<mark>

Description

(VoiceXML 2.1 feature) As described in section 3.3.2 of [SSML], the <mark> element places a marker into the text/tag sequence.  An SSML processor must either allow the VoiceXML interpreter to retrieve information, or must inform the interpreter, when a <mark> is executed during audio output.  The <mark> element provides a convenient way to detect at which point a user barge-in has occurred.

For details on using <mark> within SSML, click here.

Note: The <vxml> version attribute must be specified as 2.1 (or higher) to use this feature.

Syntax

<mark
    name="string"
    nameexpr="ECMAScript_Expression"/>

Attributes

Attribute Notes

• If nameexpr cannot be evaluated, an error.semantic event is thrown.

Shadow Variables

The following two properties of the application.lastresult$ object are set whenever the application.lastresult$ object is assigned and a <mark> has been executed:

• application.lastresult$.markname - the name of the mark last executed by the SSML processor before barge-in occurred or the end of audio playback occurred.  If no mark was executed, this variable is undefined.
• application.lastresult$.marktime - the number of milliseconds that elapsed since the last mark was executed by the SSML processor, until barge-in occurred or the end of audio playback occurred.  If no mark was executed, this variable is undefined.

Note: When a <mark> is executed during the processing of a form item (ex. <field>, <record>, etc.), the interpreter also sets itemName$.markname and itemName$.marktime shadow variables for the form item, with the same values used for the lastresult shadow variables above.

Parents

ForEach Prompt

Children

None

VoiceGenie Extensions

None

Limitations/Restrictions

• Use of this feature depends on whether or not the SSML processor (i.e. the TTS engine) supports <mark>.  That is, when a <mark> is executed during audio output, if the SSML processor neither allows the VoiceXML interpreter to retrieve the mark information nor informs the interpreter about the mark, then the interpreter will not have any mark information to store in the markname and marktime variables.  Refer to your TTS vendor documentation for support details.
• Where possible, the Interpreter will attempt to execute the mark tag independently of the SSML processor.

Example

Note: Some versions of RealSpeak may only support numeric mark names (ex. "1234").  In that case, the following example would need to be modified.  Please see vendor documentation for details.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<vxml version="2.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/vxml">
  <var name="played_ad" expr="false"/>
  <form>
    <field name="field1" type="boolean">
      <prompt>
        <mark name="ad_start"/>
        Baseball scores brought to you by Elephant Peanuts.
        There's nothing like the taste of fresh roasted peanuts.
        Elephant Peanuts. Ask for them by name.
        <mark name="ad_end"/>
        <break time="500ms"/>
        Would you like to continue?
      </prompt>
      <filled>
        <if cond="typeof(field1$.markname) == 'string' &amp;&amp; 
           (field1$.markname=='ad_end' || 
           (field1$.markname=='ad_start' &amp;&amp; 
              field1$.marktime &gt;= 5000))">
          <assign name="played_ad" expr="true"/>
        <else/>
          <assign name="played_ad" expr="false"/>
        </if>
      </filled>
    </field>
  </form>   
</vxml>