyScheduleInfo();
    TimeInterval meetingTime = new TimeInterval();
    meetingTime.from = "09:00";
    meetingTime.to = "10:00";
    weeklyRanges.monday = new TimeInterval[] { meetingTime };

    meetingTime = new TimeInterval();
    meetingTime.from = "10:00";
    meetingTime.to = "15:00";
    weeklyRanges.friday = new TimeInterval[] { meetingTime };

    schedule.weeklyRanges = weeklyRanges;

    var parameters                = new CreateAnsweringRuleRequest();
    parameters.enabled            = true;
    parameters.type               = "Custom";
    parameters.name               = "My weekly meetings";
    parameters.schedule           = schedule;
    parameters.callHandlingAction = "TakeMessagesOnly";

    CustomAnsweringRuleInfo response =  rc.restapi().account().extension().answeringRule().post(parameters);
    System.out.println("Rule created: " + response.id);

    }
}
#!usr/bin/ruby

# You get the environment parameters from your 
# application dashbord in your developer account 
# https://developers.ringcentral.com

require 'ringcentral'
require 'dotenv/load'

$rc = RingCentral.new(ENV['RC_CLIENT_ID'],
                      ENV['RC_CLIENRT_SECRET'],
                      ENV['RC_SERVER_URL'])

$rc.authorize(jwt: ENV['RC_JWT'])

params = {
    enabled: true,
    type: 'Custom',
    name: 'My weekly meetings',
    schedule: {
      weeklyRanges: {
    monday: [{ from: "09:00", to: "10:00" }],
    friday: [{ from: "10:00", to: "15:00" }]
      }
    },
    callHandlingAction: "TakeMessagesOnly",
}
resp = $rc.post('/restapi/v1.0/account/~/extension/~/answering-rule',
                payload: params)

puts resp.body

Upon successful API call completion, the response contains the id (ruleId) and other information of the newly created rule.

{
  "uri": "https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/178002314/extension/178009114/answering-rule/227207004",
  "id": "227207004",
  "type": "Custom",
  "name": "My weekly meetings",
  // ...etc...
}

List User Answering Rules

To get a list of all user answering rules for an extension, make a GET request to the following endpoint:

/restapi/v1.0/account/{accountId}/extension/{extensionId}/answering-rule

Required permission(s): ReadExtensions

Upon successful API call completion, the response contains a list of all existing user answering rules (including the default rules).

{
  "uri": "https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/11111111/extension/22222222/answering-rule?page=1&perPage=100",
  "records": [
    {
      "uri": "https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/11111111/extension/22222222/answering-rule/33333333",
      "id": "33333333",
      "type": "Custom",
      "name": "My Custom Rule 1",
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "uri": "https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/11111111/extension/22222222/answering-rule/business-hours-rule",
      "id": "business-hours-rule",
      "type": "BusinessHours",
      "enabled": true
    }
  ],
  "paging": {...},
  "navigation": {...}
}

Fetch a Single User Answering Rule

To fetch the details associated with an individual user answering rule, make a GET request to the following endpoint, where [ruleId] is the ID of an existing rule:

/restapi/v1.0/account/{accountId}/extension/{extensionId}/answering-rule/[ruleId]

Notes

A valid ruleId can be retrieved using the previous API to read all user answering rules.

The ruleId of the default Business Hours and After Hours rule is business-hours-rule and after-hours-rule, respectively.

Required permission(s): ReadExtensions

Upon successful API call completion, the response contains detailed information of a rule.

