VXML Gateway to Web Databases

[Adrian Wong]

I was engaged in conversation last year with some members of the SOAP team about using a VXML gateway to interface with their web databases. Just a warning, the following gets a bit technical.

With information from pre-competition scouting being stored in a database, the usual method of retrieval is through a website. In locations where web access is not easily available, you're left with nothing.

An alternative I discussed was using a VXML gateway. VXML stands for Voice Extensible Markup Language. VXML was just starting to gain notice when I was discussing these plans at the 2001 Nationals. VXML support has picked up since then.

However, the premise remains the same. VXML is just a language. A VXML web page is stored on a web server just like any other web page, including the one you are looking at right now. A VXML web page can be updated, changed, and deleted. It is simply a file.

The interesting part is the VXML browser. Whereas you view web pages on a browser that is run on a computer, VXML pages are viewed through voice browsers that are run through a telephone. By calling VXML gateways, they can process VXML pages and deliver the results to you using a regular telephone (or cellular phone).

Because VXML pages are regular files, they can be dynamically updated too. An example of a dynamically updated file is the page you are looking at right now. ChiefDelphi forums run on software called vBulletin. It is coded in PHP. I've been working on a system that uses PHP to produce VXML pages.

By interfacing a PHP page to a database (perhaps via SQL) and producing VXML as output, you could effectively create a voice scouting database. I developed a proof-of-concept prior to going to nationals. Unfortunately, I have not touched it since. However, it is still interesting to use is as an example to explore further possibilities for this medium.

Here's how you can try it out. Pick up your phone and call

1-800-555-8355

When you hear the speaker being listing the main menu options, press 134778.

(For those of you that like letters, that's 1-800-555-TELL and extension 1-FIRST.)

It is a very rudimentary system that I developed. I have not interfaced it to a database, so the results being delivered are static. However, the capability exists to pull in information from an external database to update these pages (robot abilities, which competitons they attended, regional awards, current ranking, team location, etc).

Here is an example dialog that you can use: (I have only included information on three teams. Like I said, it is a very simple prototype.)

Get, Team, 596.
Yes.
Get, Team, 190.
Yes.
Get, Team, 800. (Debug example.)
No.

Just speak out the words when prompted.

I'd be interested in hearing what you think. Let me know if you have any ideas or would like to help out.