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SpeechBuilder

In this section, you will learn how to use the Jovo SpeechBuilder, a helper class that makes it easier to build speech responses and add variety to your voice app.

Introduction to the SpeechBuilder

With the speechBuilder, you can assemble a speech element by adding different types of input. Factory-like methods allow you to add your output subsequently.

this.$speech.addText('Welcome to this Pizza Skill.')
            .addBreak('300ms')
            .addAudio('https://www.jovo.tech/downloads/pizza.mp3');

this.tell(this.$speech);

The Jovo object (this) consists of two pre-configured speechBuilder elements: this.$speech and this.$reprompt.

Alternatively, you can initialize a new speechBuilder object by using this.speechBuilder().

let speech = this.speechBuilder()
                .addText('Welcome to this Pizza Skill.')
                .addBreak('300ms')
                .addAudio('https://www.jovo.tech/downloads/pizza.mp3');

this.tell(speech);

You can see all the features below.

Features

Here is what's currently possible with speechBuilder:

Method Description
addText(text) Add plain text for text-to-speech
addT(key) Access i18n language resources for multilingual voice apps
addAudio(url, alternativeText) Add link to audio file and alternative text for Google Assistant. For more information on using audio files, see App Logic > Output > play.
addBreak(time) Add a break to the output. Make sure to add a unit, e.g. "300ms"
addSentence(text) Add a text within a sentence tag
addSayAsCardinal(text) Reads a number as cardinal
addSayAsOrdinal(text) Reads a number as ordinal
addSayAsCharacters(text) Reads all characters of a provided string
toString() Returns the content of the speechBuilder object as a string.

Add Variety to Your Speech Output

You can also use speechBuilder to add variety to your speech output. Here are a few things that work:

Randomized Output

For any of the speechBuilder methods, you can add an array of elements. The voice app will then pick a random item:

this.$speech.addText(['Hey there!', 'Welcome back!', 'Hi!']);

this.tell(this.$speech);

Conditions

You can also add a condition as a parameter to any speechBuilder method. The output will only added if the condition is true.

addText(text, condition)

// Example
this.$speech.addText('Welcome new user!', this.$user.isNewUser())
            .addText('Welcome back!', !this.$user.isNewUser());

this.tell(this.$speech);

Probabilities

Similar to conditions, you can also add probabilities to speechBuilder methods. For example, if you add 0.3, the element will only be added 3 out of 10 times.

addText(text, probability)

// Example
this.$speech.addText('Welcome!')
                 .addText('What a beautiful day.', 0.3);

this.tell(this.$speech);