What’s New in Vox Proxy Version 2

Version 2 of Vox Proxy contains new characters, new features to enhance script-writing productivity, new features for multimedia and training applications, enhanced support for the new Vox Proxy Clear Voices, based on AT&T Labs’ Natural Voices Text-To-Speech engine, new commands to facilitate data exchange, new features for CD Prep, and enhanced Player features.

New Characters
Enhanced Support for AT&T Labs’ Natural Voices TTS engine
New Features To Enhance Script-Writing Productivity
New Multimedia and Training Features
Data Exchange Features
CD Prep Features
Miscellaneous New Features
Enhanced Player Features
List of New Script Commands

New Characters

Ten new characters have been introduced in Version 2.


Noah	Scientist	Waxy	Max

Louis	Janet	Ben	Brooke

Debra	Gus

Enhanced Support for AT&T Labs’ Natural Voices TTS engine

Version 2 contains three enhancements specifically designed to make it easier to use our new Clear Voices, based on AT&T Labs’ Natural Voices Test-To-Speech engine.

Character properties, a new feature described in more detail below, enables you to assign an AT&T voice (or any other voice) as the default for a character, so you don’t have to explicitly use the TTSEngine command each time you show the character.

SayWav command. The SayWav command wizard has been enhanced to allow you to create a wav file directly from speech text using any AT&T Natural Voices voice that you have installed. This feature can be useful for building a CD containing wav files using Natural Voices, since you are not permitted to redistribute the AT&T Natural Voices TTS engine. This feature works only for the AT&T Natural Voices TTS engine.

Convert text to wav files. An automatic conversion program which converts all speech for a specified character throughout the entire presentation to wav files using any selected voice from AT&T Natural Voices. This is another useful tool for preparing CDs with CD Prep that use Natural Voices as wav files.

New Features To Enhance Script-Writing Productivity

Power Scripting Menu. If you right-click in the script edit window of the Script Writer, you now see a comprehensive,context-sensitive cascading menu of options. This menu can take the place of the entire Wizard form, significantly speeding your script-writing. Further, since it’s context-sensitive, you can get quick help displays for the commands you’re using.

The menu appears similar to the following:

The menu includes:

· All available script commands. Selecting a command will display the appropriate wizard form for that command.

· A list of all available animations for the character that is active at the cursor location.

· All available characters. If you select a character already used in your script, it will just insert the character’s name. For characters not yet in your script, it will display the “New Character” wizard.

· Variables, along with their contents. This includes all pre-defined variables, like &date and &month, as well as user-defined variables.

· Speech tags, such as Emphasize, Monotone, and Whisper.

· Help for the script command that is on the line at the cursor.

· A Speech Test button, which allows you to test the sound of a line of speech without playing the whole slide script.

Find-and Replace. A find-and-replace form is available in the Script Writer. You can access it either from the Edit menu or by pressing Control-F. Find and replace features will work on a selected slide or globally for the entire presentation.

Resizable Script Writer. The Script Writer form is now resizable, allowing you to more easily view wider or longer scripts. Just hold the mouse over an edge or the lower-right corner of the form and drag it to the size you like.

Command Wizard Help and context-sensitive help. All script command wizard forms now respond to the F1 key with help for that command. Right-clicking on any line in your script will produce a menu containing help for the script command on that line.

New Multimedia and Training Features

Timers. Timers are now available for all media players. Custom timers are available for any purpose. The WaitFor command, previously used only to wait for a specified character, has been enhanced to allow the script to wait for any of the timers. An example would be using a timer to allow characters to narrate a movie played with the PlayMedia command. After starting the movie, you can synchronize a character’s speech and animations with the movie using the script command: WaitFor MediaTime (#sec) or WaitFor MediaEnd. Included in the new timers is a slide timer, allowing you to WaitFor SlideTime (#sec), and a show timer – WaitFor ShowTime (#sec).

Play Macromedia Flash Movies. A new script command, PlayFlash, and wizard allows you to play multiple flash movies during your slide show. The flash movies can be set to close automatically when done; to close after a specified length of time; or on demand using a CloseFlash command. A timer is available to synchronize your script with the flash movie. The wizard allows you to size and drag the Flash windows on your PowerPoint slide.

Display Excel Spread Sheets. A new script command, ShowExcel, is available to display a Microsoft Excel spread sheet during the slide show. This feature requires that the user have Microsoft Excel installed on his/her computer. The worksheet window can be resized and dragged into position on the slide. Visible Excel toolbars are optional. You can allow users to edit and save the worksheet or to open it as read-only. A wizard is available in “Miscellaneous commands”. A timer is started automatically when the Excel window is opened.

Display Microsoft Word documents. A new script command, ShowWord, allows you to display Word documents during the slide show. Other features similar to those in the ShowExcel command are provided. A timer is started automatically when the Word window is opened.

Force Media on top. A new option is available for the PlayMedia command to force it to appear on top of the visible slide show window. This is to fix a change in Windows which can display the media window underneath the slide show window, effectively making it invisible.

Change Media Volume While Playing. The new script command MediaVolume allows you to adjust the audio volume while media is playing. This can be particularly useful to turn down the music volume before a character starts talking. MediaVolume also supports a variable-length fade for the volume change.

Close Media Command. The new CloseMedia command allows you to stop playing a media file and close the optional window. With Version 2, media files or windows are persistent across multiple slides. Previously, the media file would close automatically when the slide changed. The CloseMedia command can also be used in conjunction with WaitFor MediaTime to turn off a media file after a specified length of time, or to synchronize with other character script requirements.

Data Exchange Features

Read Excel data.

The Set command, which is used to assign data into a user-defined variable, has been enhanced to allow you to get the data from a specified cell in an Excel worksheet. A new ReadExcel wizard has been provided, which will automatically format and insert the appropriate Set command.

Write Excel data.

A new script command, WriteExcel, allows you to write the contents of a user-defined variable into a specified cell in an Excel worksheet. This feature will allow you to record the answers to questions presented using the ListBox or ListenFor commands, and, used with the ReadExcel feature, greatly enhances the use of scripts to manage PowerPoint-based questionnaires or quizzes.

Read File

A new script command, ReadFile, allows you to read data from a text file and assign the data to a user-defined variable. This command is similar to ReadExcel, except that the data is read from a structured “ini-style” file containing sections, keys, and values. A wizard form is available to set up the command.

WriteFile

Similar to WriteExcel, this command allows you to write the contents of a user-defined variable into an “ini-style” text file.

Write text to a slide shape

A new script command, WriteShapeText, allows you to write text data onto a slide during the slide show. This feature can be used with the new Read commands (see above), to display data obtained from a file or worksheet.

CD Prep Features

CD Diagnostics

A new menu item, Diagnose CD, is available on the tools menu of the CD Prep wizard. This diagnostic program will examine a CD written using CD Prep, to determine if it should run correctly and, if not, what may be missing.

Optional Author and Info buttons

The Author and Info buttons are now optional. If you choose to use them, you may also specify the button captions.

Optional text on “Continue” box

You may now edit or re-enter the text that will be displayed to the end user when the CD first starts.

Automatic creation of “vps” script file

If CD Prep detects, during the final file creation process, that a “vps” file does not exist for the slide show, it will prompt you and offer to create it. The “vps” file is needed for CDs played with PowerPoint 97 or the PowerPoint Viewer.

Support for “temp” files

On the files page of the CD Prep wizard, you may specify a list of files that will be copied to the user’s “windows temp” folder while the CD plays. These files will be deleted from the user’s hard drive when the slide show ends. A companion variable, &tempdir, can be used in your script to determine the location of these files. This feature is useful for speeding up access to files such as media files during the slide show. If such files are stored and accessed only from the CD, reading them can take a significant amount of time while the CD “spins back up” during the show.

PowerPoint “frame” eliminated during startup

When playing a CD created with CD Prep in Version 1, PowerPoint would open up as an empty “frame”, load the presentation file, and then start the slide show. With Version 2, the slide show starts directly without any visible PowerPoint frame.

Miscellaneous New Features

Randomly-Selected Character Animations

You may now enter several animations on a single line and specify that the character should play only one of them, selected at random. This is accomplished by separating the commands with the “split style” character “|”, also called the vertical bar. Previously, you could use this same character with the Say command to specify several phrases, one of which is to be spoken. These features can be useful in a self-narrated slide show that frequently returns to a common “menu” slide. It allows you to avoid having the characters always say or do exactly the same things at such times.

Dual Monitor Support

A new DualMonitor script command allows you to properly display characters in a dual-monitor configuration. It requires that the monitors both be set at the same resolution. The dual monitor support affects the display of characters, bitmaps, backgrounds, flash movies, media player, Excel, and Word windows.

Character Properties

The Character Gallery now contains a “properties” button, which allows you to specify default properties for each character. Properties include size, speech balloons, balloon fonts and font size, language, TTS engine, voice speed, pitch of voice (not supported for AT&T Natural Voices), idle animations (on/off), and sound effects (on/off). These properties save your having to specify them each time you show a character.

New Variables

The following new variables are available for use in your scripts. They are all case-sensitive.

&tempdir

Contains the path to the “temp” folder on the user’s computer. For use in CD Prep scripts To locate files temporarily copied to the user’s hard drive. Does NOT end with a back-slash.

&SlideNumber

Contains the number of the currently displayed slide.

&DiskDrive

Contains the drive letter of the user’s default drive and a colon. Used with CD Prep disks to determine the drive from which the CD is playing.

&winfolder

Contains the path to the user’s windows folder. Does NOT end with a back-slash.

&pptpath

Contains the path to the currently-active PowerPoint presentation. Does NOT end with a back-slash.

Embedded Local Variables And Pronunciation Dictionary

Variables and pronunciation dictionary items that you have designated to apply to “this presentation” only are now embedded in the PPT file. Previously, the system created a special “hidden slide” containing that data.

Enhanced Player Features

The free Vox Proxy “Player” software has been enhanced to make it easier for users to play slide shows created with Vox Proxy. Previously, the user would have to manually turn Vox Proxy on by opening PowerPoint, clicking on the Vox Proxy menu, and selecting “Play Vox Proxy with slide shows”. Then he/she would manually start the slide show.

In Version 2, the Script Writer contains a new file menu item called “Save presentation for VP Player”. Selecting this option will save a copy of your presentation file with the file extension “ppv” rather than “ppt”. You then distribute this file to the end user. When a user with the VP Player installed opens this file in Windows, whether it is from Windows Explorer, an E-mail attachment, or on a web page, Windows will automatically start Vox Proxy, which will open PowerPoint and play the slide show.

