Configuring Unblu Branch

Basic configuration

To enable Unblu Branch, set com.unblu.messenger.branchEnabled to true.

This lets you configure Unblu Branch in the scope or scopes you want. It also lets you configure conversation templates for Unblu Branch.

Specify which conversation template to use for Branch client requests in com.unblu.conversation.template.branchClientRequestTemplateId.

For information on configuring and customizing the status notification emails that Unblu sends about branches and Branch clients, refer to Unblu Branch state emails.

Branch client configuration

A Branch client is a device in a branch office that visitors use to access Unblu.

You can specify which languages Branch clients are available in with the configuration property com.unblu.branchclient.serviceinformation.availableLanguages. If you don’t set the property, visitors can select any of the Unblu account’s languages.

Changes to the property are reflected in the frontend in real time.
The configuration property com.unblu.branchclient.serviceinformation.availableNamedAreaIds lists the named areas that can be selected in the Branch client frontend before a visitor starts a conversation.

Changes to the property are reflected in the frontend in real time.
By default, Unblu displays notifications for new messages in the Unblu UI on the Branch client. To disable these notifications, set com.unblu.si.branchclient.ui.enableNotificationUi to false.
To display the action bar in the Branch client set com.unblu.si.branchclient.ui.displayActionBar to true.
You can allow agents to access a Branch client without taking part in an ongoing conversation on the device in question. This can be useful if, for example, the agent is going to transfer a conversation to another Branch client and wants to be certain there’s nobody in the room where the device is located.

To enable the Branch client preview feature, set com.unblu.branch.allowPreviewOfEmptyBranchClients to true.

Document camera

A document camera is a physical camera attached to an Unblu Branch client, for example, at a video counter in a branch office. Visitors place documents in front of the camera so that the agent they’re talking to can see them during the conversation. This is useful when a visitor needs to show a document that only exists on paper, such as a signed form or an identity document.

A Branch client may have one or more document cameras attached to it. When a visitor shares a document camera, its video appears as a separate collaboration layer in the call. The layer appears alongside the video of the conversation participants. During the session, the agent can reposition the camera by selecting one of its predefined pan, tilt, and zoom (PTZ) presets, and can capture a snapshot of what the camera shows.

To use document camera sharing, you must enable it with com.unblu.messenger.documentCameraSharingEnabled. The property is in the GLOBAL and ACCOUNT scopes and is only available if Unblu Branch is licensed.

Once it’s enabled, you can configure document camera sharing in your conversation templates:

com.unblu.conversation.feature.documentCameraSharingEnabled: Whether document camera sharing is available in the conversation template.
com.unblu.conversation.feature.documentCameraSharingEnabledPerActor: Which participant types may share a document camera. Only the context person and secondary visitors can share one, since the document camera is attached to the Branch client they’re using.

Document camera layer display

You can control how the document camera layer is displayed to each type of participant independently. The document camera then takes up as much or as little of each participant’s screen as is useful.

Each participant’s view of the document camera layer can be set to one of three modes:

NORMAL: The document camera layer is pinned and shown at full size.
SMALL: The document camera layer appears at a reduced size. The other participants' video is pinned at full size instead. The layer reverts to the participant’s default view once the document camera is no longer active. The reduced-size behavior only applies to the document camera layer, not to screen sharing.
HIDDEN: The document camera layer isn’t displayed to this participant. The participant sharing the document camera still publishes it, so the other participants continue to see the layer according to their own display mode.

Set the display mode for each participant type with the following configuration properties:

com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.documentcamerasharing.documentCameraLayerDisplayModeForAssignedAgent: The assigned agent.
com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.documentcamerasharing.documentCameraLayerDisplayModeForSecondaryAgent: Secondary agents.
com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.documentcamerasharing.documentCameraLayerDisplayModeForContextPerson: The context person.
com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.documentcamerasharing.documentCameraLayerDisplayModeForSecondaryVisitor: Secondary visitors.

All four properties are in the CONVERSATION and CONVERSATION_TEMPLATE scopes and default to NORMAL.

Usually, the document camera is in the same location as the Branch client it’s attached to. Displaying the document camera layer on the Branch client itself is therefore redundant. Setting com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.documentcamerasharing.documentCameraLayerDisplayModeForContextPerson to HIDDEN suppresses the layer on the Branch client while the agent still sees the shared document camera.

