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Tools for developing VoiceXML applications: Part 2. (An Overview).

Article Excerpt
Last year in this column (XML-J, vol. 2, issue 2) we reviewed an initial set of VoiceXML development tools and integrated development environments (IDEs). Now we'll review some of the new tool sets developed by independent software vendors for the development and testing of dynamic speech-based components and applications.

I'll focus on how to use these tools to test and debug VoiceXML applications from a desktop-based development environment and/or a normal touchtone-based phone.

Note/Disclaimer: This article doesn't attempt to compare the capabilities and features of the various tools, but instead provides information on the various development tools in a concise fashion. To ensure neutrality, the vendors have also been listed in alphabetical order. Even though I've tried to provide the latest and most correct information and compliance, please validate it with respect to the VoiceXML specifications through the appropriate vendors.

GetVocal VoiceXML SDK

VoiceXML SDK from GetVocal (a division of Digital Voice Technologies) is a desktop-based VisualVoiceXML development and testing tool. It supports the latest (VoiceXML 2.0 draft) version of the specification including support for XML-based grammars. It's built on top of Microsoft Speech SDK 5.1 and uses Microsoft TTS and ASR engines for text-to-speech and speech recognition.

Graphical testing and development is the key highlight of the SDK (see Figure 1), which also includes a virtual phone pad for real-phone simulation, a graphical VoiceXML generator, scripting support through JavaScript VBScript (with extensions for invoking ActiveX components and Java classes), and a complete visual debugging environment with steps, breakpoints, and variable watches.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Apart from testing local VoiceXML content, the SDK also supports visual interpretation and testing of remote/ dynamic VoiceXML applications. A distinctive highlight of the SDK is that apart from the simulation through a virtual phone, it can actually use a TAPI-based interface to interact...

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