GrandCentral Click to Call Add-on for Firefox
By admin • Jun 29th, 2008 • Category: FirefoxGoogle Voice Update: This extension will no longer work after you upgrade from GrandCentral to Google Voice. Once you upgrade your account, uninstall this plugin and install the Google Voice Add-on for Firefox. Development on this addon will cease now that all GrandCentral users can upgrade to Google Voice. Read about the add-on changes here.
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If you are familiar with Google’s GrandCentral service and are one of the fortunate few who actually have an account, you are probably waiting for additional features to be released like the rest of us.
A feature I requested in the past was an addon for Firefox that would allow GrandCentral subscribers to place outgoing calls by clicking any number in their browser. While I’m sure the GrandCentral team is hard at work on this and other new features, I decided to take the liberty of making it happen.
I’m proud to offer the Firefox and GrandCentral communities my first add-on for Firefox, the GrandCentral Click to Call Add-on for Firefox.
Screenshots:
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- Preview
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- Calling
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- Click to Call
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- GrandCentral Firefox Add-On Menu
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- Options
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- Missed Call Notification
Latest Version: v0.3.0
Features of version v0.1:
- Automatic login to your GrandCentral account
- Hover your GC number on the toolbar for the most recent call
- Double click your GC number to redial the last call
- Quickly access your voice messages, address book, and call log by right clicking the toolbar
- Click any phone number to place a call
New features in v0.2:
- Option to manually input a number to call
- Link to select the phone number to use for outgoing calls (requires “Update Calls” after selecting)
- Duplicate phone numbers are no longer added to the address book if they are in the list of recent calls
New features in v0.2.2:
- Addon now compatible with Flock (Unsupported)
- Speedier phone number checking thanks to Jon Miniat
New features in v0.2.3:
- Added option to disable click-to-call functionality
- Fixed error where anonymous number would mess up last call
New features in v0.2.4:
- Numbers no longer have to be added to the address book to make an outgoing call
- You can now set the line you want to dial from (not your GrandCentral Number) directly in the options menu – once you upgrade you will need to do this before you will be able to place a call
- Added the option to confirm all outgoing calls before the call goes through
- Fixed session handling so you won’t have to reload the addon after visiting GrandCentral
- Slightly improved display of most recent call
- Rewrote most of addon for optimization / speed
New features in v0.2.5:
- Fixed an error that was given when the addon was first installed
- Last call popup now contains the call type (prettier display)
New features in v0.2.6:
- Made “incorrect username or password” error more specific
- Error now specifies if the login failed or if the username or password is missing
New features in v0.2.7:
- Non-alphanumeric characters in passwords should work now (tested using ~!@#$%^&*()_+`-=1a)
- Remembers forwarding number after automatically refreshing the call log
- Added license block: MPL 1.1/GPL 2.0/LGPL 2.1
- Added correct MIME type so you no longer have to manually install the addon
- Submitted to addons.mozilla.org for testing
New features in v0.2.8:
- Sped up phone number checking by reducing number of expressions
- No longer looks for numbers in CSS and Scripts (no breaking Blogger)
- Only valid phone numbers are clickable (000-000-0000 is not real number)
- Numbers that were already clickable will not be made clickable again
- Numbers that are links can no longer be clicked
- Added tooltip to options clarifying what is meant by “Forwarding number”
- Added tooltip when numbers are hovered (example 316-555-1212)
- Clickable numbers now inherit the style of parent document (see Lifehacker comments for example number)
New features in v0.2.9:
- Better escaping of username and passwords before login
- Numbers can be dialed in popup and child windows
- Outgoing calls can be canceled/hung up manually
- Login information is now saved in Firefox’s native password manager *see note below*
New features in v0.3.0:
- Incorrect/old usernames and passwords are removed once you update the settings
- Private numbers no longer confuse the recent call popup
- Double-clicking your number in the status bar now rescans for numbers (used to redial the last call)
Features planned for future versions:
- New message notifications
- New missed call notifications
- Option to hide number on status bar
- Option to cancel a call in progress added in v0.2.9
- Multiple window dialing added in v0.2.9
- Quick switching of “Forwarding number”
- Rescan for numbers after new content is loaded via AJAX (Gmail issues)
- Use Firefox’s Password Manager for storing login info added in v0.2.9
- Prettier display of recent calls added in v0.2.5
- Option to select number to use for outgoing calls added in v0.2.4
- Option to manually input a number to call added in v0.2
- Better tracking of GrandCentral session id’s added in v0.2.4
- Interception of Skype callto: URL’s
Known Issues:
- Manual Preference Removal
- Hanging Up Calls
- Invalid Password Error/Third Party Cookies
If you used the addon prior to v0.2.9 your GrandCentral username and password were saved in Firefox’s preferences (about:config). This information is stored in plain text and is potentially visible to other users on a shared computer. To remove it, reset the values extensions.grandcentral.username and extensions.grandcentral.password in about:config or delete them from prefs.js
As of v0.2.9 outgoing calls can now be canceled or ended through the addon. When placing a call a confirmation dialog will pop up that says “Calling 316-555-1212 / [Ok] – [Cancel]”. Pressing Cancel will end the call. You will also notice Hang Up in the status bar context menu. This is visible at all times (even when not in a call) and can also be used to manually end your calls
Once logged in, the addon needs access to your GrandCentral cookies so it can make GC think you’re placing calls from their page.If you have “Third Party Cookies” disabled in Firefox (they are disabled by default), you will get the error “Invalid username or password” even when everything is correct. Blocking third party cookies is a good thing, but it also makes it so legitimate addons can’t read them either.To get around this: go to the Privacy tab in the Firefox options window and either check “Allow Third Party Cookies” (not recommended) or click “Exceptions” and add grandcentral.com
Updates:
As of this time you will not automatically receive notifications of updates to the addon, so check this page regularly or follow me on twitter to be notified of new versions.
Compatibility:
Each version has been tested on and is fully functional with Firefox 2.0.0.x, 3.0.x, and 3.2a1pre. It has been tested using Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu, and OS X. Please notify me of any other compatible versions or platforms in the comments. The addon will install in Flock 2.x but is unsupported outside of Firefox.
Credits:
The GrandCentral addon was developed by myself (Chad Smith) but some code was borrowed from Brendon Wilson’s PBX Click2Call to save time from having to rewrite the functions to recognize numbers, and from Winston Huang’s TMobile Minutes Used Extension for caching remote files. Thank you to them for their hard work on their addons.
License:
This addon is distributed without warranty under the MPL 1.1/GPL 2.0/LGPL 2.1 licenses. View the addon source or visit http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/ for additional information on the licenses.
Download:
GrandCentral Click to Call Add-on for Firefox
Donate:
[quickdonate:chad@thatsmith.com:d_name:GrandCentral Firefox Add-on:d_currency:USD:d_locale:US:d_end]
Support:
Since the comments are getting a bit lengthy and hard to keep track of, please post bug reports and support requests here until I find a more suitable method of handling support tickets on That Smith.
admin
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Thought to give this a try Chad, but not sure how to install once file is downloaded… could you add a paragraph on how to install? I’m using Firefox 3, and am one of the lucky GrandCentral current members. Thanks in advance. -M
Chad, I like this. I would like you to do some more things with this, since no one at GC seems to care. Keep up the good work!
I discovered a small bug that made the addon list an incorrect name for the last caller if the contact is not in your address book.
This has been fixed and the original file has been updated. If you downloaded the addon last night you will need to download it again.
How can I get an invite for GrandCentral.com ?
Chad, this addon is exactly what I have been requesting from GrandCentral for a year now. Keep up the great work. I can’t wait for v0.3!
By the way… that’s a great whois record screenshot! Did anyone answer at that number?
EXCELLENT!
I just ran into this blog by accident, but seriously this is an amazing add-on. The right-click, dial number option is great for just dialing any number straight away from the computer. I also really love just clicking any phone number and having it be called immediately.
Chad, thank you! I’d recommend setting up a paypal or google checkout donation link. I’d donate. This is great.
Thanks for this wonder extension!!!
Great concept and work.
I use Mozilla’s SeaMonkey for all of its integration features. It uses the same code base as Firefox. When I clicked on your download link, it took me to a screen which allowed me to download your add-on.
