VoiceXML 2.1 Development Guide

<subdialog> element

The subdialog element is a method for reusing common dialogs within an independent application context. The VoiceXML content indicated by the src attribute runs in a new execution context which includes all state information and declarations from the invoking application. The subdialog content will continue execution until it encounters a return element, at which point the subdialog terminates and control is passed back to the invoking application.

usage

attributes

cond	Data Type: CDATA	Default: Optional (true)
	The cond attribute specifies a Boolean expression, which must equate to ‘true’ in order for the content to be visited and executed. (Additionally, the expr attribute must also be set to ‘undefined’, see below).
enctype	Data Type: CDATA	Default: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
	The enctype attribute specifies the MIME type encoding for any data submitted via the namelist attribute. The two possible vales for this attribute are ‘x-www-form-urlencoded’, (default), or ‘multipart/form-data’, (for binary data submissions, such as recorded audio). When submitting recorded data, this value must be explicitly set to ‘multipart/form-data’ and the method attribute to 'POST.'
expr	Data Type: CDATA	Default: Optional
	The expr attribute specifies the initial value of the element; if this value is ‘undefined’, (default), then the element will be visited by the FIA and executed. If this attribute has a value other than ‘undefined’, then the element will not be visited until explicitly set to 'undefined', by use of the clear element.
fetchaudio	Data Type: CDATA	Default: Optional
	The fetchaudio attribute specifies the URI of the .wav file to play to the caller in the event of an extended document fetch. Essentially, while the fetch is being made, it allows the developer to play some filler music to the caller rather than presenting only silence.
fetchhint	Data Type: (prefetch\|safe)	Default: safe
	Fetchhint is used to specify when the resource should be fetched during application execution. The possible values and their descriptions are: prefetch : Begin the resource fetch upon initial document execution safe: Only fetch the resource when it is specifically called in the application Note that the Voxeo platform will always not prefetch content by default. As such, a developer should specify a value of ''prefetch" if resources are to be made available prior to execution of application content.
fetchtimeout	Data Type: CDATA	Default: 5s
	The ‘fetchtimeout’ attribute is used to indicate how long, (in seconds or milliseconds), the interpreter should attempt to fetch the content before throwing an error.badfetch exception. See Appendix C for further information.
maxage	Data Type: CDATA	Default: Optional
	The maxage and maxstale attributes replace the VXML 1.0 caching attribute for compliance to the w3c vxml 2.0 specification. The value for this attribute specifies the maximum acceptable age, in seconds, of the resource in question. However, it is strongly advised not to rely on this attribute for cache-control; caching is always best controlled by the hosting server's response headers. If no headers are specified, then no cache control will be present, regardless of the value set for the maxage and maxstale attributes.
maxstale	Data Type: CDATA	Default: Optional
	The maxage and maxstale attributes replace the VXML 1.0 caching attribute for compliance to the w3c vxml 2.0 specification. The value for this attribute specifies the maximum acceptable staleness, in seconds, of the resource in question. However, it is strongly advised not to rely on this attribute for cache-control; caching is always best controlled by the hosting server's response headers. If no headers are specified, then no cache control will be present, regardless of the value set for the maxage and maxstale attributes.
method	Data Type: (GET\|POST)	Default: Optional (GET)
	The method attribute specifies the HTTP method to use when sending the request. If unspecified, then the value of ‘GET’, (default) is assumed, unless the submission of multipart/form-data is encountered, in which case the implied method will be ‘POST’.
name	Data Type: NMTOKEN	Default: Optional
	The name attribute specifies the form item ECMAScript variable name for the subdialog in question.
namelist	Data Type: NMTOKEN	Default: Optional
	The namelist attribute specifies a space-separated list of variables to send from the invoking application to the subdialog.
src	Data Type: string - URI	Default: Optional
	The src attribute specifies the URI location of the external subdialog file.

shadow variables

none

parents

<form>

children

code samples

<MySubD.vxml>

<Subdialog cond-expr> sample

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<vxml version = "2.1">

<meta name="author" content="Matthew Henry"/>
<meta name="copyright" content="2005 voxeo corporation"/>
<meta name="maintainer" content="YOUR_EMAIL@HERE.COM"/>

<form id="F1">
<subdialog name="SubD_1" src="MySubD.vxml" cond="false">
<param name="confirm_prompt"
expr="'since the condition is set to false, this will not be executed'"/>
</subdialog>

<subdialog name="SubD_2" src="MySubD.vxml" expr="crusty">
<param name="confirm_prompt"
expr="'since the expression is not set to undefined,
this will not be executed'"/>
</subdialog>

<subdialog name="SubD_3" src="MySubD.vxml"
cond="true" expr="">
<param name="confirm_prompt"
expr="'this subdialog will be executed,
since the condition is true, and the
expression is undefined. Say yes
or no to execute the subdialog file.'"/>
<filled>
<prompt> poppa oo mow mow! </prompt>
</filled>

