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prompt

Play a prompt and wait for input. The input can be received either as digits from the keypad, or from speech, or both depending on what prompt params are set.

Parameters​

The prompt method expects the following parameters:

NameTypeRequired?Description
promptstring | string[] | prompt_params objectRequiredEither a playable sound, an array of playable sounds, or the prompt params object

Playable sounds​

  1. Audio file from a URL
    To play an audio file from the web, simply list that audio's URL. Specified audio file should be accessible with an HTTP GET request. HTTP and HTTPS URLs are supported. For example: https://cdn.signalwire.com/swml/audio.mp3

  2. Ring
    To play the standard ringtone of a certain country, use ring:[duration:]<country code>.

    The total duration can be specified in seconds as an optional second parameter. When left unspecified, it will ring just once. The country code must be specified. It has values like us for United States, it for Italy. For the list of available country codes, refer to the supported ringtones section below. For example:

    ring:us - ring with the US ringtone once
    ring:3.2:uk - ring with the UK ringtone for 3.2 seconds

  3. Speak using a TTS
    To speak using a TTS, use say:<text to speak>. When using say, you can optionally set say_voice, say_language and say_gender in the play or prompt params params. For the list of useable voices and languages, refer to the supported voices and languages section below.

  4. Silence
    To be silent for a certain duration, use silence:<duration>. The duration is in seconds.

prompt params​

NameTypeRequired?DefaultDescription
playstring | string[]RequiredEither a playable sound, an array of playable sounds
volumenumberOptional0Volume gain to apply to played URLs. Allowed values from -40.0 to 40.0.
say_voicestringOptionalPolly.SalliVoice to use with say: for text to speech
say_languagestringOptionalen-USLanguage to use with say: for text to speech
say_genderstringOptionalfemaleGender to use with say: for text to speech
max_digitsintegerOptional1Number of digits to collect
terminatorsstringOptionalDigits that terminate digit collection
digit_timeoutnumberOptional5.0 secondsTime in seconds to wait for next digit
initial_timeoutnumberOptional5.0 secondsTime in seconds to wait for start of input
speech_timeoutnumberOptionalMax time in seconds to wait for speech result
speech_end_timeoutnumberOptionalTime in seconds to wait for end of speech utterance
speech_languagestringOptionalLanguage to detect speech in
speech_hintsstring[]OptionalExpected words to match
note

By default, only digit input via keypad is enabled. When at least one speech input based parameters is set (speech_timeout, speech_end_timeout, speech_language or speech_hints), speech input is enabled and digit input is disabled.

To enable speech and digit based input collection at once, set at least one speech input parameters and at least one digit input based parameters (max_digits, terminators, digit_timeout, and initial_timeout).

Variables​

Read by the method:

  • say_voice: (in) - optional voice to use for text to speech.
  • say_language: (in) - optional language to use for text to speech.
  • say_gender: (in) - optional gender to use for text to speech.

Possible values for Voice, Language, and Ringtone​

Supported Voices and Languages​

To learn more about the supported voices and languages, please visit the Supported Voices and Languages Documentation.

Supported Ring tones​

Parameter
urls.ringAvailable values are the following
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes: at, au, bg, br,
be, ch, cl, cn, cz, de, dk, ee, es, fi, fr, gr, hu, il, in,
it, lt, jp, mx, my, nl, no, nz, ph, pl, pt, ru, se, sg, th,
uk, us, us-old, tw, ve, za.

Set by the method​

  • prompt_result: (out) - failed, no_input, match_speech, match_digits, or no_match.
  • prompt_value: (out) - the digits or utterance collected.
  • prompt_digit_terminator: (out) - digit terminator collected, if any.
  • prompt_speech_confidence: (out) - speech confidence measured, if any.

Examples​

The play method also has examples related to playing sounds from URLs. The interface for playing sounds for play and prompt is identical.

Play prompt and wait for digit press​

version: 1.0.0
sections:
  main:
    - prompt:
        play: say:Input a number
    - switch:
        variable: prompt_value
        default:
          - play: say:You didn't press one
          - transfer: main
        case:
          1:
            - play: say:You pressed one

Using terminators​

version: 1.0.0
sections:
  main:
    - prompt:
        play: say:PIN number please
        max_digits: 10
        terminators: "*#5"
    - play: "say: %{prompt_value} was terminated by %{prompt_digit_terminator}"

Play prompt and wait for digit or speech​

version: 1.0.0
sections:
  main:
    - prompt:
        play: https://example.com/press_or_say_one.wav
        speech_language: en-US
        max_digits: 1
        speech_hints:
          - one
          - two
          - three
          - four
          - five
          - six
          - seven
          - eight
          - nine
    - switch:
        variable: prompt_value
        default:
          - play: https://example.com/bad_input.wav
          - transfer: main
        case:
          1:
            - transfer: https://example.com/sales.swml
          # in case of speech input:
          one:
            - transfer: https://example.com/sales.swml

Play prompt and collect digits, then pass the data to an external action​

version: 1.0.0
sections:
  main:
    - prompt: https://example.com/menu.wav
    - transfer: https://example.com/post_next_menu

In this case, the URL listed in transfer will be sent an HTTP POST request with all the out variables (like prompt_value) already set. For more details on this behavior, refer to transfer statement's documentation.