Did you ever wonder what’s the best way to call a stored procedure in a relational database server from your VoiceObjects call flow implementation? As you might know, the new Database object was added with VoiceObjects 9.1, and it greatly facilitates the task of executing SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE statements in a database server. However, it just doesn’t deal with stored procedures. In many projects, however, database content must be accessed through stored procedures, while direct use of DML (Data Manipulation Language) commands (such as SELECT or INSERT) is a no-no.

So, we went ahead and created a generic VoiceObjects Connector implementation that should be useable in most if not all instances where database integration via stored procedures is required. It was implemented as a CGI connector – that is, the connector code will be deployed as  a web application in a web application server (such as Tomcat), and communicate with the VoiceObjects Server via XML/http. It supports calling stored procedures with any number of IN and OUT parameters of all kinds of data types, and deals with result sets that may be returned by  the stored procedure. Plus, it leverages database connection pools that are configured and maintained on the web application server.

If you’re interested, find all you need to know about this generic “database stored procedure connector” in this new Knowledge Base article. There, you’ll find background information, installation and configuration instructions, as well as the actual download of the connector including the associated Java sources.

PS: Note that the implementation of this new CGI connector actually builds on the Java Servlet framework for CGI connectors that was presented in this recent blog post on VoiceObjects back-end integration.

VoiceObjects has one of the strongest phone self-service reporting and analytics offerings in the market today. VoiceObjects Analyzer provides insight into application usage and system performance for developers, administrators, and business staff like no other. Full access to the rich features of this product requires a Business Intelligence platform underneath, such as Business Objects, Cognos, or MicroStrategy. But did you know that VoiceObjects 9.1 introduced a variety of reports available at your fingertips, right within your favorite GUI Desktop for Eclipse, with no further software or installation required?

If you’re using 9.1 already, you have insanely easy access to reports probably without even knowing it; reports that help you run a session analysis for your server cluster or a single instance, inspect memory usage over a configurable period of time, or even analyze business task completion rates for the service you’ve launched the other day.

Let me show you how it all works. Whether you use Desktop for Eclipse in standalone mode (which is what you get with the “Developer Edition”), or access a full VoiceObjects Server in network mode, you can utilize the so-called Control Center Reports either way. As the name implies, the Control Center is where this neat little feature hides. If you run in standalone mode, you may want to check out this post about how to setup a Control Center view of your embedded VoiceObjects Server before proceeding.

Reports are available for three different areas:

1. entire server cluster
2. single server instance
3. single service

To access the reports for the entire server cluster (the “logical server”), switch to the Server Manager tab of the Control Center view, right-click on the item preceded by “S: “ (which is your logical server representing the cluster, called “VOServer” by default), and click Reports. From the submenu, you can now select a report from the available list:

Once selected, the view switches to the Report Chart tab, where you now see your report:

Change the time frame as desired and hit the Refresh button to update the report. You can even export a PDF version of your report to share it with others! (Notice the little Disk icon in the upper right corner…)

Accessing the reports for a single instance works pretty much the same way: right-click on the server instance (denoted with an “I: “) of your choice and select the desired report from the Reports submenu.

Service reports can be accessed likewise: switch to the Service Manager tab, right-click on the service of your choice and select the desired report. For example, check out the following report on business task completion rates, telling you how successful your callers are using your service:

Note: If you can’t see the entry Reports in your menus, then you have turned off System DB Logging for your server, instance, or service. System DB Logging must be switched on in order to be able to access the reports. If it’s switched off but had been switched on before and you still want to see reports on that historical data, you can switch it on temporarily through the transient setting available in the DB Logging submenu of your server or service.


So there you go: reports at your fingertips, without the need to install a full Business Intelligence suite. However, keep in mind that VoiceObjects Analyzer provides a whole lot more reports, plus analysis features such as drilling, slicing&dicing, and more. The Control Center Reports do not replace the Analyzer, but provide valuable insight mainly for administrational staff right within your favorite IDE.

Alright, I’m outta here. I have to fix this module “Enter New Credit Card” in my application. The task completion rate is way too low as I just realized…

MicroStrategy is now offering an new 5-day training course in Germany. The main goal of this course is allowing course participants bringing in their own data models, which will then be used as the basis for creating a MicroStrategy metadata layer on top of them as well as for developing corresponding reports.  At the end of the course all created reports and the metadata modell are delivered to the attendees together with a version of the free reporting suite of MicroStrategy.

