Don't get me wrong, I think VoiceXML is cool, but I don't see how this relates to Perl. Anyway...

Originally, I interpreted your question to mean how do you get text input using VXML. Finally I realized that you don't mean text input, but rather you want to let the user input arbitrary words. First, note that would potentially introduce a security hole because now you have to parse the input (it's on-topic for purposes of meme propagation :). For that reason, it's better to explicitly list what input is allowed and have the user choose from that list.

Beyond that, it'd be difficult for the voice interpreter to translate arbitrary voice input into text. Say you have a professor named "Skocpol". Maybe the student will pronounce it as "Scockpole", or maybe as "Schohpaul". It would be easier for the interpreter to compare the voice input to a list of names than to translate arbitrary input into a word (which you would then have to match a regexp to "all" possible interpretations). Even safer would be inputting dial tones using "dtmf" mode.

I understand you want to allow arbitrary names because then you don't have to hard-code the names each quarter/semester (also you don't have to list the names). But in that case, you should probably use an XML structure (or database) to store the data and a web interface for updating the data (maybe even VXML, if it's updated like: "Spell the professor's name." "Ess Kay Oh Pee ..." :)


In reply to Re: How to make a form in VoiceXML (VXML) with input of the equivalent of input type="text" by kwoff
in thread How to make a form in VoiceXML (VXML) with input of the equivalent of <input type="text"> by ice6200

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":



  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.