Posts Tagged ‘VoiceXML’

One simple URL to help you learn all about VoiceXML!

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

Do you want to learn more about VoiceXML? Would you like to view tutorials, sample applications and a comprehensive reference?

If so, just remember this one very simple address:

vxml.org

That’s it! One simple URL that will get you tons of information about VoiceXML, including tutorials and sample applications you can use to get started today!


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Want to learn VoiceXML? Check out our “VoiceXML for Web Developers” series…

Friday, November 19th, 2010
Pizza Making

Flickr credit: kubina

Are you looking to learn how to use VoiceXML to create interactive applications? While we offer all sorts of great documentation and tutorials at www.vxml.org, we also have a series of tutorial blog posts here called “VoiceXML for Web Developers” that walk you through the process of getting started, all in the context of creating an application for a fictional pizza restaurant, “Strato Pizza”.

Here is the series so far:

The VoiceXML files used in those tutorials are all available on our Github account at https://github.com/voxeo/Voicexml-samples.

The first introduction article explains the steps you need to go through to set up a free developer account in our Evolution developer portal if you do not already have an account.

I am going to be continuing the series a bit more, so stay tuned for further installments. And please, do let us know (in the comments to this post or via email) how helpful these type of article series are. We have ideas for a few others like this.


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Video: How To Use Phono to Call VoiceXML Apps From Your Web Browser

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Would you like to have a button on your website that lets customer simply call your application?  Or call a phone number or extension?

Not the typical “click to call” buttons that pop up a screen and prompt you for your phone number to call you…  but rather a button that actually initiates a call from within your web browser?

Our Phono JavaScript library lets you do exactly that, and in this video I show you how incredibly easy it is to use Phono to connect to a VoiceXML app running in our Prophecy Hosting environment:

Now I just called a “Hello World” VoiceXML app… but imagine if you had a button that called into your sales line… or called into your IVR application… or let people call directly into an information tracking system… or… or… or… the possibilities really are limitless.

To try it out yourself, all you need to do is:

  1. Login to your account on our Evolution Developer Portal (or create a free account if you don’t have one).

  2. Open the application to which you want to connect the button.
  3. Find the “app:<id>” info on the Contact Methods tab and copy that info.
  4. Create a web page on a web server somewhere (which could be a web server on your laptop or PC), add the necessary Phono JavaScript code and include the app ID.
  5. Load the page into a web browser … and start calling!

My sample app is below… but odds are you are going to want to look at the documentation and demos on Phono.com to make a more useful application. For the sake of simplicity, this app has only a button that initiates the call – with no way to hang up! Nor does it have a keypad or change state to tell you that it is connecting. All those are enhancements you could make with just a wee bit of JavaScript.

You can view more videos about Phono, read other articles and generally learn more on our Phono news page. We’re looking forward to seeing what you will build with it!


Dan’s Really Basic Phono Example

<html>
  <head>
    <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.4.2.min.js"></script>
    <script src="http://s.phono.com/releases/0.1/jquery.phono.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
      function testcall()
      {
          var phono = $.phono({
                apiKey: "ENTERYOURAPIKEYHERE",
                onReady: function() {
                  // This part included so that Flash audio permission
                  // can be remembered.
                  if( ! this.audio.permission() ){
                                   this.audio.showPermissionBox();
                                                }
                  this.phone.dial("app:9991476142");
                  }
          });
      }
    </script>

  </head>
  <body>

    <input id="call" type="button" value="Test Your App" onclick="testcall()" />

  </body>
</html>

Notes:

  • Obviously you need to replace the app ID in there with your own (unless you really like calling my Hello, World app).
  • You need to obtain an “API Key” from Phono.com by logging into the site. NOTE: Your Evolution or Tropo username and password will let you into the site.
  • You’ll also note that I have some code in there related to audio permissions. It turns out that with the permission settings of Adobe Flash you would have to approve the usage of your microphone every time you push the button – unless you include this bit of code which pops up a permissions box with a “Remember” checkbox you can check so that you don’t have to keep approving permission.
  • I mention that this is to link to a VoiceXML app. It can actually be any app running on Evolution. So it could be CCXML, CallXML, Voxeo Designer, VoiceObjects On-Demand. The same concept works for calling Tropo apps, too.

Have fun with it… and if you come up with other ideas or ways to tweak this example please feel free to leave me comments about it (or email me).


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Want to learn VoiceXML? Visit www.vxml.org

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

voicexml.jpgDo you want to learn more about how you can use VoiceXML to create voice (and now SMS) applications? If so, we have an incredibly easy URL for you to remember:

www.vxml.org

That’s it. In fact, you can even drop the “www” and just go to “vxml.org“. Simple. Easy.