</subdialog>

</form>

</vxml>

<Subdialog fetchhint-fetchtimeout> sample

<Subdialog fetchaudio> sample

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<vxml version = "2.1">

<meta name="author" content="Matthew Henry"/>
<meta name="copyright" content="2005 voxeo corporation"/>
<meta name="maintainer" content="YOUR_EMAIL@HERE.COM"/>

<form id="F1">
<block>
<prompt>
preparing to hit the sub dialog.
</prompt>
</block>

<subdialog name="SubD_1" src="MySubD.vxml"
fetchaudio="MySoundFile.wav">
<param name="confirm_prompt"
expr="'is beatrice arthur getting better looking with age?'"/>

<filled>
<prompt> yeah, okay. whatever you say. </prompt>
</filled>

</subdialog>

</form>

</vxml>

<Subdialog namelist> sample

<Subdialog srcexpr-maxage-maxstale> sample

<MySubD_2.vxml>

additional links

W3C 2.0 Specification

ANNOTATIONS: EXISTING POSTS

Asier

11/4/2005 4:01 AM (EST)

Hello,

Can you receive more than one variable from a subdialog??

Thanks in advance.

Asier

11/4/2005 5:37 AM (EST)

Yes, with de return element and de attribute namelist.

Sorry.

Asier

11/4/2005 7:29 AM (EST)

Hello!!

My question is if i have this call

<subdialog name="prueba" src="http://192.168.1.99/pruebasxml/prueba1.php"/>

i know receive values from de same document, the variables to treated in
the subdialog tag you have to accede accros "prueba.VARIABLE" but i'm not sure if the document it is in the web server the treat is same. If is different how i can to accede to variables contained in the php document.

Sorry for my english.

Thanks in advance.

MattHenry

11/4/2005 12:20 PM (EST)

Hello Asier,

I'm not entirely sure what it is that you are asking here. In all honesty, I think that this subject might be better suited for an account ticket. If you are asking "how can I access PHP variables within the subdialog", then you would need to do one of two things:

(1) declare your PHP variables as session variables, which will make them accessible thoughout the application.

(2) Import the PHP variables into the VXML context, and pass them along to the subdialog via the <param> tag.

Regards,

~Mateo Enrique

bpcamac

3/23/2006 7:20 PM (EST)

MattHenry

3/23/2006 10:33 PM (EST)

Hi there,

Was there a subdialog question for us here? Don't want to leave anyone hanging, or anything...

=^)

~Matt

bpcamac

5/11/2006 4:27 PM (EDT)

I did post a question, but it seems to have not made it in.
At any rate, I've found the answer.
Thx.

SSA_MarkPMiller

6/15/2006 3:30 PM (EDT)

Mat,

When using a subdialog that is set as enctype="multipart/form-data", how do you pass information other than the file upload data in the name list.

As an example, I've let the user record a message and now I want to send it to the PHP processing script. The namelist is holding the binary data (theReport) and the temporary file name (pin_number).

Since the use of $_FILES is an associative array related back to the binary file info, how am I going to hold state? I can't pass a session variable back and forth to keep track of who this recording is supposed to be associated with.

VXML SCRIPT SNIPPET:
<subdialog name="saveMessage"
src="http://MyServer/ProcessRecording.php"
method="post"
enctype="multipart/form-data"
namelist="theReport tmp_name">
<filled />
</subdialog>

PHP SCRIPT SNIPPET:
$tmpFile=$_FILES['theReport']['tmp_name'];

if (is_uploaded_file($tmpFile))
{
// save the recording and create unique filename
$wavfile= 'recordings/' . session_id() . ".wav";
copy($tmpFile, sprintf("%s",$wavfile));
$fileName = session_id() . '_' . date("YmdHis") . ".wav";
.....
}

Thanks,
Mark

MattHenry

6/15/2006 4:32 PM (EDT)

Hello Mark,

To be clear, we don't offer any kind of technical support for PHP-specific, or JSP-specific application issues. Not to sound Draconian, but this sort of support is way outside the scope of what our free developer offerings includes, for reasons that are somewhat obvious.

I'm not at all certain that I am fully understanding the exact question that you need an answer on; you can POST VXML variables in the same manner as you would with recorded audio data, (although what you do with these values on the PHP side is certainly going to be carried out in a different manner).

I did want to ask what exactly is stopping you from utilizing session variables to keep your state, or even using some session cookies to do so? I'll be glad to offer what help that I can on the subject while staying in the constraints of our support policies, but bear in mind that I am not a PHP developer, so my responses will be in a generalistic sort of vein.

~Matthew Henry

SSA_MarkPMiller

6/15/2006 5:00 PM (EDT)

Matt said:

"I'm not at all certain that I am fully understanding the exact question that you need an answer on; you can POST VXML variables in the same manner as you would with recorded audio data, (although what you do with these values on the PHP side is certainly going to be carried out in a different manner)."