Files saved in this way are identical to the PPT file in every way except the file extension. You can still open this file in PowerPoint, even though you have to select “all files” from the PowerPoint “open file” dialog box (or it won’t be shown). In fact, you can create the PPV file manually by simply copying the PPT file and renaming it with the “PPV” extension.

List of New Script Commands

CloseExcel
CloseFlash

Commands for controlling Characters

Balloons, Delay, Do, GestureAt, Hide, IdleAnimations, Interrupt, Language, Listen, ListenFor, Moveto, NoBalloons, Say, SayWav, Show, SetPrefs, Size, SoundEffects, Speak, Think, TTSEngine, Wait, WaitCommands, WaitFor

Balloons

Wizard

Display text balloons when an agent speaks

Optional parameters are:

1. on or off [default=on]

2. lines=# [default=auto-sized]

specify a fixed number of lines for the balloon size. If this is not specified, the balloons will be auto-sized according to the text displayed.

3. size=#

Specify the text size in points

4. font=”name”

Specify the name of the font

Example:

Balloons on size=14 font=”arial” lines=5

Balloons off

Noballoons

Wizard

Do not display text balloons when an agent speaks. Same as “Balloons off”

Delay S

Wizard

Wait S seconds before proceeding to the next command

Disappear

Wizard

Make the currently active character disappear. This command closes the character and does not play the character’s “Hide” animation.

Do animation [:wait] [:nowait]

Wizard

The active agent performs an animation. This command is not normally necessary. The optional :wait or :nowait will over-ride the default behavior.

The following commands are equivalent:

do Greet

Merlin Greet

Greet

The “style” character, or vertical bar (“|”) is used to provide a list of alternative animations to be played. The program will randomly choose to play one of the animations. In the list This may be useful in a slide or macro which is repeated often to provide some variety in the character’s actions.

Greet | Explain | Announce

Gestureat agentname

Wizard

Signals that the current character should gesture in the direction of the specified character. Note that gesture animations are only up, down, left, and right.

Hide [agentname]

Wizard

Hides the agent. If the agent name is not specified, the agent currently active is hidden.

IdleAnimations [on][off] [all]

Wizard

Temporarily turn on or off a character's idle animations. If the word 'all' appears after 'on' or 'off', it will apply to all characters which are visible at the time the command is encountered in the script. Otherwise, it applies only to the currently active character. This over-rides the default, which is a preference item. See Tools/Preferences on the Script Writer and also see help for the "SetPrefs" command.

This command is especially useful for animations such as "SitLeft" and "SitRight" to ensure that the character remains seated. If idle animations are on, after a few seconds, the character will stand and begin its normal idle animations. The command will remain in effect only until the character is closed.

Example:

Show Paul at Center

Announce

Say Good morning...'

...

IdleAnimations off

SitLeft

say How nice it is to...

...

Interrupt agentname

Wizard

The Interrupt command signals another character which is in the process of playing a looping animation to stop playing. Note that this command must be issued by another character (not the one that is looping). See also the “timeout” preference item.

Language name

Wizard

Specify the language to be spoken by the currently active character.

'name' may be any of the following:

1) a valid language name with or without quotes

2) The numeric language code (for example, US English=1033)

3) The hexadecimal language code in format: "&&Hxxxx" (for example, US English is "&&H0409")

A TTS engine for the specified language must be installed on your system. If an appropriate TTS engine is not found, it will use the character’s default speech engine.

Examples:

Language French

Language "French"

Language 1036

Language "&&H040C"

Listen [:wait] [:nowait]

Wizard

Listen for a voice command or “yes” or “no”. Requires that a voice-recognition program has been installed on your system. The listening state persists only for a fixed period of time (about 10 seconds). The listening state may also be invoked on a visible or hidden agent by pressing the “Scroll Lock” key.

ListenFor [:wait] [:nowait] “phrase1” “phrase2” “phrase3”

Wizard

This command causes the current character to listen for a “voice command” - a list of words or phrases. See Listen. The user speaks one of the possible commands into a microphone. The result is placed into the &Response variable, where it may be evaluated using IF or Evaluate. Items in the list are specified in quotes such as:

ListenFor “First thing” “second thing” …etc

Listenfor is used where you want to take different actions depending upon the user’s selection. It is an alternative to the ListBox command. For example, you may start different slide shows or branch to different slides within the current slide show.

Each item may consist of either just the text to appear in the list, or as two items, separated by the “style” character, or vertical-bar (|):

1. The text to appear in the list

2. The text to be returned in the &Response variable

Example:

Listenfor “First thing|one” “Second thing|two”

In this example, the user will see “First thing” and “Second thing”. If he selects First thing, the &Response variable will be set to “one”.

Moveto location [atspeed S]

Wizard

Move the agent to a different position on the screen.

Location may be specified as either an X,Y value pair (horizontal, vertical), as a percent of screen (0-100), or as any logical combination of the words: Upper, Center, Lower, Left, and Right. For example, “at Upper Left”. The location (50 50) is the same as “Center”; (25 25) is the same as “Upper Left”; and so on.

The speed parameter (S) is a number equal to zero or larger. Higher numbers are slower. The default value is 1000. A speed of zero causes the agent to be relocated instantaneously without playing its move animation. The fastest animated move is a value of 1. The word “atspeed” may be elided.

Example:

Show Peedy at Upper Left

Moveto Lower Right

Moveto 75 75

Moveto Lower Right atspeed 1

Say [:wait] [:nowait] text

Wizard

Speak the specified text. Text may include various "speech tags" (See Speech). All text is “filtered” by the Pronunciation Dictionary. Variable names in the text are replaced by the variable’s value. The optional :wait or :nowait will over-ride the default behavior. If speech balloons are on, the text will also appear in the balloon while it is spoken.

Example:

Show Merlin

say Let me show you my cyber-magical powers!

or:

Merlin say Welcome to the show!

The “style” character, or vertical bar (“|”) is used to separate alternative phrases to be spoken. The TTS will randomly choose to speak one of the phrases. This may be useful in a macro which is repeated often in scripts.

Example:

Say You can change slides now | Go ahead to the next slide | It’s OK to change slides now | Next slide | I’ll wait for you to change slides

SayWav ‘balloon text’ “file”

Wizard

“Speak” an audio (.wav) file. The agent essentially “lip-synchs” the file. The “balloon text” will be displayed in the word balloon (if visible), but, rather than using the speech engine, the audio file will be played.

Example:

Show Merlin

SayWav “Good Morning” “c:\my files\gm.wav”

SetPrefs [options]

Wizard

Set one or more preference items. This sets the preferences which apply to all characters as the default when the character is shown. It has the same effect as changing the corresponding item from Tools/Preferences in the Script Writer.

The command takes effect when it is encountered in the script. Also see help for the temporary commands: IdleAnimations and SoundEffects.

Note that this change remains in effect for all future sessions of Vox Proxy. If your need for these changes is temporary, you should set the preferences back at the end of the script.

idle=on or off - turns idle animations on or off

sound=on or off - turns sound effects (associated with various animations) on or off

timeout=N - sets the time in seconds after which known looping animations will be stopped.

Example:

SetPrefs idle=off sounds=off timeout=15

Show [options]

Wizard

Display an agent character at a specified location.

Several optional parameters are available:

at location - Location may be any combination of the words: center, upper, lower, left, or right; or two numbers for X and Y, representing percentages of the screen size.

:wait or :nowait Over-rides the system preference

size=N size of character as a multiple of its original size. For example, size=2 means twice normal size.

idle=on or off - temporarily turn on or off the character's idle animations.

sounds=on or off - temporarily turn on or off the sound effects (if any) associated with the character's animations.

balloons=on or off - display or don't display word balloons for speech.

language=french - change the character's language to that specified. The appropriate TTS engine must be installed.

Voice=name – change the character’s voice. This is a simpler method to accomplish the same result as using the TTSEngine command. For a list of available voices, open the Script Wizard, Show a New Character, and click the Select button in the Voice frame.

Examples:

Show Merlin

Show Merlin at 50 50

Show Merlin at Lower Left

Show Paul at Center size=2 idle=on sounds=off balloons=off

Show Paul at Center Voice=Mike

Size N

Wizard

Specifies the relative size of the active agent. # should be a number greater than zero. A size of one (1) specifies the agent’s default size.

Example:

Show Merlin at 50 50

Size 2

Greet

SoundEffects [on or off]

Wizard

Temporarily turn on or off a the sound effects which are played by some of a character's animations. If the word 'all' appears after 'on' or 'off', it will apply to all characters which are visible at the time the command is encountered in the script. Otherwise, it applies only to the currently active character. This over-rides the default, which is a preference item. See Tools/Preferences on the Script Writer and also see help for the "SetPrefs" command. Sounds may also be turned on or off as part of the 'Show' command (See the Show command).

This command is useful in some situations to avoid suppressing the speech for a subsequent character. The command will remain in effect only until the character is closed.

Example:

Show Paul at Left Center

Show:nowait Merlin at right center

SoundEffects off

Congratulate

Paul say:nowait Congratulations to ....

Speak text [:wait] [:nowait]

Same as Say except that the text is not filtered by the Pronunciation Dictionary. The optional :wait or :nowait parameter will over-ride the default behavior.

Think text [:wait] [:nowait]

Wizard

Display the specified text in a “thinking” word balloon, but do not speak it. Rules for use are the same as “Say”. The optional :wait or :nowait parameter will over-ride the default behavior.

TTSEngine {clsid}

Wizard

Select a specific speech engine for the selected character. The {clsid} is a formatted string defined by the speech vendor that uniquely identifies the engine's mode.

A TTS engine for the specified language must be installed on your system. If an appropriate TTS engine is not found, it will use the character’s default speech engine.

Example:

The following script command selects the Digalo female French engine (Cathy):

TTSEngine "{085C42D7-E1C4-4791-91FF-921A45025187}"

Wait

Wizard

Causes the script to wait at this point until the active character has completed whatever it is doing. This can be useful to signal when another character should begin its actions.

Example:

Paul say Good morning, etc, etc…

Wait

Say I’d like to introduce my friend Merlin.

Show:nowait Merlin at Center

In this example, Merlin will begin to appear just as Paul starts to introduce him (and not before). This helps to speed up the activity by simultaneously showing Merlin while Paul is introducing him, but not while Paul is making his previous remarks.