There on the site you will find tutorials, VoiceXML sample code, a detailed VoiceXML language specification, a handy VoiceXML element reference, and appendices covering everything from VoiceXML best practices to advanced VoiceXML topics.

You can try out all the examples, too, either in our hosted cloud with a free account on our Evolution developer portal or on your own premises with a free download of our Prophecy platform for either Windows, Linux or Mac OS X. In our hosted cloud, you get free inbound telephone numbers and outbound calling, plus Skype and SIP connectivity.

Plus, you can let your VoiceXML applications communicate not just with voice but also via SMS and IM. One app – multiple channels. For free. (Pretty cool, eh?)

And, if you run into trouble or can’t figure out how to do something in VoiceXML, our Customer Obsession Team is standing by at “support@voxeo.com” or in our web forums to answer your questions. (And yes, they gladly answer questions from developers using free accounts!)


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New Prophecy 10 Release Candidate 1 now available for download (10.0.42798 RC1)

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

For those of you who want to live on the bleeding edge of Voxeo software – or want to see what’s coming in the next release of Prophecy – the first “release candidate”, RC1, of Prophecy 10 is now available for download at www.voxeo.com/prophecy.  Prophecy 10.0.42798 RC1 is a major milestone as P10 moves closer to release. New functionality in this release includes:

  • 64-bit Linux support.
  • Support for the Speex codec.
  • Support for G.729b (silence suppression).
  • CCXML applications can now send and receive SIP INFO messages.
  • Ability to access SIP headers directly in VoiceXML. Previously you could only access SIP headers from CCXML. Now, in VoiceXML SIP headers are available in ‘session.connection.protocol.sip.<header-name>’ (Note that ‘.’ and ‘-’ in the header name are converted to ‘_’).
  • Ability to independently backup and restore the Prophecy 10 provisioning database.
  • Over 600 fixes and performance improvements.

Note: This Prophecy 10 RC1 release is still part of our Early Access release program and should be used at your own risk. Prophecy 9 is also available for those wanting a stable production release.

The new version of Prophecy 10 can be downloaded for free for Windows, Mac OSX or Linux at http://www.voxeo.com/prophecy/ More information about Prophecy 10 in general can be found in the release notes.


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Using Biometrics in your Voice Applications

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

How do you authenticate your callers before giving them access to confidential information? What if your application could recognize the caller’s voice? Voxeo has partnered with four of the leading voice biometrics suppliers to make implementing this technology in your VoiceXML application easier.

We’ve written a how-to guide for each biometrics vendor, showing the steps required to get set up with their platform and put together sample code for integrating biometrics into your VoiceXML app.

The intent of these guides and the trial accounts that our partners are offering is to introudce developers to voice biometrics on Voxeo’s platforms and demonstrate voice verification services with each vendor.

With each vendor, the general process is to apply for a developer or trial account and then use your account information in the sample VoiceXML applications that we’ll give you. You’re welcome to explore the documentation from each vendor to create more complex cases and to try biometrics in your own applications.

There’s two steps that your application will need to perform: enrollment and verification. Enrollment sets up a user in the biometrics platform and stores their voiceprint for future identification. Verification is the step performed when you want to check a caller against a previously-stored voiceprint.

The sample application we provide here is a simple use case. A caller calls in and our application uses their caller ID as the account number. We’ll start enrollment, and if the caller is successfully enrolled, we’ll start verification against this new voiceprint, asking for their password.  Obviously your real biometrics application can be much more complex. For instance, normally you would store the enrollment status of the caller and only start enrollment if they hadn’t previously enrolled. But this simple demo application should give you an idea of the basic steps required to add a similar biometrics feature from each vendor.

Each of the included examples uses a similar process for connecting your application to the biometrics service. The call is processed by your VoiceXML application and you either send data to a remote server using the <data> element or you transfer control of the call to a subdialog hosted on the remote server.

For the some vendors, your caller’s voice is recorded on your server and then the voice file is transmitted to the biometrics server. It makes decisions and passes the results back to you, allowing you to notify your caller. All interaction passes through your application.

biometrics-passthrough

Other vendors use subdialogs to record and process the voiceprints with your caller’s voice transmitted directly to the biometrics server. You choose when to hand off control of the call and the biometrics server gives it back to you when it’s done.

biometrics-subdialog

The end result is the same, however, and your caller won’t notice the difference.

To try biometrics in your application, visit the Voxeo Biometrics page for details on each vendor and a brief guide on how to get started.


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Processing Input (VoiceXML for Web Developers)

Monday, January 4th, 2010

This post is part of a series exploring voice applications and VoiceXML through the eyes of a web developer. For the rest of the series, see the index.

If you want to follow along with these examples, you should create a free VoiceXML hosting account in Evolution. Complete instructions were in the first installment of the series.

