Synopsis
Gets, sets or clears the channel group. Each channel can only be member of exactly one group per category; categories can be employed for more fine grained group management, and thus can help to assign more than one group name per channel.
Description
GROUP([category])
Notes
A channel may belong to one group per category only. So, if one wants to make a channel belong both to Zap and SIP groups because two such channels are being bridged, one would have to use GROUP(in)=Zap and GROUP(out)=SIP (creating the categories in and out).
This function may be both read from and written to. The category argument is optional; if empty you need to use GROUP() in your dialplan (note the empty brackets) *CLI> show function GROUP
Also note the existence of the special variable $OUTBOUND_GROUP: that group will be assigned to the channels created by the dial() app. There is also OUTBOUND_GROUP_ONCE which is unset after use. Both OUTBOUND_GROUP and OUTBOUND_GROUP_ONCE supports group@category (for exampe OUTBOUND_GROUP=mygroup@mycategory). Return value
Returns the resulting string.
Examples
Example 1
; set the group name of the current channel to '3', and in addition assign the category 'cat8' exten => s,1,Set(GROUP(cat8)=3) exten => s,n,Set(GROUP(cat9)=hurray) exten => s,n,Set(foo1=${GROUP(cat8)}) exten => s,n,Set(foo2=${GROUP(cat9)})
; the use of categories is optional exten => s,1,Set(GROUP()=MyGroup) exten => s,n,NoOp(This channel is member of group: ${GROUP()})
; clear the channels group for category 'cat8' (requires Asterisk 1.4.12 or later) exten => s,1,Set(GROUP(cat8)=) Example 2
${VOIPMAX} is a user-set Global which limits the concurrent number of outbound VOIP calls
[macro-stdvoip] ; ${ARG1} - full dial string ; Return ${DIALSTATUS} = CHANUNAVAIL if ${VOIPMAX} exceeded exten => s,1,Set(GROUP()=trunkgroup1) ;Set Group exten => s,2,GotoIf($[${GROUP_COUNT(trunkgroup1)} > ${VOIPMAX}]?103) ;Exceeded? exten => s,3,Dial(${ARG1}) ;dial it exten => s,103,SetVar(DIALSTATUS=CHANUNAVAIL) ;deny call