WaitCommands [exclude] list

Wizard

Changes the list of commands for which an agent character will wait before performing. Available commands are: Hide, Moveto, Do or Play, Say, Speak, Show, Think, GestureAt, and Listen. If you leave off 'exclude' or 'include', the list should be inclusive. This changes the system Preferences in the file and will persist until they are changed back.

Examples:

WaitCommands Say Do Think Listen

WaitCommands exclude Moveto Show

WaitCommands include Moveto Show

Commands for controlling PowerPoint

Click Synonyms: NextAnimation, PowerPointClick	Send a mouse click to PowerPoint to start the next custom animation on the slide.
EndShow	End the current slide show. Close any characters which may be visible.
FirstSlide	Go to the first slide in the presentation
GotoSlide number	Go to the specified slide number
LastSlide	Go to the last slide in the presentation
LastSlideViewed	Go to the last slide which was actually viewed in the slide show. Note that this may not be the same as the “PreviousSlide”.
NextSlide	Go to the next slide in the presentation. If there are no more animations on the current slide, PowerPoint will move to the next slide.
PreviousSlide	Go to the previous slide in the presentation. The previous slide is the slide numerically preceding the current slide and may not be the last slide viewed by the user.
RunSlideShow file	Run the specified file in another slide show window. The script continues on in its current slide show after the new slide show is ended.
WaitForClick Synonyms: WaitforNextAnimation WaitforPowerPointClick	Wait until the user presses a mouse click to start the next animation on the current slide before proceeding with the script.
WriteShapeText (options)	Options are: shape=S position=P text=T Displays text T in the PowerPoint slide shape named S at position P. This is a way to display text "on the fly" during a slide show. It can be used with a user-defined variable to display text that has been read from a file or worksheet. Examples: WriteShapeText shape=Rectangle 1 position=1 text=Tom Atkins -or- Set &name=ReadExcel file=C:\my files\VPtest.xls sheet=sheet1 cell=A1 WriteShapeText shape=Rectangle 1 position=1 text=&name

Commands used to Evaluate User Input

Bookmark, IF / ORELSE / END, Select / InCase / ORELSE / END, GOTO

BookMark name

Wizard

A Bookmark is a single word which creates a place holder in the script at this point. The name must consist only of alphanumeric characters, no spaces, no symbols. The only purpose for a bookmark is to branch to it using the GOTO command.

IF statement

..run this script if true

ORELSE

..run this script if false

END

IF evaluates a statement for true or false. If the statement is true, the script immediately following it is run. If false, it is skipped. Script which follows the optional ORELSE command, if any, is just the reverse: it runs only if the statement is false. ORELSE can also be written as ELSE. An END command must follow each IF command in the script.

The statement evaluated is most often a test of the &Response variable after the user has responded either to a Listen, ListenFor, or ListBox command.

Synonyms:

ORELSE = ELSE

Example:

Show Peedy at Center

…

Say Would you like more detail?

Say Please say yes or no.

Listen

IF &Response IS “yes”

Say OK, let’s take a more detailed look.

ELSE

Say OK, we’ll skip the detail.

GotoSlide 26

END

…slides and script for detail…

Note the use of the comparison IS (&Response IS “yes”). The only two comparison words available are IS and ISNOT.

Select &Response

InCase item1

..script to be run for item1

InCase item2

..script to be run for item2

…

ORELSE

..script to be run if variable is none of the cases

END

The Select command (which can also be written Evaluate) begins a section of script which evaluates multiple possible responses from the user, and runs a piece of script for each case.

It can be read in English as follows: “Select the user’s response. In case it’s ONE, run the following script; In case it’s TWO, run the following script; In case it’s THREE, run the following script; OR ELSE, if it’s none of the above, run the following script…Now I’m done.

Select is most often used with either the ListenFor or the ListBox command.

Synonyms:

Select = Evaluate

InCase = Case

ORELSE = ELSE

Example:

Show Peedy at Center

Say Welcome to Peedy’s Pizza.

Say Would you like Pepperoni, Sausage, Hawaiian, or Veggie?

ListenFor “Pepperoni” “Sausage” “Hawaiian” “Veggie”

Select &Response

InCase “Pepperoni”

…place your “Pepperoni” script here

InCase “Sausage”

…place your “Sausage” script here

InCase “Hawaiian”

…place your “Hawaiian” script here

InCase “Veggie”

…place your “Veggie” script here

ORELSE

…place script here for the case where Peedy didn’t recognize what the user said.

END

GOTO bookmark

Go to a bookmark in this script. The bookmark must have been previously defined in the script.

Example:

Bookmark Start

Listenfor “one” “two” “three”

Select &Response

Case “one”

…

Case “two”

…

Case “three”

…

ORELSE

Say Please say one, two, or three

GOTO Start

Miscellaneous Commands

Background, BitMap, CloseExcel, CloseFlash, CloseWord, Delay, DualMonitor, EndMacro, GetMacro, ListBox, MacroMenu, MediaVolume, MessageBox, PlayFlash, PlayWav, PlayMedia, RandomLineFrom, RandomMacro, ReadExcel, ReadFile, Run, RunMacro, Set, ShowExcel, ShowWord, StartTimer, WriteExcel, WriteFile

Background [options]

Wizard

Display either a solid color or a bitmap file as a background in a script macro.

Parameters are:

1) either a color number or a Bitmap file name in quotes. Use the Script Wizard to select colors.

2) If a bitmap file is displayed, one of the following options:

tile

scale

unscaled

The Wizard form offers a color palette and bitmap file browsing.

Examples:

Background "c:\windows\clouds.bmp" scale

Background 8421376

BitMap options

Wizard

Display a bitmap file on the screen. Parameters are:

1) File name and path

2) AT X Y -- optional location, where X and Y are percent of screen (see Show).

3) Display size. One of the following: (default=1/4)

size=1X: as authored

size=2X: twice authored size

size=1/16: 1/16 of screen area

size=1/4: 1/4 of screen area

size=1/2: 1/2 of screen area

size=FS: full-screen

4) One of the following scaling options:

tile scale unscaled

Example:

Bitmap "C:\my files\picture.bmp" at 25 25 size=1/16 scale

CloseExcel

Closes the Microsoft Excel window that was opened by the ShowExcel command. Takes effect after the active character is finished whatever it is doing.

C loseFlash [file]

Closes the flash movie “file” that was displayed by the PlayFlash command. “file” should include the full path and file name. Takes effect after the active character is finished whatever it is doing.

CloseMedia

Closes a media file that was started using the PlayMedia command. Takes effect after the active character is finished whatever it is doing.

CloseWord

Closes the Microsoft Word window that was opened by the ShowWord command. Takes effect after the active character is finished whatever it is doing.

Del ay T

Wizard

Wait T seconds before proceeding to the next command. # may be a decimal number.

DualMonitor (on|off)

Wizard

Turns on or off dual monitor support without changing the permanent dual monitor preference item. It may be turned on and off within a script.

This command automatically offsets the X location of characters and forms by +100%. It requires that the resolution of each monitor be set the same.

EndMacro

Wizard

End the current macro. Close any characters which may be visible. If the macro was started from a menu, re-display the menu.

Note: Do not use EndMacro in a macro which will be called from another script (either a slide script or another macro). All executing scripts will be closed by this command.

NOTE: this command is not normally necessary, since Vox Proxy automatically closes any macro which is started from a user-selected menu.

GetMacro name

Wizard

Retrieves the script for the macro "name" and inserts it into the current script at this point. This is essentially a "cut and paste" which takes place just before the current script begins to run.

Note that this is functionally different than a "RunMacro" command, which actually runs the specified macro "on the fly" when it encounters the command during execution of the current script.

The specified macro name is not case sensitive.

Example:

GetMacro 'Merlin Pearl of Wisdom"

ListBox items

Wizard

This command displays a list box containing a list of words or phrases. The user selects a single item by clicking on it. The result is placed into the &Response variable, where it may be evaluated using IF or Evaluate. Items in the list are specified in quotes such as:

ListBox “First thing” “second thing” …etc

ListBox is used where you want to take different actions depending upon the user’s selection. It is an alternative to the voice command ListenFor. For example, you may start different slide shows or branch to different slides within the current slide show.

Each item may consist of either just the text to appear in the list, or as two items, separated by the “style” character, or vertical-bar (|):

1. The text to appear in the list

2. The text to be returned in the &Response variable

For example:

ListBox “First thing|one” “Second thing|two”

In this example, the user will see “First thing” and “Second thing”. If he selects First thing, the &Response variable will be set to “one”.

MacroMenu wildcard

Wizard

Displays a menu from which the user selects a macro to run. Wildcard is a specification for matching macro names. Note that case is significant in macro names.

Examples:

MacroMenu “”

Displays a menu containing all macros in the macro folder.

MacroMenu "Tutorial*"

Displays a menu of all macros whose name starts with "Tutorial"

MacroMenu "Tutorial**"

Same as above, but the macro names displayed contain only the text following the word "Tutorial"

MacroMenu "Chapter? Tutorial"

Display matching macro names containing any character in the place of "?"

MediaVo lume [options]

Wizard

MediaVolume level [time]

Changes the audio volume for a media file that has been started using the “PlayMedia” command. If the optional time is specified, the volume will “fade” up or down in the specified number of seconds.

The level can vary from 0 to 100. The default volume is 100, the maximum. Volume levels below 50 are nearly inaudible.

This command can be useful to lower the volume of music or other audio when a character is speaking.

Example:

MediaVolume 60 2

MessageBox [options]

Wizard

Display a message dialog box that requires the user to press a button.

MessageBox parameters, each enclosed in quotes, are:

1) Message text

2) Message Box Title

3) Buttons

4) Symbol

Buttons may be:

“OK”

“OC” (OK, Cancel)

“ARI” (Abort, Retry, Ignore)

“RC” (Retry, Cancel)

“YN” (Yes, No)

“YNC” (Yes, No, cancel)

Symbols may be:

“?” Question

“!” Exclamation

“i” Information

“S” Stop Sign

Example:

MessageBox “Your voice input was not understood” “Listening” “OK” “S”

PlayFlash [options]

wizard

PlayFlash [file=] [at X% Y%] [size=] [align=] [scale=] [loop] [close]

Play a Macromedia Shockwave Flash movie in a window. Note: this uses (and requires) the Macromedia Flash Player.

Options are:

1. file=file name.swf

2. at location as screen %. Default: 50 50. Location is at the CENTER of the form.