When I tried to install the add-on, I get the following: GrandCentral Click to Call 0.2 could not be instatlled becaused it si not compatible with SeaMonkey 2.0a1pre.
Is there someway to make your add-on more open to allow installation on other variants of Mozilla…Not just Firefox 3?
I hope this helps and get you widespread acclaim for a very good piece of work.
If I can help in this area, let me know.
I can test for you under your guidance.
I cannot get the extension to work. I install it and enter my account information, but all I get is “loading call list.” I have left it trying to load my call list for hours. I am using Firefox version 3. I cannot make any calls by clicking on the number on a webpage or anything. Any help in troubleshooting would be appreciated.
Thanks. This looks great.
One minor thing – I was attempting to copy a number from a website, and suddenly realized that I was calling it – the ability to cancel a number when the dialog box pops up might be nice.
I hope this is helpful. It’s a wonderful extension, and do get a donations feature set up.
Great extension !! I agree you need to take donations.
Great idea. I tried it on a Macintosh laptop, too bad it did not work. All seemed fine except it would not complete the call (I added my information in the settings and selected a cell phone line). Perhaps in a future version.
@GCM
I am still testing the add-on in SeaMonkey. I got it to install but need to learn how to get it to work with the status bar. SeaMonkey seems to treat the status bar differently than Firefox.
@hartazo
I haven’t heard back from you yet. Have you been able to get it to work?
@Wayne Burke
In the next version you will be able to set whether or not you want to confirm each call.
@Mark
I haven’t been able to test it on a Mac myself, but I know a few others have been using it just fine.
Once you have your number selected click Update Calls to make sure the unique code needed by GrandCentral is still valid. If that doesn’t work, let me know and I will make a special version that will give you error returned by GrandCentral.
Does your most recent call at least display how it should? Also, can you dial out using Dial Phone Number?
unable to get extension options to accept the username/password that GrandCentral accepts
I did try the Update Calls option and still nothing. I sent you an email with my system information and I am using Firefox 3.0
Does your most recent call at least display how it should? No, it only shows the last one completed by using GC
Also, can you dial out using Dial Phone Number? No, it says it is calling but does not complete
@Mark
I just updated the addon to v0.2.4. Try it updating to it and let me know if outgoing calls work. In this version you will have to go back to your settings and set the number you want to dial from.
Also, as of right now only the most recent call is displayed. I may make it so multiple calls are listed in future versions.
I think that I figured out the issue. Another add-on called CookieSafe seems to block loading of calls. I have it set to block third party cookies. Your add-on works fine when it is disabled. Does your add-on create or modify third party cookies?
Browser is still stuck on “Loading Calls” cycle with CookieSafe icon blinking next to it.
@Mark
GrandCentral saves a cookie when you log in which contains some validation information needed to place outgoing calls. This new version relies specifically on this cookie to function. If cookies from grandcentral.com are blocked then the addon will not work.
I’ve been able to identify and reproduce the bug that was preventing me from using your add-on.
By modifying my GC password to eliminate special characters, your add-on started working.
@Douglas
Thank you for the input. Would you mind sharing what characters you had to remove?
Hi
I am using Firfox 2.0.0.8 and Windows XP Home.
I am unable to place a call.
It gives me a message saying “Unable to call (xxx)-xxx-xxxx.
I am able to place calls through the GC website
@Gugs
Which version of the addon are you using? There was an issue for about an hour or two in today’s version where calls could not be made to numbers with parentheses. If you are not using v0.2.5 try updating to it. If you are, download it and try again. You may just need to choose Update Calls to be able to call numbers that are already on the page.
Chad, I would mind because I don’t want to post [publicly] any hints about passwords I may use.
I will say they are characters that are found on standard keyboards that work for GC.
I am getting the same error message as Douglas: incorrect login or password. However, my password only contains alphanumeric characters. My username does contain an under score, could this be the problem? Thanks.
Hi Chad
I had version 0.2.3. I have updated to the new version 0.2.5.
Sometimes it says unable to call. I then click update.
It then says “calling” and then I click OK. Then nothing happens.
It will be great if I can get this to work.
Thanks.
@Ptolemaios
Check your profile folder to see if the file grandcentral-last-response.html is there. If it is, open it and see what it says. If the file doesn’t exist that tells me your login info isn’t being saved in Firefox.
I have updated the addon to v0.2.6 which changes the error to be more specific. Let me know if the last response file is there.
@Gugs
A few questions, does your phone number show up on the status bar? Also, does the most recent call pop up when you put your mouse over it?
If those work then the addon is logging you in correctly which tells me the error is probably in retrieving the session code from your cookies. Do you have any addons that block cookies?
All is working fine now that the cookie connection has been discovered.
With cookie blocking I got an error saying incorrect username and password plus the dialing out number was null. I disabled my cookie blocking quit browser (starting a new session where it does not reopen or save windows) then l logged into Grand Central and finally ran update calls from the plugin menu. It has been working perfect since.
I hope this information helps someone and thanks for the great plug-in Chad.
@Gugs
Dumb question, but you don’t happen to have your GrandCentral number set as the Forwarding Number in your preferences do you? If so, that needs to be the number you want GrandCentral to ring before placing the call, such as your cell phone.
@Mark
Thanks for pointing that out. I’m glad the addon finally works. What’s the name of the cookie addon you were using? I would like to check it out to see why it’s not compatible.
Thanks a lot! Just what I wanted!! I just hope GC remains free and gets developed further.
Thank you thank you thank you
Any chance on getting this to work for Windows Mobile Devices?
The add-on is called “CookieSafe” and it causes issues when you have “block third party cookies” enabled. Otherwise it seems to work OK with your add-on. I thought it was also causing your add-on to stop completing calls after about a day but it turns out that is not the issue. I have to quit and re-start my browser after about a day or the confirmation window shows “null” for the forwarding number when I place a call and it does not complete. Quitting my browser fixes it but this happens every day with CookieSafe enabled or disabled. I hope this information helps, it is a wonderful add-on and I am glad to support it with a donation.
I installed, added my information, and tried to call a number using the “dial” function and all that is returned is a “calling….” popup….
Any ideas on how to fix it?
Oh and I hit the update calls button, and it says “loading calls” and then changes back to my number.
And suggestions would be appreciated. I am running, Win Vista, Firefox 3.0.1
@Mark
The GrandCentral cookies are session cookies so it makes sense they would expire after a day or so and force you to have to reload the calls (all this does is log you out and back in by the way). For the next version I will make it automatically clear the cookies as it refreshes so you will always have a valid session id.
@Persion in Miami
The addon always shows your number at the bottom because I couldn’t think of anything else to put there. Does your most recent incoming or outgoing call popup when you hover it? Also, does it call out when you click a number? You can test that by typing a number in a text document and opening it in Firefox.
I saw this on Lifehacker and this is a really cool add on. Thanks for taking the initiative to make it.
I have not been able to make it work, unfortunately. I am running FF3 on Ubuntu 8.04.
When I click on a phone number (I think it is nice that it doesn’t get the link format or an underline – it just is a link) I get a JavaScript error that doesn’t go away and in fact gets longer and longer each time. The only way I can get it to go away is to kill Firefox.
First message looks fine, then I get this one.
Call 4254251685 from (425) 296-6733?
Followed quickly by:
Unable to place call to 4254251685
Every time I dismisse the message, it gets longer and longer until it fills the screen and I kill FF.
However, Grand Central does call my forwarding number and in some cases the call goes through. It also appears to make a new call each time the error message is dismissed (which is bad because the error message keeps returning).
Your add on fills a very obvious gap in Grand Centrals offering, Click to Call and the ability to call numbers not in the addressbook. I would like to see this work – let me know what I can do to help troubleshoot.
Drat. Text of errors didn’t work right. Too much html in them I guess.
Call 4254251685 from (425) 296-6733?
Followed quickly by:
Unable to place call to 4254251685
If this doesn’t work right, there is a screenshot here.
@Beau
I think I ran into that on one instance but it stopped after 4 iterations. Was the site you were viewing loaded dynamically, such as via JavaScript / AJAX?
Yes, it does show my most recent incoming/outgoing call in a popup when I hover over.
“Also, does it call out when you click a number? You can test that by typing a number in a text document and opening it in Firefox.”