More details can be found at:

http://www.microstrategy.de/kostenlosereportingsoftware/

http://www.microstrategy.de/files/Quickstart%20Kurs%20MicroStrategyRS%202010.pdf

Some weeks ago,  I announced the availability of VoiceObjects Evolution as the new Support Portal for our customers and partners – and that developers will get support for the Developer Edition through our Voxeo Evolution Portal.

Today we are opening our treasure chest a little bit!

Now available: The VoiceObjects Support Knowledge Base

You are now able to access Voxeo’s VoiceObjects Support Knowledge Base in our Evolution Portal. Just go to Documentation -> VoiceObjects Knowledgebase.

Articles in the Knowledge Base are written by our consultants, technology specialists and our Support team. They mostly cover frequently asked questions and general challenges from support, training and customer projects. This information is likely to be very helpful for you.
We open the Knowledge Base to share some of our knowledge and to support you with new ideas on how to approach a solution. Of course we also hope to get more of your feedback!

All articles have been reviewed internally. But – as the Knowledge Base is intended to be more dynamic than Voxeo’s VoiceObjects documentation, it might sometimes be the case that not everything in the Knowledge Base is a perfect fit for your issue. So some of the articles will refer to the documentation to avoid having the same content twice.
The Knowledge Base articles are not intended to replace the documentation or to give answers to all questions. They are primarily aimed at helping users in situations that are too specific to be handled in the documentation.
Please note that from time to time we might move articles from the Knowledge Base to the documentation – and vice versa.

Also note that some articles might describe behavior that is specific to a certain version of VoiceObjects (or other software) and thus cannot be generalized.
In case you can’t find the information you are looking for, please visit the Developer Portal to review the entire VoiceObjects documentation, the release notes and our developer blog!

Our Knowledge Base is updated frequently. We add new articles or remove articles which are no longer valid.
Therefore we need your input!
Please let us know what you think – about individual articles and the Knowledge Base system itself.

Please provide any feedback as article rating and in the VoiceObjects Desktop / Developer Edition Forum in the Support Forums of Evolution – until the comment functionality in the knowledgebase is available!

Did you read Tobias Göbel’s very recent blog about “IM-ifying VoiceObjects applications”? Well, I’m not saying it’s outdated. But, things have become even simpler since then.

When provisioning applications on Voxeo Evolution, you are no longer confined to the IVR channel. In addition to voice phone applications, you can provision your applications as “text messaging” applications. And you can provision these text messaging apps as an SMS service and / or map them to bots on the different IM networks, all in one single spot. Read the recent Voxeo blog about this new feature.

Now, what does this mean for VoiceObjects developers?

First of all, the two new options for deploying text messaging apps are actually very different both technically and  in terms of use case. This is represented by the following architectural sketch:

Application Type “Instant Messaging Bot”

First, have a look at the right-hand-side of the drawing. In VoiceObjects Server, the media platform driver Voxeo IMified Platform is selected (which has been available since VO 9 R1), while in Evolution, the application type is set to Instant Messaging Bot. In this scenario, Evolution is just the place where you configure your bots on IMified and provision the application’s start URL pointing to your VoiceObjects Server. The actual session-related traffic will be exchanged directly between VoiceObjects Server and the IMified platform, which in turn is connected to the IM networks. In the VoiceObjects service, the text channel will be active, and you can specifically design your application for this channel. (If you have never seen a VoiceObjects service in the text channel yet, watch this little demo video that shows how to test-drive a text app with the VoiceObjects PhoneSimulator).

“Instant Messaging Bot” is the application type you want to use for service with a specific design for the text channel. Under the hood, it uses the XML/http-based IMified API.

Application Type “Prophecy 10 VXML 2.1 /w SMS”  (aka Phoneless testing!)

Now, for the left-hand side of the architectural sketch. The difference looks small, but this is actually a completely different approach. Here, (a beta version of) Voxeo Prophecy 10 is sitting in between the application Server and the IMified platform. In VoiceObjects, you configure the exact same media platform driver as in the case of Voxeo-based IVR applications: Voxeo Voice Platform. In other words, VoiceObjects Server renders plain old VXML 2.1. In Evolution, you pick the new application type Prophecy 10 VXML 2.1 /w SMS. The Prophecy server is connected to IMified via MRCP, and rather than using ASR and TTS as IVR resources, it is treating IMified as a resource for (dis)playing prompts and processing grammars.