Snapshots

While viewing a shared document camera, an agent can take a snapshot of the current camera image. For example, an agent might want to keep a copy of a signed form for the conversation’s records. You must configure where snapshots are stored for each agent participant type:

com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.documentcamerasharing.assignedAgentSnapshotTargetOptions: The snapshot targets available to the assigned agent.
com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.documentcamerasharing.secondaryAgentSnapshotTargetOptions: The snapshot targets available to secondary agents.

Each property accepts one or both of the following targets:

FILE_MESSAGE: Unblu uploads the snapshot to the conversation and displays it in the chat.
LOCAL: Unblu stores the snapshot in the agent’s local download folder.

If you don’t select a target for an agent participant type, they can’t take snapshots.

Unblu displays a system message when somebody takes a snapshot. You can control which participants see these messages with com.unblu.conversation.message.allowSeeGeneralSystemMessagesForDocumentCameraSnapshot and com.unblu.conversation.message.allowSeePersonalSystemMessagesForDocumentCameraSnapshot.

com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.action.allowStopDocumentCameraSharing sets which participant types may stop document camera sharing. By default, the assigned agent and secondary agents can stop document camera sharing. The participant who shared the document camera can always stop sharing it.

Set com.unblu.conversation.collaboration.approval.approveActivateDocumentCameraSharing to true to require visitors to approve document camera sharing before it starts.

External device control

Some Branch device types can be operated by Unblu over the network:

A door opener lets agents unlock a door.
A status lamp shows whether something is switched on or off and lets agents toggle it.

Agents operate these devices from the floor plan in the Agent Desk. Administrators add and configure them in the Branch editor.

Unblu controls these devices through a WebIO relay: a network device with a REST API for reading and switching its ports. Each branch with controllable devices specifies the base URL of its relay, and each device specifies the relay port it’s connected to. Unblu polls the relay to keep each device’s state current in the Agent Desk and sends a command to the relay whenever an agent operates a device.

By default, Unblu connects only to relays that resolve to public IP addresses, rejecting private, loopback, and link-local addresses to prevent server-side request forgery (SSRF). For on-premises deployments where the relay is on a private network, you can allow Unblu to connect to private addresses.

The relay endpoint is unauthenticated. Make sure only the Collaboration Server can reach the relay on your network.

Branch UI

The properties below specify how Unblu Branch should appear in various Unblu UIs. The configuration properties that affect the general look and feel of the Unblu Branch UIs are listed in Unblu Branch UI theming.

The order of branch address elements such as street, town, and postal code is defined in com.unblu.conversation.branch.branchAddressOrder. Address elements that don’t exist for a branch are skipped.
com.unblu.queue.ui.branchClientIconBackground Item icon background color for branch client requests
com.unblu.desk.ui.branchClientIconBackground Background color of branch client conversation tab icon

Lower third

The lower third is available in Unblu Branch to display additional information about the person visitors are speaking with. For further information, refer to Lower third in Configuring audio and video calls.

Technical configuration properties

To configure Unblu Branch clients, a Branch technician must access the device through the Branch client setup interface, either in person or by some means of remote access.

Branch technicians are users with the WEB_USER role. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be able to access the Collaboration Server from a public network endpoint. As a result, you must set com.unblu.branch.makeVisitorBranchClientTechnician to true for them so they can access the Branch client setup page.

Only set this configuration property for users who should be able to access the Branch client setup page.

com.unblu.branch.client.setup.defaultBranchClientBaseUrl: If your Branch clients all use the same base URL, prefilling the Base URL input field on the Branch client setup page makes the Branch technician’s job just that little bit simpler and less error-prone.
To allow participant types to transfer a conversation from one Branch client to another, add them to com.unblu.conversation.branch.transferToBranchClient.

The configuration property is in the CONVERSATION_TEMPLATE scope.
The name of the cookie for the Branch client person source ID is defined in com.unblu.branchclientsession.personSourceId.cookieName.
com.unblu.si.branchclient.ui.keyEventPropagationMode defines whether to propagate keyup, keydown, and keypress events from the Unblu Embedded Visitor UI component to elements further up the DOM tree.