3. size=width,height (as screen %). Default: 50 50

4. align=LTRB Aligns the movie with the Left, Top, Right, and/or Bottom of the form. Any combination is valid. Default is to display the movie in the center of the form.

5. scale=X Options for X are:

ShowAll - (default) Preserves the aspect ratio of the movie, but ensures that it will fully display in the form window.

NoBorder - Forces the form window to be fully filled. If the window is not the same aspect ration as the move, one edge of the movie will not be visible (off the form).

ExactFit - Scales the movie to the form. If the aspect ratio of the movie is significantly different than the form, some distortion will be apparant.

7. loop - causes the movie to run continuously in a loop. Note that this require you to explicitly close the movie or it will go on forever.

8. close - causes the form to close (and disappear) when the movie stops playing. Note that, if the movie has a stop or pause button, pressing it will close the flash form.

EXAMPLES:

PlayFlash file=c:\program files\vox proxy\sample.swf at 25 25 size=50 50 close

PlayFlash file=c:\program files\vox proxy\sample.swf at 25 25 size=50 50 scale=ExactFit

PlayFlash file=c:\program files\vox proxy\sample.swf at 25 25 size=50 50 close Align=TL

Play Media file options

Wizard

Synonym: PlayVideo

Play a media file (audio or video). Be sure to include quote marks around the file name.

Options specifies four optional parameters:

1. Wait code. Specifies whether or not the script should wait until the video file is complete. Can be:

wait or nowait

2. Screen position (AT X Y). [default=50 50]

3. Display size. Select one of the following:

size=1X Authored size

size=2X 2x authored size

size=1/16 One-sixteenth of the screen area

size=1/4 one-fourth of the screen area [default]

size=1/2 one-half of the screen area

size=FS full-screen

size=NONE No display (useful for audio files)

4. Controls. Select one of the following:

controls=none

controls=some [default]

controls=all

5. Volume. Specify a number from 0 to 100. The default volume is the maximum (100). Zero is not actually mute, but a very low volume.

Volume=80

Example:

PlayMedia “&media\STSland.mpeg” at 50 50 wait size=FS

PlayMedia “&media\guitar.wma” at 50 50 size=NONE controls=none

PlayMedia “c:\my files\music.mp3” at 50 50 size=1/4 controls=none

Note in these examples the use of the variable “&media”. This variable is created automatically by Vox Proxy and points by default to the directory:

\program files\vox proxy\media

PlayWav [wait] “file”

Wizard

Play an audio (.wav) file. If you include the word “wait”, the script will wait until the audio is complete before proceeding. Without the word “wait”, the script will continue to run while the audio plays.

Example:

PlayWav wait “c:\windows\media\chimes.wav”

RandomLineFrom or RandomLineFrom “macro”

Wizard

Inserts into the current script a single line, selected at random, from the specified Macro Script. Note that the line retrieved should have any needed script command in it. If the line is for some spoken text, for example, it should start with the “Say” command.

Example:

RandomLineFrom “Pearls”

RandomMacro name

Wizard

Randomly select a script macro whose name begins with "name". Get and insert its script into the currently running script. When using this command, enter the name in quotes.

ReadExcel

Wizard

This command reads a value from an Excel worksheet. It is normally used with the Set command to assign the value to a variable.

The value is accessed by specifying the file name, worksheet name, and cell range.

Example:

Assign the contents of cell "B9" of worksheet "Sheet1" of the file "c:\tests\questions.xls" to the variable &Q:

Set &Q=ReadExcel file=c:\tests\questions.xls sheet=Sheet1 cell=B9

ReadFile

wizard

This command reads a value from an "ini-style" text file. It is normally used with the Set command to assign the value to a variable.

The value is accessed by specifying the SECTION name and KEY for the value.

Example:

The file "c:\tests\questions.txt" contains the following:

[history]

q1=In what year did President Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address?

q2=...

q3=...

Script command to assign question 1 to the variable &Q:

Set &Q=ReadFile file=c:\tests\questions.txt section=history key=q1

Run program [parameters] [default folder]

Wizard

Run program [parameters] [default folder]

Executes a program. Allows two parameters:

1) program parameters

2) default directory

Examples:

Run notepad "readme.txt"

Special cases allow you to invoke Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, or your E-mail client:

Run "mailto:tomatkins@voxproxy.com" (starts the default mail client)

Run "http://www.voxproxy.com" (starts the default browser)

Run "C:\Program Files" (starts Windows Explorer)

RunMacro “name”

Wizard

During the execution of the current script, when it encounters a RunMacro command, it loads and runs that macro. When that macro is complete, the remainder of the current script continues to run.

Note that this is functionally different than a "GetMacro" command, which is essentially a "cut and paste" operation that takes place just before the current script is executed. One of the key differences is that RunMacro allows "local" copies of Variables and Pronunciation Dictionary entries which may be different from those in the current script.

The specified macro name is not case sensitive.

Example:

Show Peedy at Right Center

Say Merlin, give us a pearl of wisdom!

RunMacro 'Merlin Pearl of Wisdom"

Peedy say Thank you

Set &varname=value

Wizard

Defines a Variable. &varname is any valid variable name. Value is an alphanumeric or numeric string. Variable names must contain only alphanumeric characters (case-sensitive), no spaces, and no symbols except underline (“_”). These variables will persist as long as the current PowerPoint session remains open and will disappear when closed.

For “value”, you may also use ReadExcel or ReadFile to assign values from an Excel worksheet or an ini-style text file.

Examples:

Set &name=Tom

Set &place=Orlando

Set &greet=Good &tod, &name!

SetPrefs [options]

wizard

The command takes effect when it is encountered in the script. Also see help for the temporary commands: IdleAnimations and SoundEffects.

Note that this change remains in effect for all future sessions of Vox Proxy. If your need for these changes is temporary, you should set the preferences back at the end of the script.

idle=on or off - turns idle animations on or off

sound=on or off - turns sound effects (associated with various animations) on or off

timeout=N - sets the time in seconds after which known looping animations will be stopped.

Example:

SetPrefs idle=off sounds=off timeout=15

ShowExcel [options]

wizard

ShowExcel [file=] [sheet=] [cell=] [at X% Y%] [size=] [readonly] [commandbars=]

Display an Excel worksheet in a window.

Options are:

1. file=file name.xls. Default: an empty sheet

2. sheet=sheet name. Default: Sheet1

3. cell=cell reference to activate. Default: A1

4. at location as screen %. Default: 50 50. Location is at the CENTER of the Excel form.

5. size=X,Y (as screen %). Default: 50 50

6. readonly If not specified: read/write unless commandbars are off, then readonly.

7. commandbars=on or off. Default: on. This includes the menu, standard, and formatting bars. If commandbars are off, file will open readonly.

A timer will start automatically when the Excel window opens. You may access the timer using ExcelTime with the WaitFor command.

EXAMPLE:

ShowExcel file=c:\program files\vox proxy\sample.xls at 25 25 size=50 50 sheet=january commandbars=off

ShowWord [options]

wizard

ShowWord [file=] [at X% Y%] [size=] [readonly] [commandbars=]

Display a Microsoft Word document in a window.

Options are:

1. file=file name.doc. Default: an empty document

2. at location as screen %. Default: 50 50. Location is at the CENTER of the Word form.

3. size=X,Y (as screen %). Default: 50 50

4. readonly If not specified: read/write unless commandbars are off, then readonly.

5. commandbars=on or off. Default: on. This includes the menu, standard, and formatting bars. If commandbars are off, the document will open readonly.

A timer will start automatically when the Word window opens. You may access the timer using WordTime with the WaitFor command.

EXAMPLE:

ShowWord file=c:\program files\vox proxy\sample.doc at 25 25 size=50 50 commandbars=off

StartTimer name

Sets the start time for a new timer with the name 'name'.

Once started, the WaitFor command can be used to wait until this timer reaches a specific number of seconds.

EXAMPLE:

StartTimer First

WaitFor condition

Wizard

Causes the script to stop and wait for the specified condition. Wait conditions may include a character or one of several timers.

Options include:

1. Character name - Causes the current character to stop and wait until the named character finishes whatever it is doing. Use this only if you have un-checked some of the "wait commands" either on the preference screen or using the 'waitcommand' command.

2. ShowTime #sec - Waits until elapsed time from the start of the slide show.

3. SlideTime #sec - Waits until elapsed time from the start of the current slide.

4. MediaTime #sec - Waits until elapsed time from the start of the currently running media file (played with the 'PlayMedia' command).

5. MediaEnd - Waits until the end of the currently running media file (played with the 'PlayMedia' command).

6. timername #sec - Waits until elapsed time from the start of the specified timer (see StartTimer command).

7. FlashNtime #sec - Waits until the elapsed time from the start of the Flash movie. N is the sequential number of the flash movie: the first movie is 1.

8. FlashNend - Waits until the end of the currently running Flash movie (see PlayFlash). N is the sequential number of the flash movie: the first movie is 1.

9. WordTime - Waits until elapsed time from when the Word document was displayed (see ShowWord).

10. ExcelTime - Waits until elapsed time from when the Excel worksheet was displayed (see ShowExcel).

Examples:

WaitFor Merlin

WaitFor ShowTime 30

WaitFor SlideTime 15

WaitFor MediaTime 120

WaitFor MediaEnd

WaitFor TimerA 10

WaitFor Flash1time 10

WaitFor Flash1end

WriteExcel [options]

wizard

This command writes a value to a cell in an Excel worksheet. It is normally used to write the contents of a variable.

The value is written by specifying the name of the file, the worksheet, and the cell range.

Example:

You are keeping count of the number of incorrect answers to a question in the variable &Count and wish to write the value into cell "B9" of worksheet "Sheet1" of the Excel workbook "c:\tests\questions.xls":

WriteExcel file=c:\tests\questions.xls sheet=Sheet1 cell=B9 value=&Count

WriteFile [options]

wizard

This command writes a value to an "ini-style" text file. It is normally used to write the contents of a variable.

The value is written by specifying the SECTION name, KEY, and VALUE. If the specified section and key names are new, they will be created in the file. If the file does not exist, it will be created.

Example:

You are keeping count of the number of incorrect answers to a question in the variable &Count and wish to write the value into the "history" section of the file "c:\tests\questions.txt":

WriteFile file=c:\tests\questions.txt section=history key=wrong value=&Count

Sample Script

show Merlin at Left Center

Balloons

Greet

say Peedy, where are you?

show peedy at Center

say Hi, Merlin. Got any good crackers?

moveto Bottom Right

say None here.

moveto Top Left

say Here we are!