What happens if you talk to an IM bot configured this way? Well, he’ll speak the TTS text that he finds in the VXML, and he will process the input you type into the chat window based on the grammar(s) defined in the VXML code. What if your application expects DTMF input? You simply type in a number. What if you type in an out-of-grammar utterance? Guess what, a NoMatch event is triggered and the according NoMatch prompt will be played. What if you stay inactive for more than a few seconds? Of course – a NoInput event will be triggered, and if you have a NoInput handler defined, it will be processed.

In short: We’re looking at the perfect phone-less testing device for voice applications. Here’s a screenshot from a sample session; you can see me “talking” to the voice channel version of our SpeechTEK 411 demo application. Note the NoMatch and the NoInput situations.

So - can you think of a more elegant phone-less testing test harness? I can’t.

When deploying and testing your voice application in this way, just make sure that all your prerecorded prompts have alternative TTS text defined, and set the speech timeout to a much higher value than the standard 3 seconds.

Load and performance testing, functional regression testing, active production monitoring – things that ain’t fun, but need to be done if you’re serious about service quality and 24×7 availability.

For internal quality assurance based on test automation, as well as for automated testing in projects delivered by our own professional services and by partners, the Voxeo VoiceObjects team has developed and has been using a great little tool for quite a while: The VoiceObjects LoadTester. Technically, it’s a set of Python scripts that allow for

• recording test scripts by making reference calls;
• playing back test scripts by few or by hundreds of virtual callers (simulation of real-world workload), stressing the VoiceObjects Server platform and all involved back-end systems, while at the same time verifying that the system still responds quickly and correctly even under peak load conditions;
• and help to analyze system performance and response times, identify system bottlenecks, and understand resource usage.

The primary use case is making sure that the sizing and configuration of the VoiceObjects platform, including the server cluster, load balancer, Infostore setup, and back-end systems are ready to meet peak load situations, and that the system survives breakdown of single components.

An additional important use case is automated functional regression testing - making sure, with every new service release, that functionality that once was tested successfully hasn’t been broken since then. Finally, the LoadTester can be used for active production monitoring: Executing a set of test scripts in regular intervals (like, every 3 minutes) against the production system, performing transactional, end-to-end testing, that feeds health information and alarms into an existing system monitoring solution.

Now, why do I write about this? Simple: You can now download and use the VoiceObjects LoadTester in your own projects, for free. It will be official part of the VoiceObjects package in the next revision of VoiceObjects 9.0. And it is available today, as a pre-release, here: LoadTester.zip (this package contains a full installation for Windows, including the Python interpreter and required libraries).

On July 29, 2009, I presented the LoadTester in one of our developer jam sessions. Be sure to download (and scan through) the slides I used in the presentation, get the LoadTester Guide, and - sit back and relax – watch a recording of the webinar.

Finally, these are some images with charts generated the VoiceObjects LoadTester. Want to know what they show? Well, check out the LoadTester Guide – it’s all explained in there.

Mini-Preview of LoadTester charts

A few weeks ago you have learned how to enable Infostore on your Developer Edition. Once the connection to Infostore has been established, detailed information about the calls to your application are beeing logged to the Infostore repository.  By the way if you want to learn how you can fill your new Infostore repository faster than by manually making calls, join us for our next Developer Jam Session taking place on July 29 at 11am Eastern to learn about LoadTester. Registration is open now.

With VoiceObjects Analyzer for MicroStrategy 9 now available for download from the VoiceObjects Developer Portal (for the free Developer Edition) as well as from the VoiceObjects Service Portal (for existing customers), and the parallel offering of the free available MicroStrategy 9 Reporting Suite you can now complete your package of free solutions to get all the possibilities to create and call applications with Voxeo VoiceObjects  Developer Editon, and to analyze the callers’ behavior by running one of the 50 standard reports that are part of VoiceObjects Analyzer for MicroStrategy 9.

A detailed description on how to download, install and configure MicroStrategy 9 and VoiceObjects Analyzer is available here. Follow the descibed steps and come back to this post once MicroStrategy 9 is running properly and VoiceObjects Analyzer for MicroStrategy has been imported successfully.

In the following we will briefly describe how you can run one of the standard reports delivered with VoiceObjects Analyzer in MicroStrategy 9. Keep in mind that running a meaningful report requires to have at least some useful data in your Infostore repository. By the way, we are planning to extend our free offering by adding a package of Infostore demo data. Stay tuned for more details within the next couple of weeks!