Mark responds:

Thanks for your quick response.

Agreed, you can POST them through the namelist attribute using the default enctype attribute. However, when using 'enctype="multipart/form-data"' as a subdialog attribute, my understanding is that this forces the namelist items into an array context relative to the binary data being passed in. Am I misunderstanding something?

The question is, how do I pass other attributes to the receiving script that are NOT related to the file being passed. I don't think this has anything to do with a specific programming language, I just happen to be using PHP.

Mark

MattHenry

6/15/2006 7:48 PM (EDT)

Hello Mark,

I'm not at all sure where the statement of "this forces the namelist items into an array context relative to the binary data being passed in" comes from at all, and I am failing to grok how this is relative to the question. As I am still having problems understanding, so I am going to do my best to address this in broad a scope as I can.

You can catch any and all POSTed querystring data within your catcher script via $_REQUEST, (or $_POST, if you are feeling frisky). Alternately, you can use non-persistent session cookies to keep this data from expiring, (I'm still unclear as to why this isn't an option).

If this does not help you address your questions, it might be best if you can simply describe what your end goal is, so that we can hopefully provide some assistance that is a bit more concise.

Regards,

~Matthew Henry

mkoe

7/4/2006 1:36 PM (EDT)

MattHenry

7/4/2006 4:52 PM (EDT)

Hello there,

I think that there is a bit of confusion that I should clear up. Checking the parent-child listing for theelements in question, <subdialog> is not a valid child of <foreach>, so this is not a valid option. You could however, code a foreach loop on the serverside, and output your subdialogs as needed.

~Matt

jesusla

10/17/2006 2:08 PM (EDT)

Hi,

I am running a Prophecy Voice Browser with Nuance OSR. Under
certain circumstances, I am experiencing unexpected periods
of silence when calling a subdialog.

Here is the scenario: Suppose I have a form which plays a
prompt and then invokes a subdialog that in turn plays a prompt
too. The expected behavior should be:

- Prompt is played
- Subdialog prompt is played.

Instead I get:

- Prompt is played
- Several seconds of silence.
- Subdialog prompt is played.

After looking at the Voxeo logs, I notice that the Voice Browser
executes a recognition at that very moment the pause takes place.
This recognition eventually ends after throwing a no-input-timeout
event. Which is pretty odd, since I'm not executing any
recognition.

Here is the smallest vxml file that can reproduce this behavior:

bug.xml
-------
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<vxml version="2.1">
<link dtmf="1" event="noinput"/>
<property name="timeout" value="7s"/>
<form>
<subdialog src="bug.xml#sub" maxage="0">
<prompt>About to call sub-dialog.</prompt>
</subdialog>
</form>

<form id="sub">
<block>
In sub-dialog.
</block>
</form>
</vxml>
-----------------------

It seems that the following has to be true for the bug to happen:
- A link must be defined
- The timeout property must be specified
- A subdialog must be called on a separate file (or
alternatively, on the same file after reloading it)

The experienced silence is exactly the same as the value of the
"timeout" property. Which confirms what I saw in the log.

Please note that this is a simplified case. I'm experiencing this
problem with forms and subdialogs that actually perform complicated
tasks (involving recognitions)

Thanks,
-Jesus

mikethompson

10/17/2006 7:06 PM (EDT)

Hi Jesus,

This is a good find! I'll need to run through this test tomorrow with my platform engineers. Once I have more information for you on this possible bug, I will let you know.

Best,
Mike Thompson
Voxeo Corporation

mikethompson

10/30/2006 6:39 PM (EST)

Hi Jesus,

After further testing, I noticed this is an issue specific to Prophecy, not our VoiceCenter 5.5 Hosted Environment (Motorola VXML browser). That being said, I opened an internal bug ticket with engineering to get this fixed in one of the future builds of Prophecy. Unfortunately, I do not have an ETA of a fix for this, but I can tell you it is on engineering's plate. Should you wish to check up on this bug in the future just reference bug ticket #171375.

Best,
Mike Thompson
Voxeo Corporation

karthiga

12/11/2006 6:40 AM (EST)

Hi Matthew,

I need your help to know the information about VXML certification.
I am going through the vxml.org guide and W3C VXML 2.0.

I want to know about the Exam pattern i.e how many questions will be there in the exam and some free mockup exams on vxml.

If you guide me then it will be very helpful for me.

Thanks,
Karthiga

sidvoxeo

12/11/2006 10:33 AM (EST)

Hi there,

The best place to find information is to have a look at the following URL :
http://www.voicexml.org/certification/developer.html

Mock up exams and CD's for the test can be bought from the following website:
http://www.vxmlguide.com/

Go to the order tab and select the CD's to be bought.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks

Sid

karthiga

12/12/2006 4:29 AM (EST)

Hi Sid,

Thanks for your reply.

