A feature we recently added to Tropo is the ability to capture free-form text from a user when using one of the messaging channels, such as SMS or Instant Messaging. Previously it was required that you prompt the user for input based on a grammar:

answer
ask 'Please enter your ten digit account number.', { :choices => '[10 DIGITS]', :repeat      => 3 }
hangup

This restricted the ability to capture details that are better served by free-form text, such as an address, without having to build complex grammars which are needed when doing voice recognition. While you may still use the power of grammars for voice and text, you may now obtain free-form text by passing ‘[ANY]‘ to the choices option as follows:

answer
result = ask 'Please enter your street address.',  { :choices => '[ANY]', :repeat      => 3 }
log result.value
hangup

Sending an SMS or Instant Message to the above script will result in this line in your log based on the user’s input (in this case ‘1234 Brewster St’):

00122   	00-1   	11:40:04 PM   	Call[14157044517->13314659919] : 1234 Brewer St

This scenario will work with both the hosted API and the Tropo Web API. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Fetch the Initial Text of Any SMS or Instant Message on Tropo

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