Today, we’ll be discussing a little bit about VXML (VoiceXML). To explain the term, VoiceXML:
VoiceXML stands for Voice eXtensible Markup Language. It is a language designed to allow a user to interact with an application through voice recognition software. The language is based off of the W3C’s XML. The language is very similar to HTML and allows for the developers to use various IVR features such as recording, DTMF input, spoken input, TTS output, and recorded audio output. It uses various tags to control the flow of the application. It also allows for built-in error handling as well as various telephony features like call transfer and disconnect.
VoiceXML was originally created by the VoiceXML Forum which was a collaborative effort by Motorola , AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and IBM in 1999. In 2000 the VoiceXML Forum became a program under the IEEE Industry and Standards Organization (IEEE-ISTO). The Forum also offers a conformance test for the W3C VoiceXML 2.0 standard.
A basic VoiceXML application should look like this:
<vxml version=”2.0″>
<form>
<block>
<prompt> Hello world! </prompt>
</block>
</form>
</vxml>
For you IVR developers out there, keep in mind that you can integrate VoiceXML into whatever programming language you’re comfortable with. A couple of times on the forums, I’ve seen some developers who didn’t realize they could integrate VoiceXML into their ASP or PHP for their IVR application. Well, now you know!
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