The Channel Groups feature (formerly 'line groups') is designed to make it easier to configure and control your CopiaFacts system. Named channel groups can take the place of individual channel numbers in CopiaFacts commands. A channel group name is used to refer to a group of channels with common characteristics, or which is to be used for a specific task. A channel can belong to more than one named group, and a group can include channels in more than one node.
Using channel groups can make it much easier to specify configuration options on larger systems, and helps to make the specifications easier to understand.
Specifying Channel Groups
The $channel_group or $line_group configuration command (the two command names are synonymous) is used to specify a group of channels and the name you will use to refer to them. The name you define should have at least one non-numeric character, and should be both long enough to be meaningful and short enough to avoid unmanageable command lines. Uppercase and lower case are not significant, so "ANALOG" and "Analog" refer to the same group. Embedded blank space in names is permitted (but not recommended).
Following the name of the channel group you specify ranges of lines which make up the group. A "range" may consist of just a single channel number, or a pair of channel numbers separated by a dash (minus sign). A "~" (tilde) preceding a range specifies exclusion. The ranges are separated by commas, and if you use embedded spaces as well you must enclose the whole list in a pair of double-quotes. Some examples of valid channel group specifications are as follows:
$channel_group BROADCAST "7 - 8" ; channels seven and eight
$channel_group BROADCAST 1-8,~3 ; channels 1, 2 and 4 through 8
$channel_group "Testing Lines" 1,9 ; channel 1 and 9 used for test
$channel_group Digital 1-30 ; 30-line digital board
$channel_group Analog 31-46 ; 16-line analog board
It is often useful to specify a group which spans multiple machines. If you had two machines set up as in the last example above, you could use:
$channel_group Digital 1-30,47-76 ; 30-line digital boards
$channel_group Analog 31-46,77-92 ; 16-line analog boards
The channel groups feature has been designed to accept almost any combination of line numbers you might possibly want to specify, but there are a few restrictions on the specification of channel groups, best illustrated by examples:
$channel_group Fax-on-Demand 4-1 ; WRONG! start and end reversed
$channel_group TESTLINES 1-3-4,-8 ; WRONG! bad syntax
$channel_group TESTLINES 1-4~ ; WRONG! tilde must precede range
$channel_group BC1 1-7 ; OK: BC1 is lines 1 through 7
$channel_group BC2 BC1,9-12 ; WRONG! cannot embed a group in another
In addition, a channel group is "inclusive". You cannot specify a group containing only channels which you wish to exclude, nor exclude channels which you have not also included in the group:
$channel_group Broadcast ~1-4 ; WRONG! group contains only exclusions
$channel_group Broadcast 1-4,~7-8 ; WRONG! lines 7 and 8 not in group
Referencing Channel Groups
You may use a channel group in most places where CopiaFacts command syntax expected a single channel number in earlier releases. Multiple channel groups, separated by commas, may also be specified wherever a single group is valid. Preceding a group name with a "~" (tilde) causes channels in the group to be excluded from selection. You may also mix groups, individual channels and channel ranges. The following examples show valid channel group references:
$fax_send_channel BROADCAST ; send on any channel in BROADCAST group
$fax_send_line BC1,BC2,~11-12 ; send on any channel in BC1 or BC2 except
; 11 and 12
$fax_send_channel *,~BC3 ; send on any channel other than those
; in group BC3
$settle_time ANALOG 10 ; set settle time for analog lines
$phone_mask 3-4 decline XXXXXXX ; no local calls on channels 3 and 4
If the group name or range contains embedded spaces, the entire group reference must be surrounded by double-quotes, not just the name that has embedded spaces. Spaces must not be used immediately preceding a comma separator:
$fax_send_line "Test Lines, 13 - 18" ; OK
$fax_send_line "Test Lines", "13 - 18" ; WRONG!
$fax_send_line "Test Lines ,13-18" ; WRONG!
When a channel group is referenced for the purpose of channel selection (as opposed to channel specification or configuration) the channels selected are considered in numeric sequence or in the sequence that is defined by the $line_priority command, if used. The order in which you mention the different groups on a command is of no significance.
 | References to a channel group in the CopiaFacts configuration file FAXFACTS.CFG must follow the definition of the channel group in the same file. |
Special Channel Groups
The special channel group * means that all channels are to be referenced. Since each node can only reference its own channels, the more precise meaning of the asterisk is "all channels in the node". There are also built-in channel-group names which are the nodenames of each node, so that you can use the nodename on commands which specify a channel-group parameter. These also mean "all channels in the node".
In addition, the numeric values 1xxxx still have the meaning "any channel with number less than xxxx" and 2xxxx means "any channel number greater than xxxx". These values are now treated as special group names. They may not be combined with any other group or range specification and are provided only for compatibility with earlier releases.