I went to the google 411 website as a test page (http://www.google.com/goog411/)
When I click on the number it says “Calling 800-466-4411” in a popup with a yellow triangle. If I don’t do anything nothing changes, but if I hit the OK button (the only option) the popup disapears
@Beau
@Person in Miami
Just to make sure, you have a landline or cell phone number set as the forwarding number and not your GrandCentral number, correct?
“Just to make sure, you have a landline or cell phone number set as the forwarding number and not your GrandCentral number, correct?”
Fixed, what a simple problem, I should read more carefully…
Sorry for the inconvenience…But, thanks for the great extension!
Chad, could address the shift-number characters for passwords? This keeps me from using the plugin without changing my password.
Clicking cancel in the options button gives the following error and moves the focus of application away from firefox when OK is clicked.
An unknown error occurred
[Exception… “Component returned failure code: 0x8000ffff (NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED) [nsIPrefBranch.getCharPref]” nsresult: “0x8000ffff (NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED)” location: “JS frame :: chrome://grandcentral/content/grandcentral.js :: anonymous :: line 851” data: no]
@Coward
Test this version of the addon and let me know if it works with your password.
@Santa
You are receiving that error because it sounds like you hit cancel before setting the Forwarding Number (the number GrandCentral should dial for your end of the conversation). It should go away if you set the Forwarding Number. It pops up because the addon checks for a valid entry when you close the settings window.
Chad – thanks for the quick answer.
I do have my forwarding number set to my Skype In number, not my GrandCentral number.
Regarding the site that was the source, the first time was from a somewhat dynamic site, though not AJAX I believe (www.northwestmini.com). My calls to the service department actually went through after every error message.
I also called home using a text file the phone number in it and the same error occurred.
I’m runing Firefox 3.0.1 on an Intel Mac. (MacBook Pro) and version v0.2.6 of the plug-in works great. Thank you for this. Now, if only I could get this functionality in the Mac OS X address book I’d be in telephony heaven.
I did some more testing tonight and confirmed that the “forwarding number” is showing as null in the confirm call window (not in the settings window) after the automatic update call log runs and calls can not be placed. If I don’t use the laptop for the entire 60 minutes, it is good the next time I wake it up. Setting automatic call log update time to 5 minutes instead of 60 confirmed that the forwarding number showed as null after that time and I could not place calls. Selecting the manual “update calls” from the menu does not cause the same issue. I hope this is helpful for the next update.
Awesome! I’ve been hoping for this functionality for a while now.
Cheers,
m.f
Thanks for a much-needed addon! The only minor problem I am having is that I don’t see an option for “Go to Messages” or “Go to Address Book” in the popup menu. The options I am seeing are: Dial, Settings, Update Calls, Go to GrandCentral, Disable-Click-to-Call, and About. I am running Windows XP SP2 and Firefox 3, and I am assuming this is an operator malfunction since no one else has posted a similar issue.
@216skillz
I’m more of a marketing guy than a programmer so I doubt I will make a Windows Mobile version anytime soon. A while back I read about a few projects on the GrandCentral Google Group and Internet Tablet Talk for the iPhone and Nokia N800/810. You may want to check there.
@Mark
I haven’t been able to reproduce that issue but think I found where it is coming from. Please test this version of the addon and let me know if it continues.
@Sandy Eigo
It’s not an operator malfunction. I removed those a few versions back to see if anyone would miss them and forgot to update the screenshot.
Great extension! i have it up and running on my desktop ff-3.0.1/winxp, but i keep getting an invalid user name or password when running on my laptop (same configuration). i don’t know if it’s a cookies thing you talked about in some comments above, but i can’t get it to work, even with the desktop powered down entirely (for sure not running in two different locations.) any advice? cookies, cache all cleared.
@di
If you are getting the invalid username or password error then the addon isn’t even getting to the point where it would look for a cookie. Most likely you are using one of those fancy passwords with weird symbols in them, i.e. (!@#$%^&*+).
Try this version of the addon and let me know if the issue goes away. If it continues, check your profile folder (%appdata%MozillaFirefoxProfiles if you are not running Firefox Portable) for the file grandcentral_last_response.html.
Great add-on!
I’m using a standard alphanumeric password. I’m stumped. installed 0.2.7b2, the grandcentral_last_response.html is a blank 0kb file. i delete it, and a new one does not get created even after changing account settings or updating calls. I even disabled all other add-ons. The same setup runs perfectly on my desktop. On there, the grandcentral_last_response_html file lists all my recent calls, when deleted, it gets recreated on next update calls. I must say it’s a great add-on though!
Couple of suggestions…
(1) Change “Forwarding number” to “Call from number” in options. (Or provide a mouseover/tool-tip to better explain what number goes here. I also couldn’t figure it out until I came back here and realized my silly mistake.)
(2) How about an optional icon next to recognized numbers or some kind of underlining? (Skype’s plug-in does this.)
(3) Or a mouse cursor that changes when you mouse over an icon… just something to give an indication that an action is available.
That said, this is really slick.
The download kinda fixed the issue. I still have it set to “update call log” every five minutes and it retains the number but after 60 minutes it reverts back to null (in the dialing confirmation popup window when I make a call) and won’t make calls after that time unless I quit Firefox and restart. I also noticed that every time I visit the help page at http://www.google.com/support/grandcentral/ it messes things up again and the confirmation goes back to “call XXX-XXX-XXXX from null?” I mentioned this so you could try it from your browser and see if it does the same thing, I could just avoid that help page.
I love this, looking forward to updates
Chad,
I just wanted to let you know that I discovered why the add-on would never connect; I had 3rd party cookies disabled. If anyone else has this issue, just enable 3rd party cookies (options > privacy > cookies). Or as I did, just add grandcentral.com as an allowed exception to 3rd party cookies. Thanks for the great add-on. Now I am able to enjoy it on my main computer.
I am running FF 3.0.1 on Ubuntu. The login seems to work fine, as the .html file is generated in my profile with a scrape of my GC call log. Hovering over the number on my status bar shows my last call. However I cannot call out. If I click on a number it will display “Call number xxxxxxxxxx from null?”, then when I click Cancel it shows, “Call xxxxxxxxxx from null?” Cookies are enabled. The forwarding number is set to my cell phone, which is not directly associated with the GC account, other than in the Address Book.
Any clues? Need me to do additional troubleshooting?
Thanks for the promise of a solution to some of GCs shortfalls.
There seems to be a bug with the plug-in when the call log within Grand Central is blank.
I love it, but it needs a minor improvement. Currently, it seems like the plug-in does’t recognize phone numbers if they are in the format: (111) 555-1212
For the record, this is the format of phone numbers listed in Google maps, which is where I first went to try it out.
Otherwise, very cool add-on.
Sorry, my mistake. It’s working now.
Answers to your questions:
Q 1) does your phone number show up on the status bar? Also, does the most recent call pop up when you put your mouse over it?
Answer – Yes they do, I am logged in.
Q2) If those work then the addon is logging you in correctly which tells me the error is probably in retrieving the session code from your cookies. Do you have any addons that block cookies?
Answer – I don’t have any add ons that block cookies – I only have add block plus.
Q3) Dumb question, but you don’t happen to have your GrandCentral number set as the Forwarding Number in your preferences do you? If so, that needs to be the number you want GrandCentral to ring before placing the call, such as your cell phone.
Answer – I have them set correctly as I use the website and make successful calls.
I was using V 0.2.5, let me try and get the new version and see if it works.
I have tried the new version and I am still not able to get it to work. I also tried disabling the add block plus and trying.
I am still unable to call.
@James
Thank you. I will keep those changes in mind for the next version. If you are using Windows the cursor should change to the pointer (finger) when you hover a phone number.
@Mark
I still haven’t been able to reproduce your issue. Have you gotten the addon to work correctly in a new profile?
@hartzo
Thank you for pointing that out.
@kc5aug
The forwarding number is pulled directly from your preferences. Check prefs.js or about:config for extensions.grandcentral.forwarding and make sure it’s set there. Are you using the latest version of the addon?
@Andrew
Then make some calls! I figured that would be the case, but couldn’t test that part of the addon since I’ve had my account for about 2 years.
