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Using Contacts Helper

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  Microsoft Speech Technologies Homepage

The Microsoft Speech Application SDK Version 1.1 (SASDK) includes a Contacts Helper application that allows developers to:

  • Regenerate the current names grammar to include any new names that developers have added to the contacts data file since the last names grammar was generated.
  • Generate a recording script that identifies names and other contact information that developers add to a contacts data file after a specified date.

To run Contacts Helper, open the following page in a Web browser:

https://localhost/speech/contacts/helper/default.aspx

Regenerating the Current Names Grammar

The developer must rewrite the names grammar for the application to include the names of any new contacts before the Contacts application can use the new contact information that developers have added. If developers add a large number of new contacts to the contacts data file, rewriting the names grammar can be a time-consuming, error-prone task.

Contacts Helper solves this problem using the contacts data file to regenerate the names grammar for the Contacts application.

To regenerate the names grammar that the Contacts application uses:

  1. Run Contacts Helper.
  2. Click the link Re-generate current names grammar.

Generating a Recording Script

Because the Contacts application plays recorded prompts of a contact's full name and other associated details, it may be difficult to coordinate the following:

  • Adding new prompts to the database when new contact information is added to the contacts data file.
  • Recording prompts using a voice talent when new contact information is added to the contacts data file.
  • Tracking contacts that have been added since the previous recording session.

To resolve these issues, Contacts Helper generates a script that voice talent can read to create prompts for contact information that developers have added to the contacts data file after a specified date.

To generate the recording script

  1. Run Contacts Helper. The application displays a calendar highlighting the current date.
  2. In the calendar, click a past date. To change the month, click either the left or right arrow in the gray bar at the top of the calendar (the calendar bar that displays the month and year).
  3. Click the Generate recording script for names added since link. A File Download dialog box appears.
  4. Click Open to view the script, or Save to save the script for later viewing.

For each new contact, the application generates a line in the script that contains the new contact's full name. The line also contains the new contact's postal address and office number if this data exists. If either a postal address or an office number (or both) are included, the name "PATRICK" appears between each of these pieces of data. For example, the entry for a new contact is formatted as follows:

firstname lastname PATRICK postal address PATRICK office number

For an explanation of why the name "PATRICK" is inserted between pieces of data, see the section labeled "Example Prompt 3" in the documentation for the sample entitled Constructing Natural-sounding Recorded Prompts.