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Developing an Application Using Only SALT Markup

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  Microsoft Speech Technologies Homepage

It is possible to develop Web applications that are enabled for speech using only Speech Application Language Tag (SALT) markup (discussed in SALT Programmer's Reference) without creating any dependencies on Visual Studio .NET 2003 or its components. For this scenario, use any text-based source code editor in any development environment to write application files with SALT markup, including all the assignments of SALT attributes or properties, calls to methods, and event handlers.

Client computers run the Web application using either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Pocket Internet Explorer with a Speech Add-in installed. The Speech Add-in must be installed on the client computer in order to interpret the SALT markup. The particular Speech Add-in that is used will vary, depending on what client is used. The application must be deployed to a Web server.

Using SALT-only Markup with a Pocket PC Client

The following procedure describes developing a Web application using only SALT tags without using Visual Studio, which will render on a Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC (Pocket PC) client.

To develop and deploy a Web application for a Pocket PC client using only SALT tags

  1. Develop a Web application using only SALT markup, with a text or source code editor. That is, create HTML pages using standard HTML markup and SALT markup to enable speech.

  2. On each page of the application, insert a SALT namespace reference in the html element (an xmlns:salt attribute-value pair in the html element):

    <html xmlns:salt="http://www.saltforum.org/2002/SALT">

    The namespace declaration is necessary because all SALT elements have the salt prefix, for example, <salt:listen ...> or <salt:prompt ...>.

  3. Copy the applications Web pages into a directory under \Inetpub\wwwroot.

  4. Set the MIME type on each of the SALT web pages (or on the entire virtual directory). To set the MIME type of the SALT Web pages:

    1. Open the Computer Management Console (Run compmgmt.msc.)
    2. Navigate to Services and Applications\Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager\Web Sites\Default Web Site\SALTPAGENAME.htm
    3. Right click on the file name and select Properties.
    4. Select the HTTP headers tab.
    5. Click the File Types button.
    6. In the MIME Types window, click New.
    7. In the Associated extension box, type htm.
    8. In the Content type (MIME) box, type text/salt+html
    9. Click OK.

Any client with the Speech Add-in installed can run the speech-enabled Web application by opening the URL of the Web application's main page.

Using SALT-only Markup with a Desktop Client

Use the same procedure as the one described previously for a Pocket PC application. However, at step 6, install the Speech Add-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer on each client computer that will run the application. For more information, see Speech Add-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer Stand-alone Installation.

See Also

SALT Programmer's Reference | Speech Output References