@Gugs
It sounds like you might have the same issue with Third Party Cookies some of the others were having. Check your settings, specifically the Privacy tab under the Firefox options window and either check “Allow Third Party Cookies” or add GrandCentral.com as an exception. Hopefully that will do it.
@di
You might want to check your Third Party Cookie preference as well and see if that solves your issue. Also, upgrade to 0.2.7 whenever you get the chance.
I’m waiting to hear back from GoDaddy about my SSL certificate so everyone can get automatic update notifications.
If I right click on my GC number, get the menu, then select Settings, my forwarding number is populated as it should be. (NOT my GC number, but my cell phone).
extensions.grandcentral.forwarding is there, with my cell number. Should we put a “1” in front, or just the 10 digits?
Using version 0.2.7.
@kc5aug
Just the 10 digits. I think I have an idea of what’s causing it. How is the number formatted in the settings? Is it xxxxxxxxxx, xxx-xxx-xxxx, or (xxx) xxx-xxxx? You might try typing just the numbers if that’s not how it already is.
xxxxxxxxxx I will try the other formats to see if that makes any difference.
No change using any of the formats you mentioned.
Sweet! Been using for about a week now on Firefox 3.0.1 running Windows XP… also Firefox 3.0.1 running Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron…. Both platforms seem to work flawlessly.
I do agree with James, July 28th post, to please change “Forwarding number” to “Call from number” in options. This will help a lot of people avoid confusion, like me.
Thanks.
Thanks all!! i knew if i waited long enough someone else would run into the same problem. enabling the 3rd party cookies worked.
This breaks Blogger.com. Both http://www.blogger.com and draft.blogger.com.
After the page is displayed, the plug-in turns off the CSS. (I tested by disabling and re-enabling the Add On.)
I’ve confirmed the behavior in comment 74 – blogger CSS being messed up.
Regarding my initial problems, even after updating to 0.2.7, I still get the recurring span javascript error. I’ve dismissed the error up to 20 times with no end in sight. It appeared that the previous version would attempt to make a new call after each error dismissal, but this version does not.
I have been able to use the Dial option with no issues – the span error does not come up.
Let me know if I can do anything to help troubleshoot.
@James
@Beau
I noticed that today as well. It breaks the CSS because the stylesheet contains a series of numbers in the filename that addon thinks is a phone number. I just about have a fix worked out for it and will update the addon shortly. I will post it in about an hour.
// edit
The addon has been updated to v0.2.8. Beau, let me know if it does anything for the recurring javascript error.
Chad – it works!
No issue with blogger and no recurring javascript errors!
I really like the tool tip over the phone number. Keeps the page clutter down (why I don’t use the Skype Click to Call add on).
One of the most useful add-on ever !!
I hope Google Grand Central is giving you a paycheck for doing what they are unable or unwilling to do-
THANKS!!!
Great Add on.
I just wanted to make you aware of a little bug I found,
Yahoo mail fails to load correctly with Click to Dial enabled.
I tried tried it on both Windows and Linux with the same result.
Just thought I’d let you know.
Thanks
@Steve
Yahoo Mail seems to be working on my end. What version of the addon are you using? You may be experiencing the bug that was fixed in v0.2.8.
Chad,
It’s working great for me now. The only minor glitch I’ve found is that it doesn’t see phone numbers in my Google Mail Contacts in standard view. When I switch to basic HTML view it does see the phone numbers fine. Firebug shows that the numbers are really in the DOM (though not in the original HTML, of course), though buried very, very deeply.
This is actually not a practical problem, since I can copy the numbers to the clipboard and then use your extension’s feature that lets me enter any number to dial.
This is really making my life simpler. Thanks again for it.
Charlie
Still no love for me. Have not had the chance to try from another system, but may try to do that this week. Any new thoughts?
I keep getting “Invalid username or password” error, but the “Go to GrandCentral” choice works correctly. The file grandcentral_last_response.html exists, but is 0 bytes. Timestamps indicate it was created when Firefox started, and never accessed since, though I retried entering the Options several times.
P.S. No special characters in username or password
@kc5aug
I tested the addon in Ubuntu last night and it worked just fine for me. I get the feeling you may have another conflicting addon or an issue with your Firefox profile. Can you e-mail me a list of the other addons you are using?
@Gary
It sounds like you might be having the same issue @di had. Check the Privacy tab in your Firefox options and see if you have “Accept third party cookies” enabled. If you don’t, add “grandcentral.com” as an allowed exception. Let me know if that works.
how do i remove this script? thanks.
Uninstall it like you would any other addon. Click Tools -> Add-ons, click the addon you want to uninstall, click the uninstall button, restart Firefox.
thanks chad. will reinstall when i my grand central account squared away.
I am using 0.2.8 on Firefox 3.0.1 and it works flawlessly! Thanks so much Chad, this is the missing link for GrandCentral. Just being able to enter a one off number to call without entering it into Contacts is big.
Future suggestions – drop down box to select the number you want to call from (sometimes I want to call from my cell, sometimes my gizmo number). Link in the context menu to go to GrandCentral Contacts page directly. Expanded ability to call recent numbers (perhaps a drop down list on the dial dialog box for past 10 calls).
I am sure you have way more critical things to think of for now though.
Scrap the expanded ability to call recent numbers, the go to GrandCentral link that take you to the call log is fine for that.
Thanks again.
Chad,
Thanks! Yes it was the third-party cookies. Exception cured it. Now that it’s working, I do have a comment:
It’s VERY easy to dial by mistake, I find, especially the last number that pops up by floating over the status bar button. A confirm dialog pops up, that says “Dialing..” but no matter what you do, the call gets placed. There’s an [OK] button on the dialog, but there’s no [Cancel] button. If you use the close [X] button–even if you do nothing, the call gets placed.
What I’d wish for is some sort of “Are you sure?” dialog. Isn’t that what the “Confirm all calls” checkbox is supposed to do?
It would also be nice if it were easier to change the Call From number, perhaps selecting from last n recently used.
Thanks again!
=Gary
I m not able to create a new account can anybody tell me,
what option is used to create a new account.
@Balram
The addon can only be used if you already have a GrandCentral account. You can reserve a number at grandcentral.com, but unfortunately they are in a closed beta meaning there are no invites and they are not allowing new accounts.
@Gary
That is what “Confirm all calls” does. I think it’s great myself because I tend to copy a lot of phone numbers at work.
@Gary and @Pete
There is no drop down to select a number to dial from, but you can go to the addon settings and change the “Forwarding number” at any time.
As of right now I don’t plan on adding a drop down because it would require loading another page via AJAX which would slow down the script. Plus this way you can type in any number to dial from even if it isn’t tied to your GrandCentral account.
Chad,
I’m afraid I’m in the same situation as kc5aug. I’m running Ubuntu Hardy, FF 3.0.1. After I turned off block 3rd party cookies, your extension was able to log into my GC account with no problem. Nothing happens when I try to dial a number. I’ve tried dialing without anything except numbers (xxxxxxxxxx). Also, I’ve disabled all my other FF extensions and I still am unable to dial out. Anything else I can look at or any way I can collect further bug info?
Thanks.
Ok, I’ve no explanation, but today dialing works. Thanks so much for the great extension!
Adam
I can’t seem to record calls with the newest version? Anybody else recording outbound calls on 0.2.8??
@Jason Smith
Unfortunately that has nothing to do with the addon. GrandCentral disabled call recording on all outbound calls a couple months back. You can read about why here.
Chad:
I am using v2.8 and have run into a problem:
if someone doesn’t answer my attempted call to them,
I cannot hang up. Even after my hanging up, their phone
keeps ringing – it might take a minute of my being hung up,
before GC stops ringing their phone.
Also, I get a text box showing the dialed number, saying javascript application and
a yellow triangle with a ” ! ” showing in it.
Can you help?
Can someone please send me an email invite to GC Click-2-Call beta version? When I tried to sign up the website says it’s a private beta version and I need to be invited in in order to sign up. I would really like to try out your product, Chad.
My email is: neueve@gmail.com
@Dbob
That’s more of an issue with GrandCentral than the addon. The call is placed using the the same method as their mobile page which doesn’t give an option to cancel once it’s started.
I am assuming they don’t detect you hanging up until a few seconds later. I also noticed they sometimes continue to call the other party even if you never answer your line.