Now I am going through vxmlguide also.

sid, I want to know how many questions will be there in the Exam and pass percentage for the Exam.

I am expecting the clear picture about the Exam.

Thanks,
Karthiga

sidvoxeo

12/12/2006 9:40 AM (EST)

Kartiga,

We at Voxeo do not have any authority on the VoiceXML testing. I am not sure the number of questions asked or the pattern of questions. You may want to shoot an email to the VoiceXML forum guide or the Prometric Testing Centers to get more information.

Thanks

Sid

shawnaslam1

2/28/2008 1:48 PM (EST)

hello Matthew,
I am not able to find the answer of my question from the described examples and discussion.My question is:
When i call the Subdialog which will lead me to my destination place now in the destination place i write the return with the variable lets say C1 in the namelist.Now i get the control back in the originated form but now how can i access the variable value C1 which sent by the target place.Let me know if you need sample code for clarification.

Regards,
Shawn Aslam

VoxeoDustin

2/28/2008 6:34 PM (EST)

Hey Shawn,

All variables specified in the namelist attribute of the return element in a subdialog are available as an ECMAScript object that is the name of the subdialog. So for example, if our subdialog call looks like this:

<subdialog name="mySubDialog" ...>

and our return looks like this:

<return namelist="C1 C2"/>

We can grab the values of any variables returned like so:

<assign name="C1" expr="mySubDialog.C1"/>
<assign name="C2" expr="mySubDialog.C2"/>

Hope this helps,
Dustin

shawnaslam1

2/29/2008 11:31 AM (EST)

Yes it really helps Dustin.Thanks

jefo12

6/18/2008 5:10 AM (EDT)

plz giv me a simple example on appointment scheduling...

voxeojeremyr

6/18/2008 9:26 AM (EDT)

Hi jefo12,

While we don't have specific examples of an appointment scheduling application, our tutorial is a good place to start learning how you can do this. Here is a link to the start of our VXML tutorial:

http://docs.voxeo.com/voicexml/2.0/learningvoicexml.htm

If during your development you have specific questions or issues that come up, we would be more than happy to assist you.

Thanks,
Jeremy Richmond
Voxeo Support

jefo12

6/19/2008 9:44 AM (EDT)

main.vxml
<vxml>
<form id="F1">
<subdialog name="sub_d1" src="mypage.jsp" namelist="callerid">
</form>
<form id="F2">
</vxml>

i want to submit a "callerid" to a jsp and from there i wanna go to a database to check whether that callerid had any appointments or not.
if there store that in a variable and return back to the subdialog.if i write return var; in jsp will it come and store in the namelist var of subdialog or not.
2)if i want to return an array where they hav to be return .
3)can i write vxml inside a jsp?
plz give me suggestions...

mypage.jsp

1)Retrieve appointments from the data base..
String phNo = request.getParameter("callerid");

If(phNo is not valid){
Using vxml tag goto the form #F2
} else{
//Make a database query and get the result in the form of a string array.
String appointments[] = {'dummy1', 'dummy2'};(values retrieved from database);
HOW TO RETURN THESE VALUES TO MAIN.VXML AND HOW TO RECEIVE THERE..

}

voxeojohnq

6/19/2008 11:15 AM (EDT)

Hello,

Please keep in mind that we do not create, debug or support server side programming. With that said, you seem to be struggling with your initial design for your appointment application. Now, I can't write your entire application for you, but I am more than happy to provide you with a starting point for creating your application. Please keep in mind that the following code is not a complete application, and it only resembles a basic framework that you can use to help you with your design process.

What you are trying to do will most likely be a lot easier if you create a ccxml wrapper. The basic concept is use ccxml to accept calls and control the voicexml dialogs. I wrote up a quick example of how you could create your call flow.

Here is how it works:

- Use ccxml to accept the call
- set a variable to the incoming caller id
- start a voice xml document
- vxml will fetch the db script and send the callerid to it
- the db script will then return a well-formed xml document with an element called <accepted>
which will be a boolean (true/false)
- now we send execution back to the ccxml wrapper
- the ccxml wrapper will then decide what to do with the user based on the true/false sent from vxml

=================================================
CCXML Example
=================================================

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<ccxml version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2002/09/ccxml" xmlns:voxeo="http://community.voxeo.com/xmlns/ccxml">
<var name="callerid" />
<var name="state" />
<var name="cid" />

<eventprocessor statevariable="state">
<transition event="connection.alerting">

<accept />
</transition>

<transition event="connection.connected">

<assign name="callerid" expr="event$.connection.remote" />
<assign name="cid" expr="event$.connectionid" />
<send name="'query_db'" target="session.id" />
</transition>

<transition event="query_db">
<assign name="state" expr="'in_query'" />

<dialogstart src="'checkdb.vxml.xml'" type="'application/voicexml+xml'" namelist="callerid" connectionid="cid" />
</transition>