Idle2_2

say Not bad. See you, Merlin!

Hide

Sample Script with PowerPoint Controls

Show Paul at Left Center

Noballoons

Size 2

Greet

Say This &tod we’ll be talking about our three goals for the next quarter.

Point45

Click

RestPose

Say First, blah

Gesture Left

Click

Explain

Say Second, blah, blah

Point135

Click

RestPose

Say and, third, blah, blah, blah

NextSlide

Variables

Variables are items that are used to represent text within a phrase to be spoken by an agent. Some variables, such as &date, are pre-defined. They are listed below. Others may be user-defined. They are defined and edited in the “Variables” tab of the Script Writer or by using the “Set” command in a script. Names should consist of a single word without spaces. When used in the script, names must always begin with the character “&”.

User-defined variables may be defined in the Variables section of the Script Writer’s Tools menu or from within a script using the Set command.

Pre-defined variables are:

§ &date Date in form January 1, 2000

§ &time Time in form 2:00pm

§ &day Day of week in form: Monday

§ &month Month in form: January

§ &year Year in form: 2000

§ &tod Time of day in form: morning, afternoon, or evening

§ &Response Contains the text of the user’s response to a Listen. ListenFor, or ListBox command. If the response was not recognized, it is empty.

Other pre-defined variables are created when presentations are opened or slide shows are running. They include:

· &DiskDrive Contains the drive letter of the default drive (and a colon). It is used in presentations to be played on CD Prep disks to determine the drive on which the CD is playing.

· &pptpath Contains the path to the currently-active PowerPoint presentation. Does NOT end with a back-slash.

· &SlideNumber Contains the number of the currently-displayed slide.

· &tempdir Contains the path to the Windows temp folder on the user’s computer. For use in CD Prep scripts to locate files temporarily copied to the user’s hard drive. Does NOT end with a back-slash.

· &winfolder Contains the path to the user’s Windows folder. Does NOT end with a back-slash.

Note that, like all variables, these are case-sensitive.

Examples:

Examples may be the simplest way to understand the use of variables.

Variable name: &speaker

Variable text: “Tom”

Sample line of script: “Say Good morning, &speaker. My name is Peedy.”

Variable names must only consist of a single word, but the text in variables may be longer:

Variable name: &org

Variable text: “the Jefferson County Public Library”

Sample line of script: “Say Welcome to &org.”

A variable may contain other variables:

Variable name: &greet

Variable text: “Say Good &tod, &speaker.”

Sample line of script: “Say &greet. Welcome to &org.”

Script Files

There are two kinds of script files:

Macros

"Macros" are kept in files with a “VPM” file extension (.VPM) and are located in the “macro” folder. You may edit these files using a text editor such as Notepad.

PowerPoint Scripts

PowerPoint scripts are kept in the presentation file itself, in what may be thought of as a “hidden” text box in each slide. The script text box can be edited only using the Script Writer.

Tips and Techniques

Interacting with PowerPoint

Vox Proxy slide scripts are automatically started as soon as the slide is displayed in a slide show. There are several techniques you can use to cause an interaction between the characters, PowerPoint animations, and the presenter.

1. You want the active character to trigger a click or “NextAnimation” (sometimes called “next build”) on the slide. A typical use for this is that the character is acting like the presenter and will bring up some “bullets” on the slide and talk about each.

Use the “Click” command in your script. Be aware that you must set PowerPoint’s “Custom Animation” for this object so that it is animated by a mouse click (not automatic by time). Whenever a Click command is encountered in the script, it issues a “click” to PowerPoint, just as though you had pressed the mouse click. For example:

Show Paul at Left Center

Point45

Click

Say Our first topic will be….

2. You want the script to wait until you (the presenter) click to bring up the next animation. Then the script should continue to run.

Use the “WaitForClick” command in your script. Again, you must set PowerPoint’s “Custom Animation” for this object so that it is animated. For example:

WaitForClick

Show Paul at Left Center

Say Surprise! Here’s what we’re doing next…

3. You want to have a dialog with an on-screen character. Use the same technique as above to interact with characters. If you don’t want visible PowerPoint animations, just create invisible “custom animations” (such as off-screen objects). For this example, create two simple autoshapes (stars, let’s say) and drag them off the visible slide. For each of the autoshapes, set their custom animation to “appear” on mouse-click. Here’s your script:

Show Peedy at Center

WaitForClick

say Yes, Tom.

Idle2_2

say In fact, these Nabisco’s have quite a smooth and buttery taste.

WaitForClick

Say Sorry, Tom. Not a parrot in sight.

Here’s how it runs:

[you click to bring up this slide]

[Peedy flies in on the center of the slide and waits]

You say something like “Hi, Peedy. Had any good crackers lately?”

[you click the mouse to trigger PowerPoint’s next animation]

[Peedy says “Yes, Tom”, eats a cracker, and says “in fact,…etc…”]

[Peedy waits]

You say “See anyone here that you know?”

[you click the mouse to trigger PowerPoint’s next animation]

[Peedy pulls out his scope and looks around the room, then says “Sorry, Tom. Not a parrot in sight”]

4. Building delays into your script. Sometimes it may be appropriate for you to include intentional delays in your script so that you can say things while interacting with characters. The Delay command will cause the script to delay a specified number of seconds. Be aware, however, that the delay command itself does not have a built-in “wait”, so you may want to put a Wait command in the script yourself just before the delay. For example:

Show Peedy at Center

Greet

Say Good &tod, &name, how’s the presentation going?

Wait

Delay 10

Say Gee, I’m sorry about that. Anything I can do to help?

This will give you ten seconds to respond to Peedy’s question. Without the wait command, the ten seconds would start before Peedy speaks.

Using Multiple Characters

Interaction between characters is one of the most effective tools for creating interest and avoiding a boring presentation, but it also presents many challenges. The greatest challenges, of course, are in the script’s dialog. But the more technical issues of making two or more characters interact effectively is also important. Of these, timing is one of the more important. To understand the timing of characters, you must understand that, in order to simplify the scripts, the default in Vox Proxy is that each character must wait until the previous character finishes its speech and actions before proceeding with its own. This ensures that nothing unexpected will happen when the script runs, but it can result in interactions that may appear slow and stilted.

Vox Proxy has several tools to help you override these defaults and to create more effective and interesting interactions. One of these is the parameter :nowait, which can be used to override the wait default on individual lines of speech or actions.

1. Make multiple characters appear and hide simultaneously. This is easily accomplished using the :nowait parameter. For example:

Show Paul at left center

Show:nowait Peedy at Center

Show:nowait Merlin at right center

Hiding characters simultaneously is the same except for one thing. It is a good policy to place a “wait” in the script just before the first character hides. Otherwise, the “:nowait” could cause the second and any additional characters to hide too soon.

…previous script lines…

Paul say Bye-bye!

Wait

Paul hide

Peedy hide:nowait

Merlin hide:nowait

Without the Wait, Peedy and Merlin would hide while Paul is still speaking.

2. Let a character start speaking while another is moving. There is only one tricky thing to be aware of when using “:nowait” for speech. Many animations are accompanied by sound effects. These sounds can “step on” the speech of another character. The general rule is that the speech engine will not allow two characters to have simultaneous sounds or speech. And usually, the first sound to be encountered will suppress any other character’s sound that tries to play after it starts.

There are two ways around this when using speech in Vox Proxy. One is to shut off animation sound effects. This can be accomplished either on the “Preference” menu item or by using the “SoundEffects off” command in your script. The other way is just to make sure that the speech starts BEFORE the animation sound effect. Consider these two versions of the same script:

Show Merlin at right center

Show:nowait Paul at Center

Merlin search

Paul say:nowait Hey, Merlin! What are you looking for?

Show Paul at Center

Show:nowait Merlin at right center

Paul say Hey, Merlin! What are you looking for?

Merlin search:nowait

Merlin’s “search” animation is accompanied by the sound of bells. In the first version, since Merlin begins his animation before Paul starts to speak, the bells suppress Paul’s speech. In the second version, Paul’s speech starts first and the bells are suppressed.

Overlapping sounds are not a problem with silent animations. “:nowait” is often helpful in these cases to speed up processing:

Paul GestureRight

Say Our first item of business is …blah blah

Wait

RestPose

Merlin GestureLeft:nowait

Say And second, we want to talk about blah blah…

It’s a good idea to make Paul return to his rest pose, but we don’t want Merlin to wait until Paul is resting before he starts his own gesture, so we use the “:nowait” parameter. The reason for the Wait command above is that it tells Merlin not to begin gesturing until Paul has finished speaking.

Scripting Speech

Synthetic speech technology using free TTS engines like those included with Vox Proxy will not fool people into thinking that a live person is talking. On the other hand, they can be amazingly effective and, with a little extra effort, you can at least achieve correct pronunciation and even convey reasonable variations in emphasis. This creates a far more effective presentation.

Be sure to play the tutorial on speech. It provides some good illustrations using the tools in Vox Proxy.

The most convenient tool for scripting speech in Vox Proxy is the Speech Toolbar. Find it in the View/Toolbars menu. Using this toolbar, you can place the cursor on any line of speech in your script and press the “Test Speech” button to see how it sounds.

Punctuation in speech affects both timing and emphasis. Commas, semicolons, and periods cause a pause in the speech and slightly affect the pronunciation of the immediately preceding word. A question mark also affects the emphasis of the preceding word. An exclamation point can affect the pronunciation of an entire sentence. Using the “Test Speech” button, experiment with the sound of each sentence.

Methods for changing pronunciation and emphasis in speech will depend on whether you are displaying the speech in a speech balloon. If you are not, then you can be free to use incorrect punctuation or even spelling in order to adjust the sound of the speech. With speech balloons, you can still use variations in punctuation and spelling, but you will need Vox Proxy’s Pronunciation Dictionary in order to achieve variations in pronunciation while preserving correct spelling and punctuation.

Use the Pronunciation Dictionary in the following ways:

· For foreign-language words or commonly used “made-up” words that are consistently mispronounced by the TTS engine, enter them on the “All Presentations” page. We have included a number of such words such as “autoshape” and “c’est la vie” as samples. Any time Vox Proxy encounters one of these words or phrases in a line of speech, it will automatically use your substitute pronunciation. Look over and test these examples to get ideas for your own pronunciation adjustments.