{
    "uri": "http://platform.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/11111111/extension/22222222/answering-rule/business-hours-rule",
    "id": "business-hours-rule",
    "type": "BusinessHours",
    "enabled": true,
    "schedule": {
        "ref": "BusinessHours"
    },
    "callHandlingAction": "ForwardCalls",
    "forwarding": {
        "notifyMySoftPhones": true,
        "notifyAdminSoftPhones": false,
        "softPhonesRingCount": 1,
        "ringingMode": "Sequentially",
        "rules": [
            {
                "index": 1,
                "ringCount": 4,
                "forwardingNumbers": [
                    {
                        "uri": "http://platform.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/11111111/extension/22222222/forwarding-number/33333333",
                        "id": "33333333",
                        "phoneNumber": "+16505551212",
                        "label": "My Cisco SPA-303 Desk Phone"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "index": 2,
                "ringCount": 8,
                "forwardingNumbers": [
                    {
                        "uri": "http://platform.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/11111111/extension/22222222/forwarding-number/44444444",
                        "id": "44444444",
                        "phoneNumber": "+4155551212",
                        "label": "Home"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "index": 3,
                "ringCount": 12,
                "forwardingNumbers": [
                    {
                        "uri": "http://platform.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/11111111/extension/22222222/forwarding-number/55555555",
                        "id": "55555555",
                        "phoneNumber": "+12125551212",
                        "label": "Mobile"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ]
    },
    "greetings": [
        {
            "type": "Voicemail",
            "prompt": {
                "id": "0",
                "type": "message",
                "name": "No One Available"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "Introductory"
        },
        {
            "type": "AudioWhileConnecting",
            "prompt": {
                "id": "6",
                "type": "music",
                "name": "Acoustic"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "ConnectingMessage",
            "prompt": {
                "id": "3",
                "type": "message",
                "name": "Forward hold 1"
            }
        }
    ],
    "screening": "Never",
    "voicemail": {
        "enabled": true,
        "recipient": {
            "uri": "http://platform.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/11111111/extension/22222222",
            "id": 22222222
        }
    }
}

Update a User Answering Rule

To update a user answering rule specify only the parameter values which need to be updated. Then make a PUT request to the following endpoint, where [ruleId] is the ID of an existing rule:

/restapi/v1.0/account/{accountId}/extension/{extensionId}/answering-rule/[ruleId]

Notes

A valid ruleId can be retrieved using the API to read all user answering rules.

The ruleId of the default Business Hours and After Hours rule is business-hours-rule and after-hours-rule, respectively.

Required permission(s): EditExtensions

Delete a User Answering Rule

To delete a user answering rule, make a DELETE request to the following endpoint, where the ruleId is the id of an existing rule.

/restapi/v1.0/account/{accountId}/extension/{extensionId}/answering-rule/[ruleId]

Required permission(s): EditExtensions

Sample Response

{
  "callHandlingAction":"TakeMessagesOnly",
  "enabled":true,
  "forwarding":{
    "mobileTimeout":false,
    "notifyAdminSoftPhones":false,
    "notifyMySoftPhones":true,
    "ringingMode":"Sequentially",
    "softPhonesRingCount":1
    },
  "greetings":[
    {
      "preset":
      {
        "id":"65792",
        "name":"Default",
        "uri":"https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/dictionary/greeting/65792"
      },
      "type":"Voicemail"
    },{
      "preset":
      {
        "id":"66301",
        "name":"None",
        "uri":"https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/dictionary/greeting/66301"
      },
      "type":"Introductory"
    },{
      "preset":
      {
        "id":"66310",
        "name":"Acoustic",
        "uri":"https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/dictionary/greeting/66310"
      },
      "type":"ConnectingAudio"
    },{
      "preset":
      {
        "id":"66560",
        "name":"Default",
        "uri":"https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/dictionary/greeting/66560"
      },
      "type":"Announcement"
    },{
      "preset":
      {
        "id":"66816",
        "name":"Default",
        "uri":"https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/dictionary/greeting/66816"
      },
      "type":"Unavailable"
    },{
      "preset":
      {
        "id":"68867",
        "name":"Default",
        "uri":"https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/dictionary/greeting/68867"
      },
      "type":"ConnectingMessage"
    }],
  "id":"227258004",
  "name":"My weekly meetings",
  "schedule":
  {
    "weeklyRanges":
    {
      "friday":[{"from":"10:00","to":"15:00"}],
      "monday":[{"from":"09:00","to":"10:00"}]
    }
  },
  "screening":"Off",
  "type":"Custom",
  "uri":"https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/178009004/extension/178009004/answering-rule/227258004",
  "voicemail":
  {
    "enabled":true,
    "recipient":
    {
      "id":"178009004",
      "uri":"https://platform.devtest.ringcentral.com/restapi/v1.0/account/178009004/extension/178009004"
    }
  }
}