[guispeak] SayTools 1.3 released
- From: Jamal Mazrui <empower@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: uaccess-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, program-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, jawsscripts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:21:47 -0400 (EDT)
http://EmpowermentZone.com/saysetup.exe
Version 1.3 adds properties for configuring the voice, rate, and volume of
SAPI speech. A new method collects MSAA information from the current
window. More documentation and samples show what is possible with
SayTools.
Special thanks go to the Department of Computer Science at the University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill for the pyAA, pySonic, and pyTTS libraries
for Python that SayTools now uses. The revised function list is below.
Jamal
Once SayTools is installed on a computer, a COM client may use the string
"Say.Tools" as the ProgID (program identifier) for creating an object with
several methods and properties summarized below.
IsJAWSActive() -- Test whether JAWS is active in memory
IsSAActive() -- Test whether System Access is active in memory
IsWEActive() -- Test whether Window-Eyes is active in memory
JAWSSay(sText) -- Say a string of text via JAWS
SASay(sText) -- Say a string of text via System Access
WESay(sText) -- Say a string of text via Window-Eyes
Say(sText) -- Say a string of text via JAWS, System Access, or Window-Eyes
if found, or SAPI if that has been set as the last resort
UseSAPI = bState -- Determine whether SAPI speech is used as a last resort
if no screen reader is found, a Boolean property that is 1 for True or 0
for False (default is False)
SAPIVoice = sVoice -- Determine which SAPI voice is used, a string
property
SAPIRate = iRate -- Determine the SAPI speech rate, an integer property
that is between -10 and 10 for most voices (default is 0)
SAPIVolume = iPercent -- Determine the SAPI speech volume, an integer
property that is between 0 and 100 (default is 50)
SAPIGetVoices() -- Get a list of available SAPI voices, delimited by a
line feed character (ASCII 10)
SAPISay(sText) -- Say a string of text via SAPI, according to voice, rate,
and volume properties
SAPIWriteWav(sFile, sText) -- Write sFile in WAV format, containing sText
said via SAPI, according to voice, rate, and volume properties
PlaySample(sFile, bWait) -- Play an audio sample file that is loaded into
memory at once, with an optional Boolean parameter that determines whether
to wait for speech to complete before continuing (default is True)
PlayStream(sFile) -- Play an audio stream file that is loaded sequentially
due to its size, with an optional Boolean parameter that determines
whether to wait for speech to complete before continuing (default is True)
ReadFile(sFile) -- Read and return the content of a file as a string
WriteFile(sFile, sText) -- Write a file containing a string
MessageBox(sText, sTitle) -- Show a message box with an optional title
MSAAGetTree() -- Return a string containing the tree structure of MSAA
properties that are found in the client region of the forground window
The audio file methods can play recorded voice or sound effects in MP3,
OGG, WAV, or other formats. Check the Docs subfolder for documentation on
the pySonic module and the FMMOD library that it wraps. Documentation on
the pyAA module explains what information is available to screen readers
via the Microsoft Active Accessibility API.
The ReadFile method may be particularly useful for reading and then
running a Python script file, using the following Two methods that provide
access to the Python interpreter at runtime:
Exec(sCode, v1, v2, v3, v4) -- Execute one or more Python statements as a
string that may include varient parameters
Eval(sCode, v1, v2, v3, v4) -- Evaluate a Python expression after
executing preceding Python statements, if any
Each method takes five parameters: a string sCode containing the code to
be run, and four variant data items that it can use, these being
referenced as v1, v2, v3, and v4 within the code. Generally, the variants
passed are either numbers or Unicode strings. They are optional and
default to 0. The return value is also a variant.
The Exec method runs one or more Python statements delimited by a line
feed character (ASCII 10). The Eval method works similarly except that
the last (or only) line of code is evaluated as an expression (not
statement), and the result is returned. Besides builtin Python functions,
SayTools imports the following Python modules for possible work in such
code: comtypes, ctypes, EasyDialogs, os, pyAA, pySonic, pyTTS, sys, time,
win32api, win32com.client, and win32gui. For convenient reference,
documentation on several of these modules is included in the Docs
subfolder.
The Exec and Eval methods can significantly extend the abilities of a
screen reader to interrogate the computer system and perform useful tasks,
including ones enabled via dynamic API calls to Windows or third party
DLLs. Like any capability, however, this can also be misused, and so
should be treated as a security risk with untrusted client programs.
Check the Samples subfolder for demonstrations of Exec and Eval, as well
as the Python documentation for the many functions available in the
imported modules. Although the SayTools COM server loads relatively
quickly given its functionality, best performance in a client program is
gained by instantiating it once at startup, and then using a reference to
the same object over the life of the program.
The SayTools command-line utilities are as follows:
SayLine.exe sLine -- Say a line of text, passed as a parameter on the
command line, using a screen reader if found, or SAPI if not
SayFile.exe sFile -- Say a text file, passed as a complete path on the
command line, using a screen reader if found, or SAPI if not
RunScript.exe sScript -- Run an active JAWS script, either global default
or application specific, passed as a complete path on the command line
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