<transition event="dialog.exit" state="query_db">

<log expr="'***' + event$.values.accepted />
<exit />
</transition>

<transition event="error.*">
<exit />
</transition>
</eventprocessor>
</ccxml>

=================================================
VXML Example
=================================================

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<vxml version="2.1">

<var name="callerid" expr="session.connection.ccxml.values.callerid" />

<form id="frm_check">
<block>
<assign name="document.callerid2" expr="callerid" />
<var name="query_data" />

<data name="query_data" src="http://yourscript.thingie" namelist="callerid2" method="get" />
<assign name="document.query_data" expr="query_data.documentElement" />

<script>
<![CDATA[
function get_data( data, tag )
{
return( data.getElementsByTagName( tag ).item( 0 ).firstChild.data );
}
]]>
</script>


<var name="accepted" expr="get_data( query_data, 'accepted' )" />
<log expr="'*** ' + accepted" />
<if cond="accepted == 'true'">
<exit namelist="accepted" />
<else />
<block>
<prompt>Authentication Failed</prompt>
</block>
<break time="'4000ms'" />
<assign name="accepted" expr="false" />

<exit namelist="accepted" />
</if>
</block>
</form>
</vxml>

I hope this helps you get started with your application. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Regards,
John Quinn
Voxeo Support

jefo12

6/21/2008 12:14 PM (EDT)

hi john quinn thank you for your response bt i have a small problem i could'nt understand the <script> in the callerid validation code given by you...can you plz giv me a brieff discription abt that...

<script>
<![CDATA[
function get_data( data, tag )
{
return( data.getElementsByTagName( tag ).item( 0 ).firstChild.data );
}
]]>
</script>

MattHenry

6/21/2008 2:17 PM (EDT)

Hi Jefo,

This is client-side DOM code that is used for getting node data out of a plain XML document. Some helpful links on this topic are listed as follows:

http://docs.voxeo.com/voicexml/2.0/data.htm
http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Traversal-Range-20001113/traversal.html
http://www.devguru.com/Technologies/ecmascript/quickref/javascript_index.html

~Matt

mtatum111

9/12/2008 4:29 PM (EDT)

Can <subdialog> also be a child of <subdialog> meaning that you can have nested subdialog calls? I noticed that the only parent listed is <form>. I couldn't find anything on w3c specifying that this is a "no no." So, I am wondering if you can have nesting like you have in other languages.

Thanks for any clarification.

VoxeoDustin

9/12/2008 5:50 PM (EDT)

Hey,

<subdialog> is not a valid child of itself, however it is possible to call another subdialog from within a subdialog. This does add another layer of complexity into your application, and we highly recommend avoiding subdialogs entirely unless they are absolutely necessary for your application.

Cheers,
Dustin

mtatum111

9/12/2008 9:43 PM (EDT)

Hi Dustin, can you give an example of this. I am a little confused. I understand that <form> is the only valid parent of <subdialog>. However, if you can call a <subdialog> element from within a <subdialog> element within a <subdialog> it seems that a <subdialog> would be the parent.

Here is the exact question that I was presented
A <subdialog> can contain a <subdialog> element.

I just don't understand this if <form> is the parent of a <subdialog>.
Am I missing something here?

Sorry to be a pain!

mtatum436

9/12/2008 11:49 PM (EDT)

I went back to the vxml 2.0 specification and read about <subdialog>. I think I understand now. My confusion was with the subdialog vs. the <subdialog> element. The way that I understand it is that subdialog is just an section of code that include another form. Whereas the <subdialog> is used to call this section of code. Do you agree with what I am saying?

jdyer

9/12/2008 11:55 PM (EDT)

Hi,

Our developers questions are never bothersome, how dare you suggest such a thing =)>. That is correct the [b]<subdialog>[/b] element is where the parent/child hierarchy comes into play.

I have a link here to the SubDialog Tutorial that I think may clear a few things up for you:

http://docs.voxeo.com/voicexml/2.0/t_12.htm

If this just brings more questions please feel free keep posting! We are always happy to offer any assistance our developers may need!!

Regards,

John
Customer Engineer

jefo12

9/19/2008 12:49 AM (EDT)

Hi,

Is there any way to decrease the fetching time of a jsp.

In my case i'm sending a request to a jsp,the jsp has to hit the google calender and get the results.But this take minimum 2 minutes can any one tell me is there any way to reduce the fetching time.

Hope i'll have a favourable reply.

Thanks,
Jefo.

voxeoJeffK

9/19/2008 12:56 AM (EDT)

Hi,

There are many factors to take into account on fetch times. First would be the target destination, in this case Google. We cannot make them go faster. Next to consider is the environment in which you are running your application. If you are in the Staging environment fetch times may be increased since it is a shared, development environment. The Production environment, or a Premise based server would be somewhat faster.

hope that helps,
Jeff K.

mtatum111

9/22/2008 11:23 AM (EDT)

If you are in a <subdialog> and you encounter an error and you do NOT have a <catch> element defined within the <subdialog>, then where do we go to "catch" the error. I am thinking that we go to the application root. Thanks for any clarification.