Today I’m continuing the development of our application for the fictional Strato Pizza. Previously, I asked the caller for their pizza topping preference and their phone number, using both speech recognition and touch tone input. Today I’m going to do something with that input, and repeat the order to the customer.

Within VoiceXML, I can access the values of any fields with <value expr="fieldName$.utterance"/>. This code will return the matched value from my grammar.

Since I want to simply repeat the order and the phone number, I’m going to add a <block> element to my existing form. Inside the block, I’ll add a <prompt> element with the text I want to speak.

    <block>
      <prompt>
        You ordered <value expr="topping$.utterance"/> on your pizza.
      </prompt>
    </block>

When the VoiceXML browser reaches this line, it will speak my text, substituting whatever the caller said in response to the field named topping for topping$.utterance. If the caller asked for ham, the spoken text will be just like if my prompt said, “You ordered ham on your pizza.”

You can use multiple value expressions in a single prompt. I also want to tell the customer that they’ll get a call if there’s a problem with their order. I’ll repeat their phone number to them. Then I’ll thank them for their order and hang up.

    <block>
      <prompt>
        You ordered <value expr="topping$.utterance"/> on your pizza. If we have any questions we will call you at <value expr="phone$.utterance"/>. Thank you for your order.
      </prompt>
    </block>

Remember that for the phone number field, I allowed the caller to use either voice or touch tone input with a built in grammar like so:

    <field name="phone" type="phone">
      Please say or enter your phone number.
    </field>

When I access this value with <value expr="phone$.utterance"/> it doesn’t matter if the caller used voice or DTMF input. The grammar gives the same result. So when I read back the phone number, they’ll hear the digits of their phone number spoken back to them.

You can get the code for this example and all other examples from Voxeo’s GitHub account. At GitHub, you can fork or download the VoiceXML application thus far.


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Collecting touch tone input (VoiceXML for Web Developers)

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

This post is part of a series exploring voice applications and VoiceXML through the eyes of a web developer. For the rest of the series, see the index.

If you want to follow along with these examples, you should create a free VoiceXML hosting account in Evolution. Complete instructions were in the first installment of the series.

Yesterday, I added the ability for my fictional Strato Pizza order taking application to ask the user what topping they’d like on their pizza. Now I need to ask them for a phone number, in case Strato is out of a topping and needs to call them.

When putting in a phone number, a lot of callers are comfortable with punching in their number on their phone keypads, while others would prefer to simply speak their number. I want my application to behave in the way that’s most comfortable for the caller, so I’m going to handle both methods of input.

First I create my field and validation code:

  <field name="phone">
    Please say or enter your phone number.

    <noinput>
      <reprompt>
    </reprompt>

    <nomatch>
      I didn't understand that. Please try again.
      <reprompt>
    </reprompt>

  </nomatch>

I’m doing something a little different with the UI here when someone doesn’t enter or say anything. Instead of giving an error message and replaying the prompt, I’m simply replaying the prompt. In the case of a phone number where we’re accepting DTMF and voice input, saying “I didn’t hear that” seems a little silly. Just asking for the caller’s phone number a second time should suffice.

For a grammar, I could create a grammar consisting of every digit…

<grammar type="text/gsl">
  [one two three four five six seven eight nine zero]
</grammar>

… and to make it work with touch-tone input, add a grammar for DTMF digits …

<grammar type="text/gsl">
  [dtmf-1 dtmf-2 dtmf-3 dtmf-4 dtmf-5 dtmf-6 dtmf-6 dtmf-7 dtmf-8 dtmf-9 dtmf-0]
<grammar>

… but that will only accept a single digit. Now what? I could try to create a grammar that captures every possible combination of digits. For a ten digit phone number, that means I’d have a grammar with ten billion words in it. That doesn’t sound very practical. Or I could ask the user for every digit of their phone number, one digit at a time. Hardly usable. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use a special built-in grammar provided by VoiceXML that accepts a group of digits.

To use this built-in grammar, I simply add a type attribute to my <field> element and tell it the field is intended to hold digits.

<field name="phone" type="digits">

Now the caller can say or key in any number of digits. Since this is a phone number, I don’t want the caller telling me his phone number is “six” so I want to add some restrictions to that. Strato is in the United States, so the caller should enter at least 7 digits and no more than 10.

<field name="phone" type="digits?minlength=7;maxlength=10">

But what if the caller has an extension number to add? I could ask them a separate question to find out if they have an extension. Or I could use a different built-in grammar, one actually designed for phone numbers that already recognizes any 10 digit phone number, including extensions.

<field name="phone" type="phone">

You can see a list of all built-in grammars and different ways of including them in the Built-In Grammar Types VoiceXML documentation.