As for the popup, I believe you are referring to the one that says “Calling (555) 555-5555”. That’s a standard Javascript alert() that can’t be customized beyond changing the message. I could change it to to an XUL popup but figured it wasn’t the trouble.
@AJ
GrandCentral invites are temporarily unavailable. That’s all I know. Everyone that did have invites had theirs suspended as well.
This would be a great J2ME app for users with MyFaves or MyCircle.
Thanks Chad,
BTW, I am very happy with your extension and have the following points fro your consideration.
The unanswered call might continue for up to a minute, maybe more.
This might cause a problem with the called party and limits my ability to make another call.
Also, the last dialed call, through your extension, doesn’t appear in the dial box, so I
have to re-enter the same number to redial.
I hope the above is helpful.
Chad,
Here’s another point:
I tried to run a secunia.com scan yesterday through FF 3.0.1.
It reported that it had difficulty loading its java applet, even though
I have java and java script enabled and am using the latest JRE.
That may be why I get the yellow triangle with the ” ! ” in it as I previously wrote with
javascript application.
I re-ran the secunia scan in Opera browser and had no problem.
So there may be a problem with one of my extensions in FF.
It would be nice to see the contacts list synced with Google Gmail Contacts.
Great program.
One minor issue. The last call notification lists the last call I received (a Spam caller) with the date of that call and the red “X” indication that I missed the call. That’s all right. But the notification does not list the correct name and instead lists the name of the last non-spam caller from an earlier call.
Works great for me….
Thx
Thanks Chad for a great plug-in. Works for me on XP. I would like to suggest a feature:
I need a fast way to switch which of my phones (Office, Home, Mobile, etc) rings when someone calls my Grandcentral number. You could add it to the right-click context menu – each phone line listed either by number or by label (whatever is easier from the programming aspect) and then a checkmark for each to enable/disable. The simpler the better. This would make the menu a lot longer, and I think you should use a separator bar to separate the numbers from the other menu entries.
Hope I described my idea clearly. Hope to hear from you soon.
Chad,
This is a great add-on, thank you very much!
I have not been able to get the add on to work on a second computer. Both are running XP Pro service pack 3.
Any ideas that may resolve this?
Doug
@Ben Bowman
I would like to see that too, but unfortunately don’t have time to write it myself. I have been working with a few people who are trying to dump contacts into GrandCentral, but so far not from Gmail.
If anyone has an addon that works with Gmail or Thunderbird contacts, I would be glad to show you how to add contacts to GrandCentral. Syncing, not so much.
@Alex
I have not been able to reproduce that on mine, but it sounds like it’s happening because the name you assigned the caller. Would you mind e-mailing me what you named the contact?
@The Tuck
I understand your request but don’t think it would fit very well in the addon because this focuses on outgoing calls rather than incoming.
From a feasibility standpoint, it is possible, but would be complicated to accomplish because the different number of groups and lines people use with GrandCentral.
GC already has a nice interface for switching numbers, so I recommend bookmarking that page since the addon already logs you in.
@Douglas
Sounds like an issue with another addon or your profile. Make sure third party cookies aren’t blocked for grandcentral.com and there is nothing blocking cookies from being written.
Thank you for this useful add-on. I think it would be better if I can use my Gizmo number for the ‘Forwarding Number’.
HI Chad,
I really love the extension! It makes Grand Central so much more useful for me. I’m interested in doing something similar for Xbox Media Center written in python (I’m still a programming noob, but learning) and I’m wondering how you learned to interface with Grand Central… is there an API ? Not sure if it will work at all considering the cookie issues, but I’ll check the Grand Central Google group, but any help/advice you have would be great.
Also a look at the code you made would be awesome/helpful.
Thanks
Shawn
Great extension, but I had to disable it because my CPU usage was running around 50% while idle. Don’t know why, but with it disabled CPU usage is normal.
FF 2.0.0.12
XP Pro SP2
Centrino 1.4
1.25 GB
@Dbob
The dial box shows the most recent call that appears when you hover the status bar. Both will eventually show your dialed call, but not until the call log updates again. I will probably change this when I add voice message and missed call popups.
@Victor
The addon should work fine with Gizmo, but you need to have a Gizmo call in number in order to receive the call. GC -> Gizmo works because GrandCentral converts it the incoming call to VOIP. When they re-open invites, get another number and use it specifically for Gizmo for the best of both services.
@Shawn
There is no API. Just a lot of experimenting with AJAX and GrandCentral’s pages. You can check out the addon source by renaming the XPI and JAR to ZIP. I believe I’ve seen a Python app on the Google group, but am not completely sure. Not sure why you would want it for XBOX though.
@James
I can’t think of anything that would cause a CPU leak unless you have it update the call log too often. Have you tried Firefox 3?
Can this be made to work with T-bird to dial phones from address book, emails, calendar?
…sorry…hit submit button too quickly….
Was asking if it can be modified to dial phone #s in T-bird address book and emails….
But it also could work with any app by adding the ability to monitor the clipboard….if a phone number is copied to the clipboard, pop up the “dial” box with that number in it. UI option to enable/disable clipboard monitoring in the options window and the dial window.
Chad,
Phone numbers that are listed on the gmail contacts page are not clickable. Do you think there might be a fix for this in an upcoming version? I’m not talking about syncing as previously mentioned, but being able to click on a number in gmail contacts and have a GC call placed.
Thanks.
Adam
Thanks for the effort! This is a great extension. I had just been trying to find GC notification app, and this one works great.
Just two requests. Can you make the ‘call number’ feature optional. I already have the Skype call extension but sometimes I need to turn it off so I can just copy the numbers, and with the GC ext., any number can be clicked on accidentally. I know that there’s a confirmation option but the numbers are still clickable. It would be nice to turn this feature off directly from the settings.
Also, it would be REALLY nice to have the pop-up window customizable. For instance, the number of calls, which calls can be displayed (all, just the new ones, etc), even the color or background.
Keep up the good work!
Chad… awesome plug-in… thanks!
One suggestion.. when a user clicks on “About…” pass the version # to the page that is displayed so we immediately know what version is installed…. this could also be used to alert users of a new version if they go to the page via the About link.
Yeah, I am back.
During startup my computer is a dog. Yes. It is actually a Dog.
OK maybe not.
It always times out when doing the initial connection.
How about a retry # of times setting in the performance area?
NULL. The dialing field ALWAYS show null, if a 2nd Browser window is used. The 1st Browser window works. Observed in XP & Vista.
I do not believe this
Thank you for an excellent plugin, I use it and love it! Feature request: it would be nice to have an option that disables parsing the page for phone numbers and making them clickable.
@Indi
Both of those are definitely possible, but I’m not much of a programmer so I don’t expect to do anything like them soon. I have considered one for Thunderbird, but would need to learn how to work each of the aspects of the program (messages, contacts, lightning) to get it to work, so for now I’m sticking with Firefox.
@aaylnx
The addon looks for numbers right after DOM elements are loaded, meaning anything loaded dynamically via AJAX isn’t detected. They are sometimes found, when the contact or Gmail message is cached, but not all the time. I am working on how to detect these as well without slowing down all the other pages.
@Claudia Alvis
@Ken
The “call number” feature can be disabled by right clicking your number on the status bar and selecting Disable Click-to-Call. This was added in v0.2.3. When you select it, numbers on the current page will still appear clickable but won’t dial out. Once you visit another page after disabling it, numbers will not be parsed.
I will try to fit in customizable pop-ups in a future version.
@R. Moose
That’s a great idea. I will work that into the next version. As for retrying to connect on startup, I’m not sure if it would help because it sounds like it’s more of an issue with your computer. Do other addons timeout as well? Try setting the HTTP request timeout higher for this one
@Zuck
Thanks for pointing that out. I only use one window and would not have noticed. Does the status bar and popup load correctly? Also, are you referring the number in the “Dial…” box or when clicking to call?
Yes, Status and popup load correctly
The dial box field shows NULL. If it is replaced with a number, the number is accepted but the call always fail.
Click to dial would display ‘dialing eg 800-555-1212 from NULL and the call will fail.
Both work correctly in the 1st window.
This is a fantastic plug-in. It is making life so much easier for me.