MattHenry

9/22/2008 11:38 AM (EDT)

Hi there,

Assuming that your subdialog has a root document all to itself, then the answer is "yes". Note that subdialogs do *not* share the application root of the document chain that invokes the subdialog itself; a new application root must be declared for any subdialog invocations that occur. See the below w3c links for additional details:

* http://www.w3.org/TR/voicexml20/#dml2.3.4
* http://www.w3.org/TR/voicexml20/#dml1.5.2

~Matt

mtatum111

9/29/2008 10:27 AM (EDT)

I have found the following example, but believe that there might be a problem with it. It was my understanding that <subdialog> is a child of <form> only. See <subdialog name="centigrade" src="#fahrenheit_to_centigrade"> below.
In this case, it is a child of <filled>. Is that correct?

<form id="conversion">
<field name="fahrenheit">
<grammar version = "1.0" type= "application/grammar+xml"
src = "temperature.grxml"/>
<prompt>What is the temperature in fahrenheit degrees?
</prompt>
<filled>
<subdialog name="centigrade" src="#fahrenheit_to_centigrade">
<param name = "parm1" expr = "fahrenheit" />
</subdialog>
</filled>
</field>
</form>

VoxeoDustin

9/29/2008 10:37 AM (EDT)

Hey Melissa,

Correct. Subdialog is only a valid child of <form>, so in this case the content of the subdialog tag will simply be skipped over by the VoiceXML browser. The best way to achieve the same functionality is to utilize the name attribute of subdialog and issue a <goto nextitem="#mySubDName"/> within the filled.
Cheers,
Dustin

mtatum111

9/29/2008 10:38 AM (EDT)

Thanks, for clarifying this Dustin. I am just trying to study for my certification test and want to make sure that I am not studying invalid operations!

VoxeoDustin

9/29/2008 10:42 AM (EDT)

Hey Melissa,

No problem. I've been there before, so I'm glad to answer any questions you may have regarding the certification test. :)

Regards,
Dustin

mtatum111

10/8/2008 3:30 PM (EDT)

I see that with <subdialog> you can have the namelist attribute.
Can you explain the difference between this and the <param> attribute where you can send variables to <subdialog> or <object>?

It seems that with namelist, you are also able to send values.

Thanks for any explanation.

voxeojeremyr

10/8/2008 4:41 PM (EDT)

Hi Melissa,

Researching the specification, passing variables to a subdialog form can be done noth by an attribute of subdialog, 'namelist', and through the param element.

The only difference that I can see is that with the <param> element you can set a value to the variable that you are passing, while using namelist, the variable already has to be defined and populated.

Regards,
Jeremy Richmond
Voxeo Support

mtatum111

10/8/2008 4:52 PM (EDT)

Thanks, Jeremy. I appreciate the insight!

shawnaslam1

1/15/2009 9:43 AM (EST)

Can we do subdialog to CCXML page? and if yes, which might be, then can we also call the specific event on that page.
My task, as i am also discussing on other tag, is to now subdialog to CCXML and then call the clear chache API through SEND tag and then back to the VXML.

Please advice and guide.

Shawn

MattHenry

1/15/2009 10:08 AM (EST)

Hi Shawn,

The VXML specification doesn't allow the invocation of any CCXML resources via <subdialog> or via any other means that I am aware of. I'm not totally sure as to which other ticket this is referencing, but it stands to reason that you can likely "nudge" the caching API via server-side means as opposed to doing so on the static-side (via VXML/CCXML).

My gut reaction here is to suggest that your VXML do a <data> call to a JSP/PHP/(whatever) document that outputs very basic, plain-vanilla XML, where the JSP/PHP/etc does an http request to the API, passing along the required parameters to set/clear cache as needed.

~Matthew Henry

punkin

6/18/2009 12:20 AM (EDT)

It is difficult to use <prosody> to control the speech rate. It doesn't sound natural. This problem occurs to read a paragraph or when a sentence is long (as if it had a very limited time to finish the sentences). In order to fix this, I have to physically break the sentence into a few portions, and each portion is separated by a comma. I can see this more problemic. How does the dialog know which paragraph or sentences are being read if the paragraph/sentences are passed by other application. Nuance doesn't have to do this. It reads as-is. Is there a better way to handle this?

Second, putting <break> inside <prosody> will receive silent and then exit. The debugger indicates it speaks but it doesn't. Why?

punkin

6/18/2009 2:02 AM (EDT)

<form id="q">
<block>
<subdialog name="result" src="#personalInfo">
<filled>
...
</filled>
</subdialog>
</block>
</form>

Consider the above scriptlet. It is incorrect. <subdialog> cannot be put inside the <block>.

When this happens, the interpreter just igonres the rest and then exit. There is no error found in the debugger.

