<prompt>

Description

Plays TTS to the user.

Note that prompts containing Speech Markup (SSML) will be passed into the TTS engine as an XML document. When the VoiceXML page is first parsed by the interpreter, the prompts will be decoded. The interpreter will then re-encode the prompt content into an XML document to pass to the TTS engine.

Syntax


<prompt
    bargein="true" | "false" | "dtmf"
    bargeintype="energy" | "speech" | "hotword" | "recognition"
    cond="ECMAScript_Expression"
    count="integer"
    timeout="time_interval"
    xml:lang="language"
    xml:base="URI"
    ttsengine="string"
    broadcast="boolean">
  child elements
</prompt>

Attributes

Attribute

Description

bargein

Controls whether or not user input can be collected before the prompt has finished playing. Optional. (Defaults to true.)

  • true - Any user input can barge in during the current prompt.
  • false - No user input can barge in during the current prompt.
  • dtmf - Only DTMF input can barge in during the current prompt; speech input is ignored until the completion of the prompt; both speech and DTMF input can be collected after the completion of the prompt.

Overrides the value of the bargein property.

bargeintype

The bargein type. Optional. (Defaults to speech.)

  • energy - Any noise can barge in on the prompt.
  • speech - Any user utterance can barge in on the prompt.
  • hotword (equivalent to recognition) - Only user input that matches a grammar can barge in on the prompt.
  • recognition - Only user input that matches a grammar can barge in on the prompt.

Overrides the value of the bargeintype property.

cond

An ECMAScript expression to be evaluated and used as a boolean condition. This <prompt> will only be played if the expression evaluates to true. Optional. (Defaults to true.)

count

Each field item maintains a counter of number of times the item has been visited. The count attribute allows the application to play different prompts based on the counter. The prompt will be played when the counter reaches the count attribute. Optional. (Defaults to 1.)

timeout

The length of time to wait, if no speech occurs, before throwing a noinput event. Overrides the value of the timeout property. Optional. (Defaults to 10s.)

xml:lang

The language identifier of the prompt. If omitted, it defaults to the value specified in the document's xml:lang attribute. Optional.

The list of supported values for this attribute depends on the TTS engine being used. Note that the TTSENGINE property must always be used to specify the TTS language. With some vendors, the xml:lang is only required additionally when prompts contain SSML; with others vendors, the xml:lang must always match the TTS engine language. Refer to your vendor documentation for support details.

xml:base

Declares the base URI from which relative URIs in the prompt are resolved. This base declaration has precedence over the <vxml> base URI declaration. If a local declaration is omitted, the value is inherited down the document hierarchy. Optional. (Not currently supported; will be ignored if defined.)

ttsengine

Specifies the name of the TTS (Text-to-Speech) engine to use (i.e. the voice) when playing this prompt. Overrides the value of the ttsengine property. Optional.

The ttsengine attribute can also be used to enable RTSP streaming.

broadcast

Optional.

Parents

<block>, <catch>, <error>, <field>, <filled>, <foreach>, <help>, <if>, <initial>, <menu>, <noinput>, <nomatch>, <object>, <record>, <subdialog>, <transfer>

Children

<audio>, <enumerate>, <foreach>, <mark>, <value>, Speech Markup (SSML), #PCDATA

Extensions

Limitations/Restrictions

Example


<?xml version="1.0"?>
<vxml version="2.0" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/vxml">
  <form>
    <block>
      <prompt> Hello, world! </prompt>
    </block>
  </form>
</vxml>