One feature I’d love to se added is a quick way to switch between 2 or more phone numbers that I am calling from. I use one Gizmo SIP number for my home phone, and one for for my computer. So times I like to call and pickup the handset to walk around and sometimes I prefer to us my head phones and mic on the computer for the conversation.
It is a hassel right now to go in to the settings and change the phone number each time.
Could you add an arbitrary list of phone numbers to the settings and use the status bar pop-up menu to switch between them?
Just ran across this extension and it looks like it’s just what I am after. I’ve installed it (FF 3, XP) but it displays incorrect username or password no matter what I use. Any ideas on what is going wrong? I know I have the right ID and password.
Thanks,
Al
@Zuck
Thanks for checking that. I will have that fixed in the next version. It’s been a while since I’ve used more than one window.
@Brian Young
Not sure how hard that would be to do, but I’ll look into it. I know grabbing all the numbers from GC would require loading another page each time the addon is loaded and would slow down Firefox considerably for everyone that uses it. Another option is I could have it save the last two or three numbers you’ve entered and add those to a list to choose from. Which would you like?
@ARW
Most likely it’s because third party cookies are blocked for GrandCentral. You can add grandcentral.com as an exception by following the directions here.
just throwing my vote out there as well for the list of phone numbers to use for the call. I use a few different numbers and sometimes forget which number I have it set to and on occasion have tried to call somebody only to realize grandcentral is trying to call me at the wrong number.
Not sure you need to have it load up the list of numbers from grandcentral. Letting us enter a few in the setting dialog and then adding a cascading menu or just a number of dial entries to the dial menu to chose which number to use I think would be great.
I’ve just installed your fine extension. I’m using FF 3 on Windoze XP. When I right-click and choose Dial…, I get a box with room for a number. No matter the number, or the format I type it in, it never results in any outgoing call. I’ve tried XXXXXXXXXX, or XXX-XXX-XXXX. Nothing. Am I missing something here?
The add-on works great! I have a question, if neither end of the call is controlled by a live person, is there any way to manually end the call from the add-on? Thanks.
Works great for me too; really great idea. Only gripe is that it’s not terribly secure in storing the user’s grandcentral password. See extensions.grandcentral.password in about:config; cleartext! :-
Feature Request: Use Firefox’s Password Manager to store the password. (Is this possible? Can an extension do this?)
Feature Request: Option to _not_ store the password and instead prompt for login, password and forwarding number as needed at Firefox startup. IIRC, the Gmail FF extension has similar capabilities.
If these aren’t feasible, could the _option_ to use the grandcentral mobile login page for authentication (I.E. not save the password) and have the extension use only cookie-based authentication for the work it needs to perform be put in?
Like I said, I really like the idea and the extension works quite well; great work. But on a shared computer/system, it’s really not secure.
@Matt
I think that’s a good way to approach it. I’ll work on adding it to a future version.
@Geof
You might want to check and see if your GrandCentral number is set as the “Forwarding Number” in settings. This should be a number other than your GC number because it’s the line that rings on your end. If that’s not it let me know.
@User
Unfortunately there is currently no way to manually end the call. When I get a chance I will decode the Flash dialer GrandCentral uses in the call log and see how it’s implemented there.
@TKalus
You are correct that the settings are stored in plain sight in about:config. I intended on making it store the username and password in Password Manager, but couldn’t figure out how to do it in Firefox 3 until recently. This will be added in one of the next versions of the addon. I doubt I will go the route of your second request though.
As for using it on a shared computer, there really isn’t an easy way to wipe everything without doing it manually after you close Firefox. Plus passwords can always still be seen in Password Manager or by opening the profile’s sqlite database. I personally run Firefox from my USB drive to make privacy easier. If you have any other suggestions let me know.
Great addon, but I have just one feature request: could you toggle the option to show your GC number in the toolbar? With it always displayed, it’s just one more thing to remember to erase from screenshots…
@Dan Ray
I’ve heard that from others as well. I will work that into the next version.
I always get the incorrect user name or password error. I have tried this with two different GC accounts. I get the same result. Any ideas? Running XP SP3 with Firefox 3.0.2
@Jerry
Sounds like the same issue others were having with 3rd party cookies. An exception needs to be added for grandcentral.com so Firefox can access your GC cookies from any domain. The cookies are still safe and won’t be accessible to anyone but GrandCentral. Read how to do it here.
Hey. I was wondering for those of us with a legitimate reason to have two accounts (in my case us == my wife and I each have an account) if there might be some easy way to switch between them?
Cheers
J
Can’t get username and password to work. Could it be because my email address that I use as my login for grandcentral has a + sign? (This is perfectly valid in email addresses.)
@Jonathan Ah Kit
That’s a good suggestion but unfortunately is something I wouldn’t be able to test until invites are opened back up. I heard a few details about the future of GrandCentral which suggests it shouldn’t be too much longer. As for now I recommend you try doing what my wife and I do and run multiple profiles of Firefox. It does a great job of keeping our stuff separate, and can still be run at the same time.
@SP
I don’t think the + would cause it. You should have a GC user name you can log in with as well. Try that and see if it does the same thing. If it does then you are probably having the same issue many of the others were having with third party cookies. Read my comment three above this one for information on fixing that.
@WJR
Is the number you have set as the forwarding number your GrandCentral number? It should not be and will throw an error if it is. Does your number appear in the status bar and do you get any confirmation when you click a number?
The address book and messages links were removed a few versions back to save room. I did that because numbers no longer have to be previously added to call, and I felt it was redundant of the Go to GrandCentral link. v0.2.8 is the most recent version.
Awesome plug in, now if I can somehow get this to work on a web browser from my mobile 6 phone, then I can use it to dial any number using my GC assigned number. That would be sweet if it is possible.
Having a bit of problems with the plugin today. The info still updates and appears to work for a very short while. But after maybe 30 seconds of FF being opened I am unable to use it to make a call. If I try and use click to call it gives me the pop up window asking call 555 555 5555 from null? IU checked my options in the add on and all appears to be fine. Anyone else having an issue?
update. It appears to only happen when I am trying to dial from a pop up. I was getting my local eb games telephone number and in order to do so it pops up a new window. When I try and dial it from there I get the null information. Close the window out and use my main FF and it works as expected. Possible bug? Possible ID10T error at the keyboard I dot know. Try it out for yourself at ebgames.com Go to the store locator and see if you can call it from the results. Thanks for the great plug in. Saves me a lot of trouble
@Poonation
You’re getting that error because the addon is not passing your settings to the second window after it’s created. In this version you can only make calls from the first window. I am working on fixing that for the next version of the addon. Hopefully I will have it together sometime next week. See features planned for future versions.
yep its right there lol. Once I figured out what the problem was its actually not a bad thing. Just have to copy and paste instead of click. Good luck with the future versions, I will be a loyal Add-on user.
How do you hang up a call…? I recently made a call by accident and close my browser cause I couldn’t see a way to disconnect. However on my phone log that call lasted 180 minutes…
Thanks for any info.
@david
If GrandCentral let the call go for 180 minutes it sounds like an issue on their end. The same thing happens when you use their dialer and and don’t answer or leave the browser without hitting cancel.
I’m working on the next version of the addon right now and am testing a way to cancel and hang up calls. GC treats them as separate functions so I’m trying to figure the best way to do both without confusing people and the addon. It is possible though and is coming soon.
Great add on to Firefox. Here is a real basic question. I use both windows and mac at my house. On my windows PC, I can simply right click, enter the number, and call someone. On OS X, how do I enter the number I want to call?
@Don
Good question. I don’t use a Mac myself, but I’m told you can do it by holding control when you click the status bar.
I installed the latest version of your add on but now when I open firefox I receive the message that my username and password are missing from the settings. When I put the info in all is well but when I reopen Firefox my username and password are gone again. Can you either send me a fix or a link to reinstall the previous version of this add on.
@Marthe Stein
The addon now reads your username and password from Firefox’s login manager, so if Firefox erases those when it restarts it will say they are missing. Try letting Firefox remember your username and password and see if that does the trick.
I have been using ver 0.2.8 for about 6 month it has been great tool and never had any issue with it, I came to check and see if there is a newer version then I saw version 0.2.9 upgraded and had issue to save user name and password tried Chad instruction didn’t solve the problem keep losing U-P so I uninstalled it and went back V0.2.8 everything is fine now, possibly there is bug in V0.2.9 that lose U-P after closing the browser.