This situation also causes the interpreter not to detect any incorrect reference or variables afterward due to mis-spelling. For example, in the above example, if I mis-spell the form id as "personalinfo" instead of "personalInfo", the script will run through without error as if everything was fine.

I feel very difficult to debug this. It took me a lot of time to figure this out. I wish it would give me some syntax error or something instead of ignoring the problem.

VoxeoDustin

6/18/2009 4:19 PM (EDT)

Hello,

Correct. Currently, any elements that are nested within an invalid parent are simply ignored by the form interpretation algorithm and do not throw an error. I have reviewed the VXML spec regarding this and do not see anything specific about how to handle this. I do see how it could be very helpful to have an error thrown here, so I'll speak with our engineers regarding this. In the interim, you'll want to verify you've properly scoped any elements manually.

Regards,
Dustin Hayre
Customer Support Engineer II
Voxeo Support

aditya175

7/3/2009 1:20 AM (EDT)

I want to pass a variable from using subdialog through the namlist. Should I write the variable name as application.variable_name or document.variable_name depending upon whether it is declared in the root document or withing the current file, or write it simply as variable_name. Also if I want to log the value of this variable inside the <subdialog> and </subdialog> tags what should I use as a variable name.

MattHenry

7/3/2009 10:34 AM (EDT)

Hi there,

I should make it clear that subdialogs run in an entirely separate execution context than the invoking dialog, and therefore, any application-scoped variables wont be recognized in the invoked dialog. The following entry in the specification fleshes his concept out for us in a bit more detail:

http://www.w3.org/TR/voicexml20/#dml2.3.4

"The subdialog context and the context of the called dialog are independent, even if the dialogs are in the same document. Variables in the scope chain of the calling dialog are not shared with the called subdialog: there is no sharing of variable instances between execution contexts."

As such, to pass these variables to a subdialog, and back again, you would have to do something like this:

1 - Make a copy of the application-scoped variable as a dialog scoped variable

2 - submit the dialog-scoped variable to the subdialog via namelist, or param

3 - Upon return, perhaps re-assign the value of the application scoped variable to be consistent with the locally scoped variable returned via namelist

Hope this helps to clear things up,

~Matt

amitsood

7/13/2009 7:09 PM (EDT)

Hi,
We have parent dialog that calls a subdilog. Subdilog loads a vxml page from server and return values to parent dialog.
Perent dialog handles the the disconnect event
I am curious to know what happens when the caller hangs up while control is subdilog. Will it reurn to the parent diallog with filled status or not.
Will the behavior be different if the Subdialog handles the disconnect event compare to when subdilog does not handle the disconnect event.
Thanks.
Amit

MattHenry

7/13/2009 9:09 PM (EDT)

Hello Amit,

Per the spec, the subdialog doesn't really share anything at all with the parent document unless it is passed to it explicitly. In this case, you'd probably want to either:

1 - define catch handlers for you disconnect event within the subdialog file itself

2 - Share an application root document between the subdialog and the parent so that your event handlers are also shared. Of note is the fact that you need to be careful in how you share variables between parent and subdialog: Again, these vars are NOT shared by default:

"The subdialog executes in a new execution context that includes all the declarations and state information for the subdialog, the subdialog's document, and the subdialog's application root (if present), with counters reset, and variables initialized."

Cheers,

~Matthew Henry

amitsood

7/14/2009 12:12 AM (EDT)

Hi Mathew,
Thanks for the reply. I will try to be more clear. So if caller disconnects in the subdilog, will that subdialog return with a filled status to parent dialog? Will the parent dialog continue the excution of <subdialog> tag and enter the <filled> tag for the <subdialog>? or At what point will platform stop the execution of subdialog and go telephone.disconnect handler? Is it possible that Caller disconnects in a subdilog but by the time parent dialog get the telephone.disconnect event, Subdialog is already finished?
Thanks.
Amit

voxeojeremyr

7/14/2009 5:17 PM (EDT)

Hello Amit,

The question of what will happen if the caller hangs up depends on when the hang up occurs. Within VXML there are only certain places where a connection.disconnect event will be thrown. This is because of VXML's FIA (form interpretation algorithm) method for processing the script.

The FIA will only catch the hangup at stopping points like waiting for caller input. For example if the subdialog is just playing a prompt, and a hangup event happens, it will be thrown at the next input item which may be in the parent if one does not exist in the child document.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,
Jeremy Richmond

ssa_peregrin

11/18/2009 8:50 AM (EST)

Greetings Voxeo,
I've been having a lot of trouble with trying to get a subdialog working with a server side loop. I've validated my subdialog outside the loop, and I've also used the loop itself to test the values of the variables I'm attempting to pass to the subdialog. As soon as I put the subdialog within the loop itself, it errors out prior to completing the subdialog.

Following is the form where I'm having the issue, is there anything obvious that I could be missing?