· For words that are needed only in the current presentation, but throughout it, enter them on the “This Presentation” page. Be aware that such entries will cause a special slide to be created to contain that information. The special slide will be marked “hidden” so that it won’t be displayed in the slide show.

· For one-time pronunciation adjustments, use the “One-time Insertion”. This will insert a “map” tag into the line of speech showing both what is to appear in the speech balloon and how it is to be pronounced. You can be creative with using this feature. For example, you can insert pauses into the speech by using commas that don’t show up in the speech balloon.

· You will occasionally have to adjust the pronunciation of a word whose emphasis is wrong for the current context. The TTS engine, for example, does an amazingly good job of determining when the word “object” should be pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable and when it should be on the second. But it isn’t perfect. (“perfect” is another one of those words!) When you test these words in the Pronunciation Dictionary, you may have to enter several words or the whole sentence in order to determine how the TTS engine will pronounce it.

Many other tools are available to work with pronunciation. See individual descriptions for the Power Scripting Menu and the Speech Toolbar. You can emphasize a specific word or change the “character” of speech (whisper and monotone). Also on the Speech Toolbar are “Context” buttons called “address” and “E-mail”. For U.S. English, these buttons are the same. Context primarily affects the way the engine speaks numbers, punctuation, and abbreviations. Web addresses, for example, require use of the context tag. In order to review these pronunciation rules in detail, see Help/Speech/TTS Help on the Script Writer menu.

Additional tools are available in the Script Wizard’s “Say Something” button. There, you can vary the speed of speaking as well as its pitch.

A couple of other tips which may be somewhat obscure:

· The “Speak” command works exactly like “Say” except that it bypasses the Pronunciation Dictionary. If you want to illustrate a mispronounced phrase, for example, you might use the same line of text with both commands:

Say C’est la vie, senor Peedy. We have no rellenos.

Speak C’est la vie, senor Peedy. We have no rellenos.

· The vertical bar character, also called “style” is used to separate alternative phrases to be spoken. The TTS engine will randomly choose to speak only one of the phases. Suppose you have a simple macro, for example, which you might call on multiple slides when the character is finished and you can proceed to the next slide. A typical slide script might be:

…script

…

RunMacro ‘Next Slide”

The macro script for “Next Slide” might be:

Say You can change slides now | Go ahead to the next slide | It’s OK to change slides now | Next slide | I’ll wait for you to change slides

Another use would be in working with speech commands. If the user’s input is not recognized, you might want the character to respond with:

Say Sorry, I didn’t understand that | What did you say? | What was that? | Huh? | Please stick to words that I understand

A little care in testing and adjusting your characters’ speech will go a long way in improving the effectiveness of your presentation.

Script Writer

The Script Writer form will appear similar to the following. As you hover the cursor over areas of this screen image, “hot” areas will link to the appropriate feature documentation.

As you hover the cursor over this screen image, “hot” areas will link to the appropriate feature help

Line Callout 3: Standard Toolbar Line Callout 3: Diagnose slide animations Line Callout 3: Test script Line Callout 3: Macro Editor Line Callout 3: Script Edit Window Line Callout 3: Character Gallery Line Callout 3: Script Wizard Line Callout 3: Close Characters

Script Edit Window

The Script Edit window is a plain text field used for writing or editing scripts. The window resides on one of two selectable pages:

1. The SLIDE page

If a presentation is open, this page contains the script for the active slide.

2. The MACRO page

This page displays the text of the active macro. Macros can be opened either using the OPEN toolbar button, the File|Open menu item, or by selecting a macro from the Macro Menu. The Macro Menu is opened automatically when the Macro page is selected. See Running Script Macros.

The easiest way to get start writing scripts is to play the tutorial “Your First Script”. It is often helpful to examine existing scripts. Once the tutorial is finished, for example, just open the Script Writer and look at the scripts on each slide.

When you are ready to write you own, start by opening the Script Wizard. Just click on the Wizard button on the toolbar.

Power Scripting Menu

As a powerful shortcut to inserting commands into your script, you may right-click at any point in the script edit window. A context-sensitive, cascading menu called the Power Scripting Menu will appear, allowing you to insert into your script any of the following:

· Script Commands. This item cascades into Character commands, PowerPoint commands, and Other commands. Each script command selected will display the appropriate wizard.

· Characters. A list of available character names is displayed. This is a context-sensitive feature. When you select a character, if that character already appears in this script, it will just insert the character name. Otherwise, it will bring up the “Show Character” form.

· Variables. This item displays a list of all variables that are currently defined, along with their current values.

· Animations. This context-sensitive item displays a list of all animations for the character active at the cursor position.

· Speech tags. Displays a list of all available speech tags, such as emphasize, whisper, etc.

In addition, the Power Scripting Menu offers two additional scripting features:

· HELP for the script command on the line where the cursor appears

· TEST the current line of speech (if it is a “Say” command).

Note that if you select text in the script before right-clicking, you will see the standard “undo/ cut/ copy/ paste/ delete” menu rather than the Power Scripting Menu.

File Menu

New

Begins a new macro script. This item is enabled only when the Macro Page is open and is disabled while viewing slide scripts. Same as pressing the “New” button on the standard toolbar.

Open

Open a new macro file. This item is enabled only when the Macro Page is open and is disabled while viewing slide scripts. Same as pressing the “Open” button on the standard toolbar.

Save

Save the current script. Same as pressing the “Save” button on the standard toolbar. Windows shortcut key is Control-S.

Save As

Same as Save, but allows you to specify the file name, and applies only to macros. This item is enabled only when the Macro Page is open and is disabled while viewing slide scripts.

Save As Presentation for VP Player

Saves a copy of the active presentation file with the file extension “PPV” (rather than “PPT”). That file may then be played from the Vox Proxy Player software by simply opening the file. It will automatically start PowerPoint and play the slide show.

Restore

Restore the current script from its file copy. This overlays the script currently displayed in the Script Edit window with the last saved version.

Page Setup

Displays a dialog box allowing changes to margins, headings, and footings used in Print.

Print

Print scripts. Prints either macro or slide scripts, depending on the Script Writer’s page selector. When printing slides, allows selection of current slide, range of slides, or slides. Fonts can be selected, but are limited to available fixed-pitch fonts. Windows shortcut key is Control-P.

Exit

Closes the Script Writer.

Edit Menu

Undo

Undo the last insertion into the script.

Cut

Cut the script text currently selected. Saves into the Windows clipboard.

Copy

Copy the currently selected script text into the Windows clipboard.

Paste

Paste the text contents of the Windows clipboard into the script at the current cursor position.

Find and Replace

The find and replace feature is also available by pressing control-F while in the Script Writer. Find and replace will work on the current slide (or macro) or on all slides in a presentation. The find and replace form appears similar to the following:

View Menu

Slide Script

Switches the Script Edit window’s active page to the slide page.

Macro Script

Switches the Script Edit window’s active page to the macro page and activates the Macro Menu.

Tool Bars

Standard

New

Same as menu File|New

Open

Same as menu File|Open

Save

Same as menu File|Save

Print

Same as menu File|Print

Undo

Same as menu Edit|Undo

Copy

Same as menu Edit|Copy

Cut

Same as menu Edit|Cut

Paste

Same as menu Edit|Paste

Character Gallery

Display a dialog box showing all available agent characters. Animations can be demonstrated for each character shown. See Character Gallery.

Close Agent Characters

Remove any agent characters currently displayed on the screen.

Tools

Test

For slide scripts, this button allows you to test the script on the current slide. The active slide will be displayed as a full-screen slide show, and the script will run. When finished (or at any time during the test), click on the slide or press <escape> to end the test and return to the normal display. Another way to test the script is to make sure that Vox Proxy is in “Run mode” (you have clicked on “Run Vox Proxy with Slide Shows”). Then simply click on PowerPoint’s Slide Show View button.

For macros, if there is a background displayed, click on the background to end the test and return to the normal display. If there is no background, click on the Remove Agent Characters button on the standard toolbar after test is complete.

Macros

Displays a macro menu allowing you to run, edit, add, or delete script macros. Displays a list of all macro files in the “macros” folder of the application directory. See also Running Script Macros.

Wizard

Displays the Script Wizard form. See separate Wizard instructions.

Wizard

This toolbar contains all of the features of the Script Wizard in a compact floating toolbar. For detailed documentation of Script Wizard features, see Script Wizard.

The Wizard toolbar appears similar to the following:

Speech

This toolbar contains many of the features of the Speech panel from the Script Wizard. When each button is pressed, it inserts the appropriate “speech tag” at the cursor position in the script. The “Test” button is convenient for testing that line of speech in the script. The toolbar appears similar to the following:

Emphasize

Insert the speech tag: \emp\ at the cursor position in the script. Emphasize the next word only.

Monotone

Insert the speech tag: \Chr="Monotone"\ at the cursor position in the script. Monotone begins at this point and ends at the end of the current line or when either the “Normal” or “Reset to Defauts” tag is encountered.

Whisper

Insert the speech tag: \Chr="Whisper"\ at the cursor position in the script. See Monotone.

Normal

Insert the speech tag: \Chr="Normal"\ at the cursor position in the script. See Monotone.

Reset to Defaults

Insert the speech tag: \Rst\ at the cursor position in the script.

Address Context

Insert the speech tag: \Ctx=”Address”\ at the cursor position in the script. Any speech on the line following this tag will be pronounced using “Address context”. See the Speech Normalization documentation in the speech folder or on the menu Help/Speech for the appropriate language.

E-mail Context

Insert the speech tag: \Ctx=”E-mail”\ at the cursor position in the script. Any speech on the line following this tag will be pronounced using “E-mail context”. See the Speech Normalization documentation in the speech folder or on the menu Help/Speech for the appropriate language.

Test Speech

Test the line of speech where the cursor is in the script. Use the character which is current at that point in the script. Prompt if the character is not visible.

Character Gallery

Display a dialog box showing all available agent characters. Animations can be demonstrated for each character shown. See Character Gallery.

Close Agent Characters

Remove any agent characters currently displayed on the screen.

Insert Menu

This displays the Power Scripting Menu, also available by right-clicking in the edit window of the Script Writer. In either case, the menu is context-sensitive to the position of the cursor in the edit window. The menu appears similar to the following:

Script Commands

Displays a cascading list of all script commands, in three categories: Character commands, PowerPoint commands, and Other commands.

Characters

Displays a list of all characters. If you select a character already used in your script, it will just insert the character’s name. For characters not yet in your script, it will display the “New Character” wizard.

Animations for [character]

Displays a list of all animations for the character that is active at the cursor position.