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop (typically available from the start menu “Start” -> “All programs” -> “MicroStrategy” -> “Desktop”).
2. Provide the login details as defined in the Intelligence Server configuration (default is Administrator and empty password).
3. Open the Project Source “VoiceObjects Analyzer” (or any other name you have defined in the Project Source creation process).
4. Open the project “VoiceObjects Analyzer v9 R1″.
5. The standard reports can be found in the folder “Reports” below “Public Objects”. They are distributed in three categories “Administration and Maintenance”, “Application Development and Tuning” and “Business and Caller Analysis”. Refer to the Analyzer Guide for detailed information on the different reports.
6. As an example open the report “Number of Sessions by Day” from the category “Administration and Maintenance”.
7. In the upcoming prompts select the service and pick at least the year on which the report should be run. Click  “Finish” to start the report. You should get a report looking similar to the following example:
   
8. Now you can enjoy exploring the variety of available reports.

As always, if you have any problems, questions, or suggestions do not hesitate to contact our Extreme Support.

The following text describes how to download, install and configure MicroStrategy and VoiceObjects Analyzer for MicroStrategy to properly work together.
Before we begin with the installation process itself you should take a moment and step through the prerequisites, so that everything needed is available for the setup.

Prerequisites & System Requirements:

• VoiceObjects Analyzer for MicroStrategy 9 (download from the Developer Portal)
• MicroStrategy 9 free reporting software (download from MicroStrategy – ~ 1,8 GB!)
  NOTE: Registration is required before you can download MicroStrategy 9.
  Once registered you will receive an email with a license key that must be entered during the installation process.
• A Infostore repository with at least some logging data in it
• Microsoft Office 2002 or higher
• Acrobat Reader version 7 or higher
• Adobe Flash Player version 9.0

Once you have completed collecting all the material we can start with the installation process.

Installation:

1. Double-click the file MICROSTRATEGY9.exe to start the installation.
2. Enter the license key you received from MicroStrategy.
3. Follow the instructions and keep all default settings.
4. Send activation request.
5. Restart your computer.

After the installation you now need to activate and configure MicroStrategy properly.

Activation & Configuration

First open the “License Manager” from the start menu and switch to the tab “License Administration”. Click “Next” and select the option “Server Activation using Activation Code”. Now paste in the activation code you have received by email after you sent the activation request during the installation process of MicroStrategy.

Click “Next” to finish the activation process.

Secondly you need to configure MicroStrategy to import the VoiceObjects Analyzer package and connect to your Infostore repository. If after restarting your machine the “Configuration Wizard” of MicroStrategy has not started automatically, you need to go to the start menu and open it manually. The “Configuration Wizard” is used to:

• generate or update the metadata tables of MicroStrategy (as the downloaded package is already updated to MicroStrategy 9, this option can be skipped);
• configure the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server;
• create the connection to the project sources, which will be VoiceObjects Analyzer for MicroStrategy in our case.

1. Select the option “MicroStrategy Intelligence Server”. Click “Next” to continue.
2. On this screen the DSN (Data Source name) must be selected that represents the connection to the MicroStrategy metadata tables. Click “New” to define a new DSN.
3. On the upcoming screen click “Next” to continue.
4. Next, the appropriate driver for the DSN must be selected. Select “Other Relational Databases”. Click “Next” to continue.
   
5. Select the appropriate Microsoft Access driver, e.g.  “Microsoft Access Driver” if you have the English version of Microsoft Access installed. Click “Next” to continue.
6. Define a name and description for the new DSN and click  “Select”. In the upcoming file dialog browse for the downloaded VoiceObjects Analyzer for MicroStrategy file (VoiceObjectsAnalyzer_forMicroStrategy_90.mdb) and click  “OK”.
7. Click “OK” again to finally create this DSN.
8. Back in the DSN screen you will find this new DSN selected. Click “Next” to continue.
9. If not already provided as default values use Administrator as user name and leave the password field empty. Click “Next” to continue.
10. Define a name for the new Intelligence Server, e.g. MicroStrategy. Click “Next” to continue.
11. Select the checkboxes “VoiceObjects Analyzer v9 R1″ in order to load the package on start-up and “Start Intelligence Server when finished” to start the Intelligence Server automatically after the configuration process. Click “Next” to continue.
12. If a warning message pops up complaining about a missing DSN, this can be ignored. The missing DSN will be defined later in the configuration process.
13. Check the summary. Click “Finish” to finally start the configuration of the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server.
14. After a successful configuration click “Close” to return to the Overview page of the Configuration Wizard.
15. Back on the Overview page select the option “Project Sources”. Click “Next” to continue.
16. Define a name for the project source, e.g. VoiceObjects Analyzer, and select the option “MicroStrategy Intelligence Server (3 Tier)”. Click “Next” to continue.
17. Select the machine on which your MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is running and provide the corresponding port number, if you have changed the default port. Click “Next” to continue.
18. Keep the default selection “Use login id and password entered by the user (standard authentication)”. Click “Next” to continue.
19. Check the summary. Click “Finish” to finally start the creation of the new Project Source.
20. After a successful configuration click “Close” to return to the Overview page of the Configuration Wizard.
21. Click “Exit” to close the Configuration Wizard.