Chad,
I am unable to get this to work. When I click a number or use the “dial” feature, it says its making the call but nothing happens, no phones ring on either side.
I am running Vista, FF3, addon v0.2.9. 3rd party cookies are enabled, the forwarding number is set to be my cell phone. It shows my number in the tray bar, it also shows the last call when I hover over it.
Thanks for your work on this add-on.
Hmm, this doesn’t work for me. I’m, running the latest version of the plugin (0.2.9) and of firefox (3.0.4), but when I click on a phone number (anchor with a calto: link) I just displays a dialog asking which application I’d like to use. The only listed option is microsoft netmeeting.
Any ideas?
@Far
v0.2.9 stores the password in Firefox’s built in password manager so if you have Firefox erase all passwords after each run you will have to keep inputting the password.
@gonzo
Does anything show up on GrandCentral when you try to place a call? If it shows the number you are trying to call when it says calling the only thing I can think of is there’s some other response being returned from GrandCentral. If it’s still not working let me know so I can get more details and make you a special debugging version. Are you calling from the US to the US?
@Alias Node
There’s nothing in the addon that makes it a callto: type link so there must be some other addon or plugin interfering. All this addon does is make the phone numbers clickable by wrapping a <span> around them and running an AJAX call when they’re clicked. Do you have skype or any other telephony programs installed?
It appears that both Skype and NetMeeting register themselves as able to service callto: URLs. Is there any possibility that you could get the plugin to do likewise?
@Alias Node
Since Skype or NetMeeting is interfering with the addon and making them callto: URLs before the addon runs, you will have to disable the setting in that program that makes it do so. Check the plugins section under your Firefox addons and see if something shows up there.
I think I did a bad job of explaining, or else I misunderstood your response. I’ll try again:
Some web apps are sending HTML in which they’ve got the phone numbers in anchors with “callto:” as the protocol. (There’s also a less popular “tel:” protocol tag.)
For example:
Click to call Jenny.
When I click on one of these, Firefox looks for a registered application to invoke. Skype and NetMeeting are examples of applications that register as “callto” apps. I think it would be great if
(1) the GC plugin recognized these links
(2) clicking them would dial the number via GrandCentral.
@Alias Node
Ah now I got it. It will take a little work, but shouldn’t be too hard to come up with. Can you e-mail me an example of a service that does this? chad@nospam.me
Like Gonzo, v.29 would not work in Vista but works in XP.
Then I observed that a different GC account was registered in each of the 2 FF windows, and re-read your comment that account info is stored differently. And remembered that I installed v.29 as update.
I did the following.
Un-install v.29
Re-install v.28
Un-install v.28
Install v.29
It now works for me in Vista. Is it possible that v.28 should be un-installed before v.29?
Again, thanks for a great FF add on.
The add-in won’t take my preferences. I’ve tried both my username and my e-mail address and it keeps saying “incorrect username or password.” I reset my password, so I know that’s right as well.
Interestingly, each time I open the preferences it seems to be changing the login so that if I enter my e-mail address, the next time I open the prefs it has the ID instead, and vice versa! I normally log in on the web with my e-mail address but the GC account settings page shows my username.
Which one is it supposed to be?
Chad,
Thanks for the best FireFox add-on ever!
Best wishes for a happy holiday season with your family.
Your extension is the only reason I still use FireFox.
Hopefully some day it will be available for Google Chrome.
Douglas Baumwall
@Alias Node
I received your e-mail but haven’t had a chance to work on that yet. I should have something together soon though.
@Zuck
Another person e-mailed me and said the same thing, but I do not see any reason why it would not work with a straight upgrade. The only difference between this and the last version is settings used to be stored in about:config and now they are not. My upgrade on Vista didn’t problems, but I guess as long as it works, there is nothing wrong with uninstalling and re-installing the addon. I will look into what might cause it not to work.
FYI, older versions of the addon can be found on the Firefox Add-on page or by adding the version number to the download filename: grandcentral-click-to-call.xpi -> grandcentral-click-to-call-v0.2.8.xpi
@Ruby Sinreich
Your first problem sounds like it’s caused by third-party cookies being disabled for grandcentral.com. Read how to fix that here. As for the second issue, I am stumped. The only thing I can think of is Firefox’s login manager might have two entries for GrandCentral which is causing it to switch around. The addon and grandcentral.com will work with the username or e-mail address.
@Douglas Baumwall
I’m glad the addon is working for you now. I know Chrome doesn’t have the ability to install and use addons right now, but when it does I will probably port this over. Firefox is still my favorite by far so I say stick with it, especially when Firefox 3.1 is released.
Chad,
Just a quick “thank you.” Your extension should be part of Grandcentral’s package, period. It makes the service infinitely more useful.
Great job.
pt
I found a small bug. If you enter your username incorrectly it will not allow you to change it to anything else. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled several times but it still keeps the incorrect username that I entered the very first time I had installed the dialer. I had entered what I thought was my GC username but I was mistaken.
@phildeez
Thanks for notifying me of the bug. I must have forgot to update that when the addon was changed to save the login details in Firefox’s login manager. For now, you can remove the incorrect login by going to Tools -> Options, Security, Saved Passwords, and clicking Remove on the incorrect GC password.
Chad,
I too would like to thank you for the GC plug-in. Makes using the service much easier. I’ve used it for about 4 days now and I seem to have found a bug. The plug-in will work just as it should, then after a period of time (several hours) when trying to use the extension via ‘click to call’ or dialing in the number directly it will give me the error message ‘Unable to place call to xxx-xxx-xxxx”. The only way I’ve been able to fix it is to simply quit the Firefox application and then restart it. The plug-in will then work just fine again. I’m not sure if the plug-in is conflicting with another plug-in or website or what. If I find out any information about what causes it to stop working, I’ll let you know. I’m using XP and have used the plug-in with FF 2.0.0.14 and FF 2.0.0.18.
Thanks,
Terron
Works like a charm! Thank you for the add-on. Love it
This is the best plug-in, wait-for-it…EVER!
No matter what I d, it just doesn’t work. I used use this plugin a lot, but since I’ve updated my version of firefox it stopped working. I can click on numbers and it says it’s calling, but I get no call. I just recently bought a new computer for my office and installed the latest firefox, same problem there. Please help. I love this plugin!
@Terron
It’s doing that because your session cookie on GrandCentral changes or expires. You can fix it without restarting by running “Update Calls” manually or by decreasing the update time in the settings.
@Boruch
It sounds like you need to re-enable 3rd party cookies for grandcentral.com. See if that fixes it and let me know.
Chad, Thanks for this great add-on. I have used it and it worked great. About a month ago I notice that it was gone from notification area on my desktop. I downloaded the add-on again, but get nothing , not even the icon on the notification icon area. Any suggestions.
Chad, the 3rd party cookies are enabled and still nothing. This a problem I have on to different computers. One is a dell windows, the other is a mac. This is going on since I’ve updated firefox to the newest version( 3.0.5).
Good news, I read yesterday that GrandCentral is rolling out service in Spain.
@Boruch Siper (Line 171)
I upgraded to FF 3.0.5 and had the same issue. I uninstalled the plug-in, restarted, visited this page and installed the plug-in again, restarted, and it worked just fine. Maybe you could try that?
Nevermind, it stopped working after a day. I’m going back one version at a time to see which one it will work on.
@Chad – BTW, forgot to say thanks for helping me with that last issue.
@Alan
Does the addon still show up in the list of installed addons, and if so does the options button do anything? If it’s installed it should work. Otherwise try deleting it manually from your profiles folder. E-mail me if you need instructions on that.
@Boruch Siper
Is the addon running in more than one place at a time? You might try uninstalling it completely and deleting the addon and grandcentral_last_response.html file from your profile folder. For some reason that fixes it for some people. I have not tested it in 3.0.5 yet but know it works for others and works just fine in the nightlies of 3.2a1pre.
@Terron
Is it not working at all or just stops working after an hour or so? The grandcentral session expires after a while and needs to be reset using update calls or by lowering the amount of time between updates in the settings.
