IVR applications based on Voicent Gateway (Java Sample Interface)

IVR Introduction

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications enable callers to interact with any software, such as query and modify database information, over their telephone. Callers can use their touch-tone pad to input requests or just say what they want to do, such as requesting account balance information. IVR systems usually employ text-to-speech software to read information back.

Voicent Gateway Background

Voicent Gateway is ideal for developing interactive telephony applications such as Voicent AutoReminder and Voicent BroadcastByPhone. Based on the W3C VoiceXML standard, Voicent Gateway enables interactive voice access to the web and enterprise systems from any telephone.

Voicent Gateway can be deployed on any Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista PC, making it possible to develop and deploy Voicent based solutions at a cost most small business and organizations can afford. The gateway also support multiple phone lines by using multiple modems on a single computer. For large scale applications, multiple gateways in different locations can be networked together through the web interface.

Voicent Gateway requires no additional hardware when used with Skype. Calls are made over the Internet to landline or cell phones. The gateway also support regular analog phone lines through the use of a voice modem. You can combine Skype and voice modems together to easily increase system capacity.

Voicent Gateway contains an outbound call scheduler which can be accessed through its HTTP interface. This interface enables easy integration with almost any application and with almost any programming language.

VoiceXML tutorial and samples are provided under the developer section of this website. For setup and options, please see Voicent Gateway User Guide. A free version of the product is also available for download.

You can also use IVR Studio to develop your IVR applications. This tool enables flexible application development without any knowledge of VoiceXML. All you need is point and click to draw a call flow diagram.

Using the IVR API

Since all these functions are implemented as a HTTP client communicating directly with Voicent Gateway, they can be run on any machine that has a connection to the host running the gateway. The Java interface source code is included at the end of this section.

This Java Simple Interface is developed based on Voicent Gateway Simple Outbound Call Interface.

Synopsis

String callText(String phoneno, String text, boolean selfdelete)

Description

Make a phone call and play the specified text message. The text message is convert to voice by Voicent Gateway's text-to-speech engine.

The options are:

phoneno	The phone number to call
text	The message for the phone call
selfdelete	Ask the gateway to automatically delete the call request after the call is made if it is set to '1'

The return value is the call request id <reqId>.

Example

callText("123-4567", "Hello, how are you doing", 1);

Make a call to phone number '123-4567' and say 'Hello, how are you doing'. Since the selfdelete bit is set, the call request record in the gateway will be removed automatically after the call.

String reqId = callText("123-4567", "Hello, how are you", 0);

Make a call to phone number '123-4567' and say 'Hello, how are you'. Since the selfdelete bit is not set, the call request record in the gateway will not be removed after the call. You can then use callStatus to get the call status, or use callRemove to remove the call record.

Synopsis

String callAudio(String phoneno, String audiofile, boolean selfdelete)

Description

Make a phone call and play the specified audio message.

The options are:

phoneno	The phone number to call
audiofile	The audio message for the phone call. The format must be PCM 16bit, 8KHz, mono wave file. The audio file must be on the same host as Voicent Gateway.
selfdelete	Ask the gateway to automatically delete the call request after the call is made if it is set to '1'

The return value is the call request id <reqId>.

Example

callAudio("123-4567", "C:\my audios\hello.wav", 1);

Make a call to phone number '123-4567' and play the hello.wav file. Since the selfdelete bit is set, the call request record in the gateway will be removed automatically after the call.

String reqId = callAudio("123-4567", "C:\my audios\hello.wav", 0);

Make a call to phone number '123-4567' and play the hello.wav file. Since the selfdelete bit is not set, the call request record in the gateway will not be removed after the call. You can then use callStatus to get the call status, or use callRemove to remove the call record.

Synopsis

String callStatus(String reqId)

Description

Check the call status of the call with <reqId>. If the call is made, the return value is 'Call Made', or if the call is failed, the return value is 'Call Failed', or if the call will retry, the return value is "Call Will Retry", and for any other status, the return value is "".

Please note that an empty string is returned if the call is still in progress. You'll need to wait and then poll the status again.

Example

String status = callStatus("11234035434");

Synopsis

void callRemove(String reqId)

Description

Remove the call record of the call with reqId. If the call is not made yet, it will be removed also.

Example

allRemove("11234035434");

Synopsis

void callTillConfirm(String vcastexe, String vocfile, String wavfile, String ccode)

Description

Keep calling a list of people until anyone enters the confirmation code. The message is the specified audio file. This is ideal for using it in a phone notification escalation process.

To use this feature, Voicent BroadcastByPhone Professional version has to be installed. This function is similar to the command line interface BroadcastByPhone has. But since the command cannot be invoke over a remote machine, this perl function uses the gateway to schedule an event, which in turn invokes the command on the gateway host.