Variables

Displays a list of all variables currently defined, including the current value for each variable. Note that these values may be different when the script is run.

Speech Tags

Displays all available speech tags, such as emphasize.

Test Speech

Allows you to test the sound of a line of speech without playing the whole slide script.

Tools Menu

Wizard

Displays a dialog box with access to all available script commands. For a complete description and screen shot, see Script Wizard.

Macros

Activates the Macro Menu and switches the Script Edit Window to Macros. See Running Script Macros.

The Macro Menu appears similar to the following:

Preferences

The Preference screen appears similar to the following:

Wait Commands

When an agent character is about to perform a command listed here, if that command is checked, the character will wait for the previous character, if any, to complete its speech or actions before acting on the command. If the command is not checked, it will not wait. Commands listed here include: Hide, Do, GestureAt, Listen, Moveto, Say, Show, and Think. Note that the Show command often contains an implied move (e.g. “Show Paul at Center”). Therefore, if you do not want to wait on a Show command, you should uncheck both the Show and the Moveto commands.

It is often better to use the “:nowait” parameter on individual commands than to change the system Preferences here.

Idle Animations

When agent characters are idle on the screen, they randomly play a series of animations called “idle animations”. As time goes on, they appear bored and finally go to sleep. This option allows you to turn these idle animations on or off.

Sound Effects

Many agent animations (including Show and Hide) are accompanied by sounds. Those sounds can sometimes interfere with the speech of another character, if the animation is being played at the same time the other character is speaking. This option allows you to turn those sound effects on or off.

Timeout

This Preference allows you to set the maximum amount of time that any animation will play. Its primary use is to prevent “looping animations” from running forever. Looping animations will run until stopped in one of three ways: a Stop command; an Interrupt command; or by timing out. Note that if you set this timeout too short, it may affect other non-looping animations as well.

Language

All characters use the language specified here as their default language. You must have a Text-To-Speech engine for the default language installed on your computer. Vox Proxy does not check this. If you do not, the default will be English (Tru-Voice). You may override this default when you Show individual characters using the Language command.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous preferences include whether to display tips of the day; whether to prompt for file and notes exports; and dual monitor display. Other miscellaneous items will be added here are needed.

Variables

Variables are items which are used to represent text within a phrase to be spoken by an agent. Some variables, such as &date, are pre-defined. They are listed below. Others may be user-defined. They are defined and edited in this menu item or by using the “Set” command in a script. Names should consist of a single word without spaces. When used in the script, names must always begin with the character “&”. For examples, see the Variables section under Script Commands.

There are three pages, or tabs, on the Variables form:

All Presentations

These variables apply to all presentations and macros.

This Presentation

These variables apply only to the active presentation or macro. Any variables defined here will override those defined on the “All Presentations” page.

Pre-defined

These variables are available in any presentation or macro. They include time-oriented variables: &day, %date, &month, &year, &time, and &tod (time of day), and several speech tags: &w (whisper), &m (monotone), &n (normal), &r (reset), and &e (emphasize).

Pronunciation Dictionary

The Pronunciation Dictionary provides a way for you to adjust the pronunciation of special words or phrases. Whenever a character’s speech encounters one of these items, the item will appear in the speech balloon as it is written in the script (the “written” words), but the character will say it as it appears in the “spoken” words. This is useful not only for foreign words or phrases, but for technical terms which may not be defined within the speech engine.

There are three pages in the Pronunciation Dictionary’s editor:

All Presentations

These items apply to all presentations and macros.

This Presentation

These items apply only to the active presentation or macro. Any words or phrases defined here will override those defined on the “All Presentations” page.

One-Time Insertion

These words or phrases are inserted directly into the script (at the current cursor position) as one-time “map” commands. Actually, all Pronunciation Dictionary entries end up as map commands when they are actually spoken by the speech engine, but you only see those entered as one-time insertions.

CD Prep Wizard

If you have the optional CD Prep feature of Vox Proxy, you will see the menu item for CD Prep here. This program allows you to create self-starting CDs containing your Vox Proxy PowerPoint presentations. For detailed documentation about CD Prep, see the separate CD Prep help file.

Export to Notes

This option will copy all slide scripts into PowerPoint’s “Notes” for each slide. The purpose for this option is to allow you to print both slides and scripts together. Be aware, however, that in PowerPoint, the print program will truncate any notes that will not fit on the same page as the slide. For longer scripts, we suggest that you use PowerPoint’s “Send-to” feature to send slides and notes to Microsoft Word. Word will print both slides and notes regardless of the length of the notes.

Export to File

This export option will copy all slide scripts into a file with the same name and in the same location as the presentation file, but with a file extension of “.VPS” (Vox Proxy Script). The VPS file is used to play slide shows under PowerPoint 97 or the PowerPoint Viewer.

Diagnostic Tools

The following dialog box provides two diagnostic tools and a link to the troubleshooting section of this documentation:

Diagnose Slide Animations

Use this option if you are having trouble using “Click” or “WaitForClick” commands. Paul will analyze your script and compare it with the Custom Animation settings on the slide, reporting any problems he may detect.

View Animation Pairs

This diagnostic tool will allow you to click on a Click or WaitForClick command in your script. Paul will locate the shape or text on the slide which is "paired" with this command. In other words, which slide object will either appear (Click) or for which the script will wait (WaitForClick).

Convert Speech to WAV Files

This function acts on all slides in the active presentation, converting text speech commands for a specific character (Say …) to audio speech commands (SayWav …) using the AT&T Natural Voices Text-To-Speech engine in a selected voice. For each Say command, an audio file is created and saved into the default media folder. Requires AT&T Natural voices.

Help Menu

Vox Proxy Help

Displays this documentation file.

Tutorials

Displays a menu of macros which run tutorial presentation slide shows.

WEB Support

Displays several links which navigate to specified web sites such as Microsoft’s PowerPoint home page.

Register

Displays a registration form showing the software owner and serial number. The Trialware version of Vox Proxy may be registered by entering the purchased software serial number here.

Introduction

Displays the brief introductory documentation for new users.

Readme

Displays the software readme file.

Speech

Install TTS Languages

Displays a menu of TTS engines in available languages. Select a language to install the TTS engine and appropriate documentation. The documentation for Speech Normalization for the selected language is saved as a Microsoft Word® document in the speech folder (\program files\vox proxy\speech). This documentation explains pronunciation issues such as numbers, abbreviations, and so on according to the selected speech context. (see Address Context or E-mail Context).

TTS Help

Displays a Help File containing Speech Normalization information for English. See above for documentation in other languages. This documentation explains pronunciation issues such as numbers, abbreviations, and so on according to the selected speech context.

Tips of the Day

Displays the Tips form with a random tip, which also allows you to turn on or off the tips feature.

About Vox Proxy

Contains version, copyright, and registration information about the Vox Proxy software.

The Script Wizard

As you hover the cursor over areas of this screen image, “hot” areas will link to the appropriate feature documentation.

Scripting agent character speech and actions using the Script Wizard requires only two simple steps:

1. Select a character

2. Press a button to:

§ enter speech text

§ select animations

§ specify a new location for the character by dragging it on the screen, or

§ select any other character command.

Additional buttons are available to insert Other Script Commands which have nothing to do with agent characters.

Note that all of the features available from this wizard form are also available through the Power Scripting Menu.

Show a Character

An agent character may be selected in one of two ways:

Click on a character name in the list shown, or

Click on the “Show a New Character” button

Characters shown in the list include only those characters which have already been used in your script. This simplifies entering a dialog between two or more characters. Simply click on the character you want, then on the speech or action buttons.

If you are introducing a new character in your script, click on the “Show a New Character” button. (see Command Reference)

When showing a new character, you will usually want to specify where the character will appear on the screen. Press the appropriate location button before pressing the “Insert” button. If you press the “mouse” location button, the selected character will appear on your current PowerPoint slide (or a blank background). Simply drag the character to where you want him to appear, then click the “Done” button which will appear with the character. The command inserted into your script will be “Show [character] at [location].”

Additional options are available if you wish to change the character’s default behavior. See details in the Character Gallery.

Once a character has been selected, it is not necessary to re-select the character until you want to select a new one.

Make the Character Say Something

This button allows you to enter speech text, including various “speech tags” which alter the character, pitch, and speed of the speech. Press the “Insert” button when done. (see Command Reference)

Make the Character Do Something

This button will allow you to select from a list of all animations available for the selected character. You may insert several animations before closing. (see Command Reference)

Make the Character Move Somewhere

Displays a dialog box to insert a Moveto command into the script. (see Command Reference)

The Moveto Dialog Box allows the selection of two parameters:

Location is determined by clicking on one of the available location buttons. Clicking on the Mouse button will result in the active slide being displayed as a full-screen slide show to allow you to drag the character to any desired location on the screen. For macros, the character will be displayed and you may simply drag it to the desired location on the screen. Click the Done button(which will appear with the character) to record the location and insert the command.

The Speed at which the character moves is determined by selecting one of three option buttons:

Normal is the character’s default move speed.

Instantaneous causes the character to be instantly relocated on the screen without using its normal move animation.

Specify displays a slider and allows you to select speeds faster or slower than normal. Note that the fastest speed is not a lot faster than normal.

Other character commands

Balloons, Disappear, GestureAt, Hide, Interrupt, Language, Listen, ListenFor, NoBalloons, SayWav, Size, SoundEffects, Think, TTSEngine, Wait, WaitCommands, WaitFor

Balloons (see Command Reference)

Turn on or off the speech balloons that are displayed when a character speaks or thinks. Also allows selection of the balloon font and font size, and whether the balloons should be a fixed length or automatically sized according to the spoken text.

Disappear (see Command Reference)

Removes the active character from the screen without playing the character’s “Hide” animation. This may be useful if the character’s “Hide” animation is lengthy or plays unwanted sounds.

GestureAt (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command for the active character to gesture at another visible character on the screen. The active character does not move, but merely gestures either up, down, left, or right, depending upon the selected character’s location on the screen.

Hide (see Command Reference)

Hides the agent. If the agent name is not specified, the agent currently active is hidden.

IdleAnimations (see Command Reference)

Temporarily turn on or off a character's idle animations. This command is especially useful for animations such as "SitLeft" and "SitRight" to ensure that the character remains seated. If idle animations are on, after a few seconds, the character will stand and begin its normal idle animations.

