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| Main Menu | Options Dialog | FlashCards View | Database View | Talk View |
The FlashCards interface consists of a tab control of six (6) tabs, and a flashcard launcher button. The latter launches or displays another important interface.
This combo box shows the tables and queries available according to the view mode chosen next to it. If the mode is ALL, it shows all the tables and queries available to the application and the user as basis for the flashcards. If the mode is WITH DEFINED SETTINGS ONLY, only those which have defined settings are shown. If the mode is WITHOUT SETTINGS YET ONLY, only those tables and queries without settings are displayed. This is useful for purposes of definition. The distinction is significant because only those tables and queries which have definitions may be run in the flashcards (obviously because these definitions are required settings by the flashcard function).
Click this button to define the table or query settings. By default, all fields of the table or query are written to the flashcards (displayed in the flashcards), but no speaker is assigned to any field header or value. The field header is simply the name of the field; while the field value is the actual value of the field in the current record. They are assigned separate speakers because they might be in two different languages, or to put more emphasis on one over the other, or simply to make audio distinction between the header and its values. The checkbox indicating with defined settings should be set or checked afterwards. There are many configurating guis in the field definition set to be described later on to vary the flashcards settings.
Click this button to remove the current definition of the table or query. The checkbox indicating with defined settings should be cleared afterwards.
This is the combobox which lists down all the fields of a table or query. Select a particular field to see its current flashcards settings. The Field type is simply the variable type of the field, whether boolean, text, or long, for instance.
Control Tags which are recognized by the speech engines maybe freely mixed with values of the field. However, this may not always be possible because the databases are used also or probably much more importantly for other purposes than simply for speech synthesis. That is the main reason why the software application was conceptualized: the fact that databases are created for much more important reasons than merely listening to how it sounds.
Other databases are really intended for speech applications. Thus control tags maybe freely mixed. Please consult the SAPI documentation. For those tags, this checkbox need not be set. The software application introduces some of its own tags available in the commercial version. If those tags inserted in the value of the particular field are supposed to be interpreted by the software application, this checkbox needs to be checked. Otherwise they are interpreted as ordinary text, and may result in fact in the wrong interpretation of the whole field data.
If this checkbox is set or checked, the field header and the value are not spoken by the flashcards, even if they have assigned speakers. This is useful for disabling field speech without losing the currently assigned speakers.
If this checkbox is set or checked, the field header and the value are not shown or displayed in the flashcards. This is also useful for last minute selective inclusion of fields, an alternative to writing a new query.
Select from the corresponding combobox the speakers intended for the particular field header or value. By default they are assigned no speaker. There are two types of speakers available for the field values: ordinary and dialog speakers. Only the ordinary speakers are available for the field header because the name of the header does not change and could only be assigned one language. The values, on the other hand, may be of different languages. Please take note, however, that dialog speakers are not available in the Demoware edition.
As many speakers may be defined for the database. Please proceed to the Field Basic Speech Tab. Likewise, as many dialog speakers may be provided in the Dialog Basis Tab.
There are cases where the field of the current record does not contain any actual value, or is NULL. For these cases, there is no reason for displaying or speaking the field name. Hence, to achieve selective disabling, set either of these checkboxes. Please take note that similar Do Not Read or Write flags operate totally to the field without distinction as to whether the value is NULL or not.
Click this button to hear the speaker. The speaker speaks the appropriate test sentence according to the language of the underlying speech engine.
Click this button to hear the sample flashcard being spoken according to the whole table or query settings. Values are replaced by appropriate test sentences.
Set this checkbox for blanket disabling of speech. This is useful if speech must be temporarily disabled without losing or altering the current speaker settings of the fields.
This combobox lists down all the ordinary speakers created, or supplied by the application. To create a new speaker, type in a unique name for the speaker. Then set the necessary parameters of the new speaker such as the voice, pitch, speed, and volume. Press the New button. Please note that any addition or changes are reflected immediately in the General Settings and Dialog Basis Tabs.
To change the current name of a speaker, select the speaker and type in the new name. Other parameters may also be changed. Press the Apply Edit button. If changes were not intended, press the Revert button.
To remove a particular speaker, select the speaker and press the Delete button. However, Revert and Delete are available only in the Commercial edition. Maintenance there is important because it is only in the Commercial edition that settings may be saved and loaded between sessions. For other editions, these settings need to be entered every sessions. (See why there is a need to buy the Commercial edition? But if this little burden is alright, then there is nothing to worry about.)
Select the appropriate voice mode according to language, sex, age, engine provider, etc. Speech engines currently installed appear in the list.