The options are:

vcastexe	The BroadcastByPhone program. It is usually 'C:\Program Files\Voicent\BroadcastByPhone\bin\vcast.exe' on the gateway host.
vocfile	The BroadcastByPhone call list to use.
ccode	The confirmation code use for the broadcast
wavfile	The audio file to use for the broadcast

Example

CallTillConfirm(
"C:\Program Files\Voicent\BroadcastByPhone\bin\vcast.exe",
"C:\My calllist\escalation.voc",
"C:\My calllist\escalation.wav",
"911911");

This will invoke BroadcastByPhone program on the gateway host and start calling everyone one the call list defined in 'C:\My calllist\escalation.voc'. The audio message played is 'C:\My calllist\escalation.wav'. And as soon as anyone on the list enters the confirmation code '911911', the call will stop automatically.

Source Code

                ------------------

                File Voicent.java:

            ------------------

                

                import java.net.URL;

                import java.net.URLEncoder;

                import java.net.HttpURLConnection;

                import java.io.PrintWriter;

                import java.io.InputStream;

                

                

                public class Voicent

                {

  /**

   * Constructor with default localhost:8155

   */

  public Voicent()

  {

    host_ = "localhost";

    port_ = 8155;

  }

                

  /**

   * Constructor with Voicent gateway hostname and port.

   * @param host Voicent gateway host machine

   * @param port Voicent gateway port number

   */

  public Voicent(String host, int 
                port)

  {

    host_ = host;

    port_ = port;

  }

                

  /**

   * Make a call to the number specified and play the text message

   * using text-to-speech engine.

   *

   * @param phoneno Phone number to call, exactly as it should be 
                dialed

   * @param text Text to play over the phone using text-to-speech

   * @param selfdelete After the call, delete the call request 
                automatically if set to 1

   * @return Call request ID

   */


  public String callText(String 
                phoneno, String text, boolean selfdelete)
  {

    // call request url

    String urlstr = "/ocall/callreqHandler.jsp";

                

    // setting the http post string

    String poststr = "info=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode("Simple Text Call " + phoneno);

                

    poststr += "&phoneno=";

    poststr += phoneno;

                

    poststr += "&firstocc=10";

                

    poststr += "&selfdelete=";

    poststr += (selfdelete ? "1" : "0");

                

    poststr += "&txt=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode(text);

                

    // Send Call Request

    String rcstr = postToGateway(urlstr, poststr);

                

    return getReqId(rcstr); 

                }

                

  /**

   * Make a call to the number specified and play the audio file. The

   * audio file should be of PCM 8KHz, 16bit, mono.

   *

   * @param phoneno Phone number to call, exactly as it should be 
                dialed

   * @param audiofile Audio file path name

   * @param selfdelete After the call, delete the call request 
                automatically if set to 1

   * @return Call request ID

   */

  public String callAudio(String 
                phoneno, String audiofile, boolean selfdelete)

  {

    // call request url

    String urlstr = "/ocall/callreqHandler.jsp";

                

    // setting the http post string

    String poststr = "info=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode("Simple Audio Call " + phoneno);

                

    poststr += "&phoneno=";

    poststr += phoneno;

                

    poststr += "&firstocc=10";

                

    poststr += "&selfdelete=";

    poststr += (selfdelete ? "1" : "0");

                

    poststr += "&audiofile=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode(audiofile);

                

    // Send Call Request

    String rcstr = postToGateway(urlstr, poststr);

                

    return getReqId(rcstr);

                }

                

  /**

   * Get call status of the call with the reqID.

   *

   * @param reqID Call request ID on the gateway

   * @return call status

   */

  public String callStatus(String 
                reqID)

  {

    // call status url

    String urlstr = "/ocall/callstatusHandler.jsp";

                

    // setting the http post string

    String poststr = "reqid=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode(reqID);

                

    // Send Call Request

    String rcstr = postToGateway(urlstr, poststr);

                

    return getCallStatus(rcstr);

  }

                

  /**

   * Remove all request from the gateway

   *

   * @param reqID Call request ID on the gateway

   * @return call status

   */

  public void callRemove(String reqID)

  {

    // call status url

    String urlstr = "/ocall/callremoveHandler.jsp";

                

    // setting the http post string

    String poststr = "reqid=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode(reqID);

                

    // Send Call remove post

    postToGateway(urlstr, poststr);

  }

                

  /**

   * Invoke BroadcastByPhone and start the call-till-confirm process

   *

   * @param vcastexe Executable file vcast.exe, BroadcastByPhone path 
                name

