Nodes and Palette Options > Detailed Palette Option Descriptions > Record
	Record

Type

Form Item

Available from

• Announce Node

• Record Node

• Form Node

Purpose

There are times when you want to collect information from callers that is not easily collected using DTMF or ASR input. For example, you might want to get the address of the caller, to enter into a database later on. Or you might want to allow callers to leave voice messages for the parties they are trying to reach. The Record item is the call flow element that is responsible for collecting recorded input and saving it to a file for retrieval later.

Behavior

The Record item:

• Optionally, plays a prompt to the caller, instructing the caller what to do and how to signal that the recording is finished.

• Optionally, plays a beep tone to signal the start of the recording.

• Records the message from the caller, starting after the tone, if the beep is turned on. If the beep is not turned on, the Record item starts immediately after the prompt, if there is one. If there is no prompt, the system starts recording as soon as the Record item starts to execute.

• Ends the recording when one of the following conditions is met:

• A predetermined period of silence.

• The caller signals with a DTMF key press that the caller is done recording.

• The recording reaches the maximum allowed period of time for a recording.

• The caller hangs up.

• The system throws an event from which the application cannot continue.

• The caller utters something or enters a DTMF key press that triggers an active grammar.

• Stores the recording as an audio file.

• Returns a series of variable values to the application, based on data taken from the recording session.

When you place this item in a node subflow, Dialog Designer automatically creates a complex variable with the same name. This variable contains the following fields, which are populated upon completion of the node at run time:

• confidence - This field returns a value only if the caller uses an active grammar "hotword" to terminate the recording. When that happens, this field returns a value that indicates the ASR server confidence level that the hotword was uttered and recognized. Note that not all IVR systems support simultaneous speech recognition and recording, in which case this field is never populated.

• duration - This variable field is the length of time that the recording lasted, in milliseconds. For example, if the recording lasted for just over 24 seconds, this might have a value of 24389.

• maxtime - If the caller exceeded the maximum allowable time for the recording, the system automatically ends the recording. If this happens, the system returns a value of true to this variable field. Otherwise, this variable field has the default value of false.

• size - This field is the size of the recorded audio file, in bytes.

• termchar - The value of this field is the DTMF character, if any, that was used to end the recording. If the caller did not end the recording with a DTMF key press, this variable field is undefined.

• utterance - This field returns a value only if the caller uses an active grammar "hotword" to terminate the recording. When that happens, this field returns a value that indicates what the caller said that the ASR server recognized as being the hotword to terminate the recording. Note that not all IVR systems support simultaneous speech recognition and recording, in which case this field is never populated.

• value - This variable field contains the URL to the recorded audio file.

To play the audio file of the recording back later in the application:

1. Create a prompt in which to play the audio file.

2. Place a text variable in the prompt.

• For more information about text variables, see Text Variable.

3. In the Variable field for the text variable, select the Record item variable.

4. In the Variable Field field for the text variable, select value.

5. In the Format field for the text variable, select url.

The value field of the Record item variable contains the URL of the audio file that was recorded. When the Avaya Application Simulator comes to this variable field which uses the URL format, the system retrieves the audio file from the designated URL and plays it back.

You can also use other functions to assign the recorded audio file to a database, from which you can retrieve it later. This might be done, for instance, to have an administrator later retrieve an address and convert it to a text-based format for later use.

Properties

• Name - Enter the name you want to assign to the Record item and its associated variable.

• If you do not enter a name, Dialog Designer automatically assigns both the item and the variable a default name.

• Play Beep - If you want the system to play a short beep before starting the recording, set this field to true, which is the default. If you do not want the system to play a beep, set this field to false.

• Max Length - Enter the number of seconds that you want to allow for the maximum duration of a recording. For example, if you want to allow callers a maximum of two minutes of recording time, set this to 120.

• The maximum allowable value for this field depends on the limitations and settings on the IVR system. The default is 60.

• Max Silence - Enter the number of seconds to allow silence at the end of the recording before the system ends the recording. When the system detects a period of silence, the system ends the recording after it reaches this number of seconds of silence.

• If no recording was ever started, the system throws a No Input event when it reaches this number of seconds of silence.

• The default for this field is 3.

• Modal - To deactivate any non-local grammars while a recording is in progress, set this to true, the default. To allow any non-local grammars to remain active while the recording is in progress, set this field to false.

• Often, any global grammars you have active are used to throw events from anywhere in the application. With this setting, you can override those global grammars while a recording is in progress. This means that something the caller says does not accidentally throw an event and prematurely end the recording.

• DTMF Terminate - To allow callers to end the recording by pressing a touch tone key on the key pad, set this to true. If this property is set to true, the system recognizes any DTMF key press that is not part of a local DTMF grammar as a signal to end the recording.

• To cause the system to ignore DTMF key presses that are not specified in a local DTMF grammar, set this to false.

• Bind Name to Node - (true/false). When true, the name of the variable item is bound to the name of the node. When the parent node is renamed, the name of the variable item is renamed as well; keeping the name of the variable in sync with the node name.

• Audio Type - Select one of the following formats:

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