[Asterisk-Users] Text entry by DTMF

Steve Underwood
Sun, 09 Nov 2003 07:00:26 -0000

Hi,

I've kind of ported a DTMF text extry method I wrote some time ago for
Dialogic. It is now a semi-working Asterisk app. I've still got to clean
up some stuff in how Festival is used to read back what is entered, and
then I think it should be OK.

Would anyone here find this useful? It takes an entered string, and
returns it as a variable. It might sound clunky, but for short entry of
things like names, it actually works quite well. What I am looking for
right now is ideas on what people might need in such a facility, to I
can tie down the loose ends. Right now it takes:
    - a variable name to be used when returning the string
    - some pre-existing entered digits, that might have come from a
previous step in a sequence of activities (e.g. if you press a digit at
a menu prompt, you might what that digit to be the first digit of the
text entry process).
    - the maximum length of the entered text
    - an overall timeout, so the entry cannot go on forever.

The software uses Festival to read back what is entered. It has numeric,
lower case, upper case and symbol modes, and can switch freely between
them. The entry technique has been field proven in the Dialogic version.

Any useful input much appreciated.

Regards,
Steve