Interrupt (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command for the active character to interrupt the animation of another specified character. The other character might, for example, be in the process of running a looping animation, which will run continuously until stopped by either a timeout or an interrupt. A character cannot interrupt itself.

Language (see Command Reference)

Inserts a Language command into the script. A drop-down list of languages is displayed. Note that a Text-To-Speech engine for the selected language will be only be loaded if that TTS engine is installed on your computer. Otherwise, it will be ignored.

Listen (see Command Reference)

Inserts a Listen command into the script. This causes the active character to listen for voice input from the user. A microphone must be attached to the computer. The default listen commands include only the words “yes” and “no”. See “ListenFor” to select additional input command words.

The user’s response will be placed into the Variable “&Response”. If no response was detected or understood, a question mark character (“?”) will be placed in the &Response variable.

Listenfor (see Command Reference)

Inserts a ListenFor command into the script. This causes the active character to listen for voice input from the user. A microphone must be attached to the computer. A dialog box will allow you to type command words for which the character will listen. The “evaluation template” inserts a series of commands designed to check the user’s response and run a different segment of script for each.

The user’s response will be placed into the Variable “&Response”. If no response was detected or understood, a question mark character (“?”) will be placed in the &Response variable.

NoBalloons (see Command Reference)

Insert a command to turn off speech balloons for the active character.

SayWav (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which allows you to have the active character lip-synch speech which is played from an audio ( “.wav”) file. Displays a dialog box allowing you to select the audio file and type in the text to be displayed in the speech balloon.

If you have AT&T Natural Voices speech engines, the SayWav wizard can be used to create audio (wav) files using the AT&T voices.

Size (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command to display the active character at a size other than its default. A slider allows you to select the size.

SoundEffects (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command to turn on or off the “sound effects” for the active character. This applies only to sound effects which are associated with character animations. Not all animations have sound effects. If a character tries to speak while another character is playing an animation with a sound effect, the sound effect can suppress the other character’s speech.

Think (see Command Reference)

This is like the Say command except that the character does not speak and the text is displayed in a slightly different speech balloon.

TTSEngine (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command to load a specific Text-To-Speech engine for the current agent character. This may be used to switch languages or voices in the middle of a script. Available TTS engines will be displayed in a list and a Test button allows you to listen to the sound of that engine.

Wait (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which stops the script until the active character is finished with whatever it is doing.

WaitCommands (see Command Reference)

Select the command(s) for which the active character should wait for the previous character to complete before proceeding. Your selection(s) change the Preference Item.

PowerPoint Commands

EndShow (see Command Reference)

End the currently-running slide show and close any characters which may be visible.

GotoSlide (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes PowerPoint to go to a specified slide in the presentation. The slide may be specified by either the relative slide number or the Slide ID number. The Slide ID does not change when other slides are inserted or deleted.

FirstSlide (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes PowerPoint to go to the first slide in the presentation.

LastSlide (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes PowerPoint to go to the last slide in the presentation.

LastSlideViewed (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes PowerPoint to go to the last slide which was actually viewed in the slide show. Note that this may not be the same as the “PreviousSlide”.

NextSlide (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes PowerPoint to go to the next slide in the presentation.

Click (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes PowerPoint to activate its Next Animation (also called the “next build”.) This is equivalent to pressing the mouse button in the presentation. If an object is selected on the current slide, this command button will insert the name of the object in parentheses after the command.

PreviousSlide (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes PowerPoint to go to the previous slide in the presentation. The previous slide is the slide numerically preceding the current slide and may not be the last slide viewed by the user.

RunSlideShow (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes PowerPoint run the specified file as a slide show. The file specified may be either a PPT or PPS file.

WaitforClick (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes the script to wait until the user activates PowerPoint’s next animation. Normally, this is by pressing the mouse button, but could occur in other ways. This is used to synchronize agent characters’ actions with the presentation.

WriteShapeText (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which causes the script to wait until the user activates PowerPoint’s next animation.

Miscellaneous Commands

Background, Bitmap, BookMark, Delay, EndMacro, GetMacro, ListBox, MacroMenu, , MediaVolume, MessageBox, ,PlayFlash, PlayMedia, PlayWav, RandomLine, RandomMacro, ReadExcel, ReadFile, Run, RunMacro, Set, SetPrefs, ShowExcel, ShowWord, WaitFor, WriteExcel, WriteFile

Background (see Command Reference)

Allows the selection of either a solid color or a bitmap file to be used as a background for a macro script.

Bitmap (see Command Reference)

Display or remove a selected bitmap file on the screen.

BookMark (see Command Reference)

A Bookmark is a single word which creates a place holder in the script at the point where the bookmark is inserted. The only purpose for a bookmark is to branch to it using the GOTO command.

Delay (see Command Reference)

Causes the script to pause for the specified number of seconds before proceeding.

DualMonitor (see Command Reference)

Change character and media display parameters to dual monitor. Characters and media windows will be displaced by 100% to the right. This requires that both monitors be set to the same resolution.

EndMacro (see Command Reference)

End the currently-running script and close any visible characters.

GetMacro (see Command Reference)

When the current script is ready to run, this command gets the script for the specified macro and inserts it into the current script.

ListBox (see Command Reference)

Displays a list box containing a list of words or phrases. The user selects a single item by clicking on it. The result is placed into the &Response variable, where it may be evaluated using IF or Evaluate.

MacroMenu (see Command Reference)

During the playing of the script, this command causes a list (menu) of macros to be displayed from which the user may select a macro to run. Allows a “wildcard” so that only macros starting with certain characters will be displayed in the menu.

MediaVolume (see Command Reference)

Changes the audio volume for a media file that has been started using the “PlayMedia” command. If the optional fade time is specified, the volume will “fade” up or down in the specified number of seconds.

MessageBox (see Command Reference)

This command displays a message box on the screen containing the specified text. The user (presenter) must click the OK button to proceed.

PlayFlash (see Command Reference)

This command plays a Macromedia Shockwave Flash file in a window. The window is sizable and can be dragged and dropped to locate it on the slide. The window may be closed either automatically when done or manually in the script using the CloseFlash command. A timer is started automatically when the Flash movie begins to play. You may wait for this timer using the WaitFor command. Multiple Flash movies may be played concurrently.

PlayMedia (see Command Reference)

Displays a video file in an optional window on the screen. Requires Microsoft ActiveMovie® player, which is installed by default with Windows Media Player. Plays any Windows media-player compatible audio and video files. Allows specified window size and different user controls. The “on top” option is required in some versions of Windows (2000 and XP) in order to prevent the media window from being “covered up” by the slide. Note, however, that with this option on, you must keep characters outside the media form or it will cover the character.

PlayWav (see Command Reference)

Plays an audio file (*.wav). Allows you to cause the script to wait or not wait until the audio is complete before proceeding.

RandomLine (see Command Reference)

Selects and plays a randomly selected line from a specified macro.

RandomMacro (see Command Reference)

Randomly selects and plays a macro whose name begins with specified text.

ReadExcel (see Command Reference)

Runs a specified program. Can be used to display a file, including text files using Notepad or html files using the default web browser. If online, can be used to display web addresses.

ReadFile (see Command Reference)

This command reads a value from an "ini-style" text file. It is normally used with the Set command to assign the value to a variable.

The value is accessed by specifying the SECTION name and KEY for the value.

Run (see Command Reference)

Runs a specified program. Can be used to display a file, including text files using Notepad or html files using the default web browser. If online, can be used to display web addresses.

RunMacro (see Command Reference)

Runs a specified macro.

Set (see Command Reference)

Define a variable and assign a value to it.

SetPrefs (see Command Reference)

The command takes effect when it is encountered in the script. Also see help for the temporary commands: IdleAnimations and SoundEffects.

Note that this change remains in effect for all future sessions of Vox Proxy. If your need for these changes is temporary, you should set the preferences back at the end of the script.

ShowExcel (see Command Reference)

Displays an Excel worksheet in a window on top of the slide. The worksheet window can be closed using the CloseExcel command.

ShowWord (see Command Reference)

Displays an Microsoft Word document in a window on top of the slide. The document window can be closed using the CloseWord command.

WaitFor (see Command Reference)

Inserts a command which allows the active character to wait for a specified condition.

WriteExcel (see Command Reference)

This command writes a value to a cell in an Excel worksheet. It is normally used to write the contents of a variable. The value is written by specifying the name of the file, the worksheet, and the cell range.

WriteFile (see Command Reference)

Vox Proxy Version 2

Available Help Topics:

Welcome to Vox Proxy!

GETTING STARTED

Run the Tutorials

Open the Script Writer

Using This Help File

Program Updates and Support

What’s New in Vox Proxy Version 2

New Characters

Enhanced Support for AT&T Labs’ Natural Voices TTS engine

New Features To Enhance Script-Writing Productivity

New Multimedia and Training Features

Data Exchange Features

Read Excel data.

Write Excel data.

Read File

WriteFile

Write text to a slide shape

CD Prep Features

CD Diagnostics

Optional Author and Info buttons

Optional text on “Continue” box

Automatic creation of “vps” script file

Support for “temp” files

PowerPoint “frame” eliminated during startup

Miscellaneous New Features

Randomly-Selected Character Animations

Dual Monitor Support

Character Properties

New Variables

&tempdir

&SlideNumber

&DiskDrive

&winfolder

&pptpath

Embedded Local Variables And Pronunciation Dictionary

Enhanced Player Features

List of New Script Commands

The Vox Proxy Player

Purpose

Limitations of the Player

Installing the Player

Using the Player

By running a VP Player presentation file

By opening a presentation in PowerPoint and manually starting the slide show

Vox Proxy™ Script Command Reference

General Rules for Scripts

Commands for controlling Characters

Balloons

Noballoons

Delay S

Disappear

Do animation [:wait] [:nowait]

Gestureat agentname

Hide [agentname]

IdleAnimations [on][off] [all]

Interrupt agentname

Language name

Listen [:wait] [:nowait]

ListenFor [:wait] [:nowait] “phrase1” “phrase2” “phrase3”

ListenFor “First thing” “second thing” …etc

Moveto location [atspeed S]

Say [:wait] [:nowait] text

SayWav ‘balloon text’ “file”

SetPrefs [options]

Show [options]

Size N

SoundEffects [on or off]

Speak text [:wait] [:nowait]

Think text [:wait] [:nowait]

TTSEngine {clsid}

Wait

WaitCommands [exclude] list

Commands for controlling PowerPoint

Click

Synonyms: NextAnimation, PowerPointClick

EndShow

FirstSlide

GotoSlide number