Prophecy 2006

If it weren't for problems with Subversion (svn), I'd have released a nice update to the CCXML sample code this morning. Instead, I've been fighting the source code software all morning.... and I suspect it's a documentation problem.

I continue to work on grammars, but here's a tip on what works in with Prophecy. I hope to have a how-to entry soon.

Let's say I have a sub-rule called NAMES. It's an alternative rule, and I want to flag that I returned from this particular rule. Furthermore, I want to return a telephone number associated with each name. Then the rule I will write will look like this, with some notes interpolated:

The official W3C says that the MIME type for VoiceXML is "application/voicexml+xml," while Prophecy has been using "application/xml+vxml."

In the latest builds, that doesn't work; although Voxeo will likely add backword compatibity for the next official release, you might as well get ready now and migrate to the official type if you build supports it.

The symptom, by the way, is that dialogstart fails with a error.dialog.notstarted.

CCXML10.send has been eliminated from the latest builds. If you want to send an event to either Voxeo's CCXML or the W3-compliant CCXML ("CCXML 1.0", in Voxeo's jargon), use CCXML.send with the proper session ID.

This is just by way of a progress note.

I'm converting an old Nuance grammar with tags to P2006, and it's rough going. I simply cannot persuade the grammar to simultaneously return (a) the actual text that I've spoken, as a field value (not as a .utternace property) and (b) to return the properties I set in the grammar inside the tags.

I've tried some pretty explict declerations in order to gain complete control of the presentation, but so far I can get one or the other but not both. More to come, along with blow-by-blow notes, when I figure this out...

According to this article, Voxeo's Prophecy is the only certified VoiceXML 2.0 interpreter.

Here's a quick administrative notice: the forums are now working; my thanks to zweng for bringing the problem to my attention. You can try the forum by reading this topic and/or by responding to it.

If you have any trouble, please contact me.

Just a quick note. In the how-to entry, I note how to initiate a CCXML script using HTTP.

I've discovered that CCXML.start will always start a Voxeo CCXML session instead of a W3C-compliant CCXML session, even if the script is set to execute on port 5063. If you want to start a W3C-compliant CCXML, you have to use CCXML10.start instead.

I'll update the how-to shortly.

I've just added VoipBuster to the poll for SIP service providers. Not only do their terms of service not make me nervous, but they're (a) dirt cheap and (b) provide free one-minute outbound calls, apparently to anyplace in the world — which is just perfect for testing some of my announce-only services.

To set up VoiceBuster, you need set the following in your management console or config.xml file:


VOIP User ID: name
VOIP Auth ID: name
VCS Contact Address: name@<your_external_IP_address>:<your_external_SIP_port>