Because I’m using a built-in grammar for the phone number, I don’t need an additional grammar here. This means my complete field definition looks like this:

  <field name="phone" type="phone">
    Please say or enter your phone number.

    <noinput>
      <reprompt>
    </reprompt>

    <nomatch>
      I didn't understand that. Please try again.
      <reprompt>
    </reprompt>

  </nomatch>

This XML snippet will be put into my existing form element, right after the toppings field definition.

You can get the code for this example and all other examples from Voxeo’s GitHub account. At GitHub, you can fork or download the VoiceXML application thus far.

Next up, I’ll take the user’s input and do something with it.

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VoiceXML for web developers: Hello World

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

This post is part of a series exploring voice applications and VoiceXML through the eyes of a web developer. For the rest of the series, see the index.

If you missed it, in the first installment of this series I created an application on Evolution and assigned it some phone numbers. For the rest of the series, I’ll be using that application to test my VoiceXML apps. If you want to follow along, go create your own Evolution account.

I’m going to start simple with my first application – just answer and speak some text, then hang up. This way we can get a look at the syntax needed for VoiceXML. Throughout this series, I’ll be building an application for Strato Pizza, a fictional pizza chain. My application here is simply a greeting played when someone calls the chain’s phone number.

As the name implies, VoiceXML is written in XML. So I start with an XML declaration and tell the browser what character encoding to use, just like any other XML document. Then I create a <vxml> element that will hold the application.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<vxml version = "2.1" >

</vxml>

Inside this element I need a couple of structural elements. <form> is a container that separates different areas of input and output, sort of like different HTML forms and pages. <block> is a container that allows you to conditionally execute code. Although I’m not creating separate inputs and outputs or trying to conditionally execute code, these elements are still needed, since the next elements I’m going to create are required to be inside a <block> and a block must be inside a <form>. Since I’m not using them for anything, I don’t have to worry about any attributes right now.

Now my VoiceXML document looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<vxml version = "2.1" >
  <form>
    <block>

    </block>
  </form>
</vxml>

Great, now the basic structure is in place and I can put in the meat of the application. All I want to do is say something and hang up, so my application is pretty simple. I can say something by using a <prompt> element and the VoiceXML browser will perform text to speech and say whatever I typed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<vxml version = "2.1" >
  <form>
    <block>
    <prompt>
      Thanks for calling Strato Pizza.
    </prompt>
    </block>
  </form>
</vxml>

That’s it. The whole document. I upload the document to my web server at the URL that I configured my application with in Evolution. When I call this application using the Skype number supplied in Evolution, a text to speech (TTS) engine speaks my text.


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VoiceXML for Web developers: Introduction

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

This post is part of a series exploring voice applications and VoiceXML through the eyes of a web developer. For the rest of the series, see the index.

I’ll admit it. Before joining Voxeo, I wasn’t much of a voice guy. I’m a web guy. I was pretty sure that voice applications were created through witchcraft. Turns out, there’s no magic involved, just some standards and markup languages. If you can create a web app, you can create a voice app. Voxeo has some great developer documentation and detailed tutorials available through Evolution, our developer portal. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be walking through some examples as I learn, from the perspective of a web developer, VoiceXML, CCXML, and Voxeo’s own CallXML.

I’ll start with VoiceXML. VoiceXML is a W3C standard, just like HTML is. Like HTML, your code is executed in a browser, but instead of a visual browser on a computer screen, in this case it’s a voice browser that you use over the telephone. To test out any of the samples I’m going to create, I’m going to need a VoiceXML browser attached to the telephone network. Voxeo provides developers with free accounts and a phone number so you can build and test your app. You’ll also need a web server to host your XML file, but Voxeo will provide some hosting space for you for free if you’d like.

Go over to Evolution and create an account. Then go to the Application Manager.

App Manager

Create a new application and call it anything you’d like. Then decide how you want your app to work. For now, I’m only using voice, so I don’t need text messaging. I can always add it in the future if I change my mind.

Creating an app

I need to tell Evolution where my VoiceXML file is at by providing a URL for it. Since I’m going to create a Hello World application and host it on my own server, I’m putting in the URL I intend to use for my VoiceXML file. Again, I can change this later if I decide on a different file name or path.

Creating an app, step 2

After I create my app, I have a new tab at the top of the page that gives me some phone numbers I can use to call my application.

app created

Clicking on that tab reveals a local number, a toll-free number, and numbers to call from Skype, SIP, and iNum providers. I can also add a dedicated local number if I’d like. Since I’m going to test with Skype, I don’t need a local number, but if you’re testing from your phone, grab one.

contact numbers

And that’s it. I now have a VoiceXML browser hooked up to the telephone network that I can use to test my application. In my next post a couple of days from now, I’ll create my first app.

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