<form id="writeCallLog">


<cfif (routingPosition + 2) mod 3 eq 0>

<cfloop from="#routingPosition#" to="#toLoop#" index="numberCount">
<cfoutput>

<block>
<log expr="'*** IVRNumber: [ #routingPhone[numberCount]# ] - regId: [ #routingRegId[numberCount]# ] - callRecordIndex [#callRecordIndex#] ***'" />
</block>

<cfinclude template = "actionVariables.cfm">
<var name="IVRNumber" expr="'#routingPhone[numberCount]#'" />
<var name="eoustRegId" expr="'#routingRegId[numberCount]#'" />
<var name="logType" expr="'1'" />
<subdialog name="callLog" namelist="callRecordIndex IVRNumber regId logType" src="callLog.cfm" />
<filled>
<prompt>
</prompt>
</filled>

</cfoutput>
</cfloop>

<block>
<log expr="'*** Insert Queued numbers into call table ***'" />
<goto next="#listAgencies" />
</block>
<cfelse>
<block>
<log expr="'*** Else ***'" />
<goto next="#listAgencies" />
</block>
</cfif>
</form>

Again, my subdialog works outside the loop (though I do not use the numberCount variable outside the loop), and the log line that lists the variables I'm passing to the subdialog works as expected within the loop.

Once the subdialog is added to the loop however, the application errors out prior to the log expr firing.

VoxeoDante

11/18/2009 9:14 AM (EST)

Hello,

I am not seeing anything jump out at me as wrong here, but with out seeing the output past the Cold Fusion it is hard to say. I think the best way to move forward here would be for you to put everything together and then send over a set of logs for us to look at. With that we should be able to see what is failing and better determine where the issue lies.

Regards,
Dante Vitulano
Customer Support Engineer II
Voxeo Corporation

ssa_peregrin

11/18/2009 9:30 AM (EST)

Thanks for the quick reply Dante, would it be inappropriate for me to open an account ticket with my response and yours with the attached logs? I would feel more comfortable about posting the applications call entire log in a private setting rather than public.

VoxeoDante

11/18/2009 9:37 AM (EST)

Hello,

I opened a Private account ticket for you, please feel free to respond there with the logs and we can troubleshoot in that ticket.

Cheers,
Dante Vitulano
Customer Support Engineer II
Voxeo Corporation

ssa_peregrin

11/18/2009 9:46 AM (EST)

I'm sorry, I'm actually not seeing this ticket, is it in a different area than Open Account Tickets on Account > Overview at evolution.voxeo.com?

Also, an unrelated question, for future reference is there a specific tag I should use for pasting code to not lose my tabulation? [ code ] [/ code ] for example?

VoxeoDante

11/18/2009 9:56 AM (EST)

Hello,

Sorry, I opened the ticket in the wrong spot. You should be able to see it now. And yes you are correct, you can in-fact use [ code ] [/ code ] to set the code in evolution.

Please let me know if you still cannot see the ticket.

Regards,
Dante Vitulano
Customer Support Engineer II
Voxeo Corporation

vishaljha

1/18/2011 10:32 AM (EST)

Hi,

My requirement is to split the field input in parts and then combile it to describe the field value.

To clarify it let say I want to input a decimal Value. So what I would like to say :

"Enter Integral Part" and user input 12 and *. Then I prompt "enter the floating part" and User Press the 23 and press # to stop input.

Now the field value should be 12.23.

Could you please give a sample and elaborate on the way to achieve this kind of operation.

I will be having only field "DecimalData" as it has to be posted after submission.

This is urgent.

Thanks in advance.
Vishal.

voxeoJeffK

1/18/2011 6:25 PM (EST)

Hello,

This is best handled with two fields, and then concatenating the parts together. here's an example:
[code]
<form id="F1">

<field name="F1" type="digits?length=2">
<prompt>
Enter the first two numbers.
</prompt>
</field>
<field name="F2" type="digits?length=2">
<prompt>
Enter the second two numbers.
</prompt>
</field>
<filled mode="all">
<script>
var combined = String(F1) + "." + String(F2);
</script>
<log expr="'****** combined:' + combined"/>
</filled>
</form>
[/code]

Regards,
Jeff Kustermann
Voxeo Support

romilly1

4/28/2011 9:51 PM (EDT)

Hi,

How do you access POST variables within a subdialog (which is a VXML)?

i.e. if we make this call from the main VXML:
<subdialog name="result" src="subdialog.vxml" namelist="submitUrl recordedAudio" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">/subdialog>

How do we access the POST namelist variables within subdialog.vxml?

MattHenry

4/29/2011 12:05 PM (EDT)

Hi there,

Note that using this methodology, your subdialog target file is going to need to be dynamic; we can't grab POSTed variables using static-only VXML markup. So the real answer here is going to depend upon what type of dynamic scripting you intend to use: PHP/JSP/etc etc.

Hope this helps,

~Matthew Henry