When the speaker is first created the characteristics of the voice mode are set to their default values which are the optimum values recommended by the speech engine provider. The use default radio button is set. If the settings are altered, the switch is made to the user radio button. As long as the current voice mode is the one saved, it is possible to switch back and forth between default values and user values. If the voice mode is also changed then the characteristics are reset to the new voice mode. To switch the radio button to user, at least one characteristic value must be altered. This change may be lost if the use default button is set again. If the voice mode is placed at the saved one again, the user values saved are available again. To save the new settings, please press the Apply Edit button.
The voice mode characteristics may be altered through the corresponding scrollbars. Just press the appropriate New or Apply Edit buttons afterwards.
The current settings may be tested. The underlying speech engine will use the appropriate test sentence provided in the Options dialog. To provide automatic testing every change in selection of speaker in the corresponding combobox, the Auto Test checkbox must be set or checked.
They are available only in the Commercial edition.
Two timer settings are available. The initial time required to display the first flashcard is given in ten (10) seconds, 0 for no delay. The succeeding time to elapse for the following flashcards to be showed is given in five (5) seconds, or 0 for no delay.
Set this checkbox if a sound alert needs to be played for every change of flashcards. If the sound needs to be played asynchronously or independently of the flashcard tasks, then set the Play Async checkbox. Most of the time, however, the sound is better played synchronously so as not to overlap with the other sounds generated by the flashcards.
If sound alert is enabled, the sound played is either a system sound event provided the appropriate settings in the control panel have been enabled, or a particular wave file.
Click this button to search for the particular wave file.
If the entry in the edit box is not already found in the combobox, it will be added as long as there is space for it in the combobox. Otherwise, the current entry subsists only as long as no new selection has been made.
The edit box is cleared, and if the entry has been previously added, it is likewise deleted in the combobox.
To test the sound intended to be used in the flashcard, please press this button.
Enter a number from 0 to 127 for the maximum user provided sound files or system sound events not yet found in the combobox.
No changes made both in the Timer Definition set and the Alert Definition set shall be made effective unless the Apply Edit button has been pressed, including the max sound files.
To abandon currently made changes, and reset the values to the saved values, please press the Revert button.
This flash combo box shows the tables and queries with defined available according to the view mode chosen above it. If the mode is ALL, it shows all the tables and queries with defined settings. If the mode is WITH DEFINED DIALOG ONLY, only those which have existing dialog points are shown. If the mode is WITHOUT DIALOG ONLY, only those tables and queries without dialog points are displayed.
This shows all the dialog points available to the particular table or query shown in the flash combobox. Each dialog point is identified by a unique name. Please note that the uniqueness of the name is imposed only among the dialog points belonging to one and the same table or query. Furthermore, in the Freeware edition, the user cannot choose the name of the only one dialog point available to the said table or query.
In the Freeware edition, creating a new dialog point is done by pressing the New button. The name may not be changed. It may not be deleted, either.
In the Commercial edition, to create a dialog point requires the user to first type in a unique name, then press the New button.
To change the current name, just type in the new name and press the Apply button. Likewise, press the Delete button to remove the selected dialog point from the list.
After creating the dialog point, the Dialog Definition set must be properly configured before the dialog speaker may become useful.
The choice of the Basis Field is the most important step in the configuration. This is the field which will determine the variability of the speakers which will be used for those fields utilizing the particular dialog speaker.
Listed in the combobox are those fields of the table or query with the following field types only: Boolean, Byte, Integer, Long, and Text. All other types are impracticable due to the size of the data, or its variability when displayed under different locales.
The number of actual speakers is determined by the number of values in this list. Each value which represent an instance-value of the basis field, is associated with a particular speaker.
During the flashcard operation, whenever a field in the record utilizes a dialog speaker, the actual value of the basis field in the same record is obtained. The value is then referred to this list of basis values, and if available and found the associated speaker is chosen for the flashcard. However, if the value is not found in the list, the speaker associated with the Dialog Default Speaker is utilized for the flashcard.
Please note that the list is not case-sensitive.
Please select from the combobox the speaker intended for the particular basis value. By default, the newly added basis value, and even the Dialog Default Speaker, is associated with no speaker.
The list is built up from the database. Leading spaces are trimmed. Normally, changing the basis field is accompanied by a reloading of this list.
The value help list is desirable for most situations when the database does not contain voluminous records. However, when the latter is indeed large, and the basis values to be built up are just few and easy to imput, it is sometimes advisable to turn the facility off by checking or setting this.
Two values are provided by this box. The first is the actual number of entries in the value help list, and the other the number of records read from the database. In effect the first is the number of distinct values out of the number of records read.
To add a basis value, just select the desired value from the value help list or type in a value from the edit box of the help list. The latter may or may not be found in the list. Afterwards, please press this button.
This has the same function found in the General Settings Tab.
The other tabs are relevant only for the Commercial editions.
The other tabs are relevant only for the Freeware and Commercial editions.
4/13/2006, 1:27:11 PM
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