   * @param vocfile BroadcastByPhone call list file

   * @param wavfile Audio file used for the broadcast

   * @param ccode Confirmation code

   */

  public void callTillConfirm(String 
                vcastexe, String vocfile, String wavfile, String ccode)

  {

    // call request url

    String urlstr = "/ocall/callreqHandler.jsp";

                

    // setting the http post string

    String poststr = "info=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode("Simple Call till Confirm");

                

    poststr += "&phoneno=1111111"; // any number

                

    poststr += "&firstocc=10";

    poststr += "&selfdelete=0";

                

    poststr += "&startexec=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode(vcastexe);

                

    String cmdline = "\"";

    cmdline += vocfile;

    cmdline += "\"";

    cmdline += " -startnow";

    cmdline += " -confirmcode ";

    cmdline += ccode;

    cmdline += " -wavfile ";

    cmdline += "\"";

    cmdline += wavfile;

    cmdline += "\"";

                

    // add -cleanstatus if necessary

                

    poststr += "&cmdline=";

    poststr += URLEncoder.encode(cmdline);

                

    // Send like a Call Request

    postToGateway(urlstr, poststr);

  }

                

  private String postToGateway(String 
                urlstr, String poststr)

  {

    try {

      URL url = new URL("http", host_, port_, urlstr);

      HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) 
                url.openConnection();

                

      conn.setDoInput(true);

      conn.setDoOutput(true);

      conn.setRequestMethod("POST");

                

      PrintWriter out = new 
                PrintWriter(conn.getOutputStream());

      out.print(poststr);

      out.close();

                

      InputStream in = conn.getInputStream();

                

      StringBuffer rcstr = new StringBuffer();

      byte[] b = new byte[4096];

      int len;

      while ((len = in.read(b)) != -1)

        rcstr.append(new String(b, 0, len));

      return rcstr.toString();

    }

    catch (Exception e) {

      e.printStackTrace();

      return "";

    }

  }

                

  private String getReqId(String 
                rcstr)

  {

    int index1 = rcstr.indexOf("[ReqId=");

    if (index1 == -1)

      return "";

    index1 += 7;

                

    int index2 = rcstr.indexOf("]", index1);

    if (index2 == -1)

      return "";

                

    return rcstr.substring(index1, index2);

  }

                

  private String getCallStatus(String 
                rcstr)

  {

    if (rcstr.indexOf("^made^") != -1)

      return "Call Made";

                

    if (rcstr.indexOf("^failed^") != -1)

      return "Call Failed";

                

    if (rcstr.indexOf("^retry^") != -1)

      return "Call Will Retry";

                

    return "";

  }

                

                

  /* test usage */

  public static void main(String args[])

    throws InterruptedException

  {

    String mynumber = "1112222"; // replace with your own

                

    Voicent voicent = new Voicent();

    String reqId = voicent.callText(mynumber, 
                "hello, how are you", true);

    System.out.println("callText: " + reqId);

                

    reqId = voicent.callAudio(mynumber, 
                "C:/Program    Files/Voicent/MyRecordings/sample_message.wav", 
                false);

    System.out.println("callAudio: " + reqId);

                

    while (true) {

      Thread.currentThread().sleep(30000);

      String status = voicent.callStatus(reqId);

      if (status.length() > 0) {

        System.out.println(status);

        voicent.callRemove(reqId);

        break;

      }

    }

                

    voicent.callTillConfirm("C:/Program    
                Files/Voicent/BroadcastByPhone/bin/vcast.exe",

          "C:/temp/testctf.voc",

          "C:/Program 
                Files/Voicent/MyRecordings/sample_message.wav",

          "1234");

                }

                

                

  private String host_;

  private int port_;

                }

Points of Interest about IVR

Ideal inbound & Outbound IVR solution

• Self-service
  Allow callers to get answers to standard inquiries simply and easily, and in seconds, without the need for an agent
• Reach the right agent
  Automatically capture relevant information from your callers and direct them to the appropriate agent to handle their call
• 24/7 customer service
  Enable your customers to get the information they need, when they need it. Your IVR application is working even when you’re not, or it can transfer calls to your cell phone.
• Automated Outbound IVR
  Fully integrated with BroadcastByPhone Autodialer. Fully automated interactive outbound call applications to generate sales leads and keep in touch with your customers.

Inbound & Outbound IVR Solution Key Features

• Point-and-click call flow design
• Deployed on any PC with Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista
• Transfer call to any phone, such as your cell phone
• Interactive touch tone response
• Speech command response
• Automatically convert text to speech
• Easy integration with your website
• (Developer feature) Integrate with any program through Java
• Support Skype or voice modems for making calls
• Support single phone line or multiple phone lines
• Natural Text-to-speech engine for playing any text over the phone

IVR History

None.

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