It stopped working entirely. It kept popping up with the “Invalid username or password . . .” error. You could not ‘Update Calls” because it would not log into my account. I even downgraded to 3.0.4 and it did not work. Once I downgraded to 3.0.4 I uninstalled the plug-in, restarted firefox, reinstalled the plug-in, restarted firefox and it still didn’t work. I finally just downgraded all the way down to 2.0.0.20 and everything works fine again. I really haven’t cared too much for FF 3.x anyways. I’m having to Chrome a bunch of changes back to 2.x settings that it just makes more sense to stay with 2.x.
@Terron
It sounds like a password issue. If you have more than one saved in Firefox 3’s password manager and one is incorrect it will give that error.
Try removing all the passwords for grandcentral.com (Tools -> Options -> Security -> Saved Passwords) and set them again in the settings.
Part of that is a bug in the addon I am about to fix. Currently, if you type the password incorrectly and then fix it, the addon saves them both but still reads only the first one.
Chad, Yes the add-on is listed and I do get the option buuton. If you could send me the details to delete the profile. Thanks
H Chad, ty for your most excellent extension. It worked for a few days, then I got the
“Invalid username or password . . .” box, like the person above.
I did clear all FF passwords for GrandCentral, repeatedly.
I also cleared cache & cookies, tried disabling and re-enabling the ext., all for naught.
I just uninstalled it, and when trying to re-install, got this error at the Mozilla site https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8294 :
Firefox could not install the file at
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/downloads/file/39775/grandcentral_click_to_call-0.2.9-fx.xpi
because: Invalid file hash (possible download corruption)
-261
I was able to install from this page, but still get the error message…
Checking my FF passwords, I found the same 4(!) that I had removed twice before. All were the same actual password.
I signed in successfully at the GC site, but this time did not save the password to FF.
I then tried to sign into the extension, but I got the same error box.
Odd behavior after installing .2.9:
I was getting the “invalid password” thing, so I tried accepting third-party cookies. Turns out I already accept third-party cookies, so that wasn’t it. Tried rebooting (always a good strategy with Windows), no luck there either. I also reset the credentials that were stored in ‘about:config’ still no luck.
What’s interesting is that the plugin UI always pre-populated the wrong credentials whenever I popped up the Settings dialog. I always changed them to the right credentials and got “invalid password”. Finally, after I was just about ready to uninstall your beloved GrandCentral plugin, I decided to just hit enter instead of replacing the wrong credentials.
It worked.
Any idea why?
The add-on works fine on the Flock browser (based on Firefox) except for one glitch. The settings screen is totally opaque with the exception of the OK and Cancel buttons
The way around:
Click on settings on the addon menu
Type the following and don’t expect to see anything:
your username
press tab
your password
press tab
your forwarding phone number
click on OK button
Hello, as of today, I get the following error mssg when running firefox and the add-on hangs on Loading GrandCentral calls. Do you know how I can fix it?
http://www.grandcentral.com:443 uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate expired on 01/25/2009 01:16 PM.
(Error code: sec_error_expired_certificate)
@Via
The invalid file hash error is an issue with your Firefox profile. Most likely a file is set as read only that isn’t supposed to be. That would also explain why passwords are showing up again after you delete them.
@David
If multiple passwords are stored for grandcentral.com, that could be what’s causing the error. I’m not sure why hitting enter would be any different than pressing ok since both should update your preferences. I’ll look into it.
@John Kyriacou
I have not tried it with Flock yet. I will look into why the preference window isn’t showing up correctly.
@misaelrod
GrandCentral’s SSL certificate expired today (the thing that verifies the secure https connection) so the error will pop up until Google renews it. This says a lot about how much they could care less about the service, but is not too surprising since they let grandcentral.com expire last year. Chances are it will be fixed by tomorrow.
Thanks for your reply and your incredibly excellent add-on.
I’m traveling, but will look into the profile soon.
Hello, when I open Firefox, I now get a message saying, “www.grandcentral.com:443 uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate expired on 1/25/2009 1:16PM. Error code: sec_error_expired_certificate.” Does this have anything to do with the Grandcentral Firefox Plugin, or is this something that the website owner has to address themselves?
Oops…sorry, Just read the thread now. (Would have helped to read before I posted!)… will wait for Google to fix it. Thanks.
Can you please update the GrandCentral Ext? there is a bug where if you give the wrong user/pass info, it prevents me from putting the correct info in and thus not being able to use the add-on even if i uninstall/ reinstall -thanks for the help!
@Nate
I’m still working on fixing that. For now you can manually delete the incorrect passwords by following the instructions here. That should get it going again.
It looks like it only works in the first tab of a window, so I have to open a new window with a link to click on the phone number on the target page. Can you update this so that clicking on a phone number will work under any tab?
Thanks
@Kipp
I am not able to reproduce that issue. It dials out just fine for me in multiple windows and tabs. Which version of the addon are you using?
Maybe the best way to combat dynamic DOM models is to just allow the user to double-click the phone number in the browser and then add a right-click menu-item called DIAL that would ignore any letters & punctuation in the selected text and just dial the numbers.
This would address Gmail Contacts and many other Ajax issues without requiring constant DOM rescanning.
Chadius-
I wasn’t looking for your website, just a plugin for Firefox and I stumbled across it. Glad to see you are still programming, and have even improved slightly since 6th grade
Anyway, just wanted to say hey.
JSJB
Interestingly I had the exact same problem as David, with the same solution. Chad, email / call me if you want more info.
@Jeffrey Berman
Hey Berman! Sorry, I’m lazy and haven’t fixed that bug yet. My laziness is why I made the addon in the first place. Get on Facebook or one of the many instant messengers if you want to chat.
I just wan’t to let you know that I have installed this nice addon in my desktop few weeks ago, today I installed the addon in a brand new laptop [never used]. After installing Firefox I started to to add all my addons. When I installed this addon [GrandCentral Click to Call] I didn’t have to add my Grandcentral Number and my Username since it was already there, the only empty box was the Forwarding Number in the Settings [Grancentral options].
It seems strange that it already had my Grandcentral Number and my Username already filled out. It was the correct information, but I wonder how this addon figure out my info?
Could it be a bug or it placed my info according to my IP? Just wonder.
Thanks for this addon
Any idea when V0.3 will be released?
Hey Jhonny ,
I’m not positive, but I am going to assume that if you had firefox store your grandcentral login, the add on will simply use that info to log in. thats probably why they had everything but a forward number
@Jhonny
Nation is correct, those settings will be read from Firefox’s login manager if you logged into GrandCentral and saved the password.
@VoipDude
Today, however some of the enhancements mentioned above have been pushed back. This release is strictly a bug fix. I will update the post above once testing is complete.
Your website implies 3.0 has been released, but even after updating, my add-on display still reflects 2.9
@Douglas Baumwall
You caught me during the middle of the update. Download it again for the latest version
To Everyone:
The original post has been updated with details on the latest version.
Since the comments are getting a bit lengthy and hard to keep track of, please go here for bug reporting and support, until I find a more suitable method of handling support tickets on That Smith.
@Nation and Chad,
What I don’t understand is this: I bought a new laptop, I opened the case and first thing I did was installing Firefox. Then, I opened the browser and went to the Firefox Addons Site and download and installed Grandcentral Click to Call and restarted Firefox I was surprised when I saw my Grandcentral number already there. I didn’t have any passwords saved in the Firefox login manager at this point yet. Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining I’m just reporting it.
The only thing I could suspect is that I have Weave installed at the same time I installed Grandcentral Click to Call and this could be the reason Weave might have sync my laptop with my other computer.
Thanks for upgrading this addon to Google Voice.
How do I get this working with Google Voice? It says incorrect username or password. I use latest FF on latest OS X.
@SP
The incorrect username and password thing is because of the third-party cookie issue, but either way you will need to use the Google Voice Add-on rather than this one. Once you install it, be sure to read the instructions there on the “cookies blocked” message.
This is a great add on but not knowing what i was doing downloaded the GC addon first. Then i relized that you have a GV addon so i installed it. Long story short i now have both installed and i would like to remove the GC one. Ideas?
never mind i guess i dont use my FF enough..
Chad,
When will you have an update for your FF google voice addon compatible with FF 4?
You direct response to my email would very much be appreciated.