Configure DSN to Infostore repository

As mentioned during the configuration of the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, a DSN to the existing Infostore repository is needed. The VoiceObjects Analyzer for MicroStrategy package requires a DSN named Infostore_WH. Follow the steps described below in order to create this DSN.
NOTE: Depending on your Windows operating system, the steps might slightly differ from the description!

1. Open the “Data Sources (ODBC)” window (Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Data Sources (ODBC)).
2. Select the tab “System DSN”.
   
3. Click “Add” to create a new DSN
   NOTE: If no DSN´s are listed here (althoug one has already been created in the Intelligence Server configuration), this might indicate that you are running MicroStrategy 9 (32 bit software) on a 64 bit operating system. In this case you need to open the “ODBC Data Source Administrator” manually by starting the application [Windows]/SysWOW64/odbcad32.exe.
4. Select the driver that corresponds to your RDBMS containing the Infostore repository. Click “Finish” to continue.
5. CAUTION: Take care to use the name Infostore_WH for the new DSN, as otherwise the VoiceObjects Analyzer project cannot be connected to the data in your Infostore repository.
6. Follow the steps depending on the selected driver to properly define the connection to your Infostore repository.

Test of MicroStrategy Configuration

Once the DSN to the Infostore repository has been created successfully, you can test your setup by doing the following:

1. Open the MicroStrategy Desktop (Start -> All Programs -> MicroStrategy -> Desktop -> Desktop).
2. Provide the login details as defined in the Intelligence Server configuration (default is Administrator and empty password).
3. Open the Project Source “VoiceObjects Analyzer” (or any other name you have defined in the Project Source creation process).
4. Open the project “VoiceObjects Analyzer v9 R1″.
5. Expand the folder “Data Explorer” -> “Application” -> “Site” and check if an entry “System” will be offered. If this is the case the connection to the Infostore repository is working.

Can you do outbound dialing with VoiceObjects? Does VoiceObjects support call conferencing? How do I do call whispering using VoiceObjects? Questions of this kind reach us from time to time, and I have recently held a Developer Jam Session on the topic of Integrating Advanced Call Control in VoiceObjects Applications using CCXML to address some of these questions. For those of you who find this topic interesting but prefer reading over listening/watching, this is YOUR post.

It’s in fact interesting to see how W3C recommendations (or working drafts for that matter) slowly make their way into implementations within the industry. As is the case with CCXML; several vendors have recently announced support for this markup language, some have it in their portfolio for quite some time now. Vendors that support it include Avaya, Genesys, HP, Intervoice, Loquendo, and Nortel. Voxeo, with our VoiceXML & CCXML platform Prophecy, is at the forefront of CCXML development. Our CTO RJ Auburn acts as editor and chair of this markup standard that has been around since 2002.

So given that CCXML can be seen as an adopted standard, how does it all work? While I don’t intend to provide a full introduction (check out Voxeo’s CCXML developer guide with lots of tutorials and moderated forums instead, or read http://www.voxeo.com/library/ccxml.jsp to get an overview), here are some basic principles behind the language:

• CCXML implements a state machine
• CCXML is based on a flexible asynchronous event processing model, able to handle any kind of telephony and application events and perform actions upon them
• CCXML extends VoiceXML with advanced call control functionality missing in VoiceXML (which essentially only offers blind or bridged transfers), while being independent of VoiceXML (can work together with any other voice markup)
• CCXML integrates with VoiceXML by connecting callers with VoiceXML-powered applications as call legs if required

The following architecture picture shows how CCXML integrates with an XML-based telephony environment and how Voxeo products fit into the picture:

CCXML Architecture (based on an image taken from http://www.w3.org/TR/ccxml/)

So basically Voxeo Prophecy acts both as the dialog interpreter (i.e. VoiceXML browser) and call control interpreter (i.e. CCXML browser), whereas Voxeo VoiceObjects takes the role of the dialog application server. CCXML documents are always in the lead in a telephony session and control how the call is being handled and whether/when it is or is not connected to VoiceXML dialogs. Thus, VoiceObjects dialogs are being initiated from within CCXML, via the VoiceXML browser. In fact, depending on the application, there could be several interactions between the CCXML interpreter and VoiceObjects Server within one call, as depicted in the following graph:

The chain of interactions would look like this:

1. A call comes into the telephony platform and launches a CCXML document associated with the called number (DNIS)
2. The CCXML document handles all telephony events (connection.alerting, connection.connected, …) and might decide to launch a VoiceXML dialog
3. If so, it instructs the VoiceXML browser to request a dialog from VoiceObjects Server
4. VoiceObjects Server handles the dialog logic and sends VoiceXML pages while the voice browser requests them
5. When the dialog logic comes to an end, VoiceObjects Server renders tags like <disconnect>, <transfer>, or <exit> to hand back control to the CCXML document which was on standby, listening for any new events coming in
6. Steps 2-5 could be repeated, until the call session itself is finished (caller hangup, CCXML browser hangup)

Now that we know how it all works (in principle), what kind of applications can you build with this? Well, any that require advanced call control:

• Outbound Calls: To initiate a call and start VoiceXML dialogs once a connection is established
• Call Conferencing: To allow multiple participants to join a conference
• Routing: To route calls to the next available agent
  • Find me/Follow me: To find a person at several possible end points (mobile/work/home)
• Selective Call Answering: To decide whether or not to take a call based upon available caller information
• Coaching: To allow a third party to connect to a call, but only have one of the participants hear what is said
• …

Interested in learning more? Also how exactly the integration with VoiceObjects can look like? Well, in that case I would indeed point you again to the Developer Jam Session on that topic. Also, on our Developer Portal you will find a sample implementation of a personal assistant. You can download it and try it out using our free editions of Voxeo Prophecy and Voxeo VoiceObjects!

Oh, and if outbound IVR is of specific interest for you, please check out our website, which also has a link to a white paper on this topic: http://www.voxeo.com/outboundivr/

Please leave comments to this post if you have anything to share publicly on this topic. Thank you!

This one’s a first: Up until now, all “tips and tricks” articles referred to the current edition of Voxeo VoiceObjects Developer Edition. Today, however, we’ll grant you a look into the (foreseeable) future and whet your appetite with new functionality that will become available to you in the next couple of weeks. Use the Comments section below to let us know whether you’d like to see more such previews.

Voxeo VoiceObjects Developer Edition offers two connection modes: standalone and network.
In standalone mode, it is fully self-contained and works purely on the basis of its embedded database. This is great when you need to develop on-the-go, or just want to get started without the need to set up an elaborate infrastructure.
In network mode, you connect to a central Metadata Repository. This way you can collaborate within a team, share objects, and work on the same application simultaneously. Ideal when you work on larger projects.

If you’re like me, you’ll switch between these modes often – which, at the moment, can become a minor itch in the neck. Every time you need to open up the Preferences, go to the VoiceObjects section, switch the connection, click “OK”, then wait for the switch to be applied and the Repository Browser to refresh. And if you’re starting up with a network mode configuration in a “standalone environment” in which the central repository does not exist, you need to wait a moment for that to register, watch the Repository Browser go away, then go through the steps described above. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an easier way?

Well, in the next VoiceObjects revision there will be! 9.0R1 will offer two enhancements with regard to the Metadata Repository connection:

1. Switch connection from the VoiceObjects menu
   The VoiceObjects menu will have a new entry Switch connection mode that immediately lets you switch the repository connection without the need to go to the Preferences. Even better, this switch is “transient” in the sense that it does not change your preference settings.
2. Select connection upon start-up
   For those who often move between different environments, there is also an additional switch in the Preferences called Ask for Metadata Repository connection on startup. When selected, Developer Edition asks on every start-up which mode it should work in. No more waiting for timeouts or clicking through error messages!

Not a big change, perhaps, but we think that it addresses a real need – and hopefully makes your user experience with Voxeo VoiceObjects Developer Edition more pleasant still. We’re looking forward to your feedback.

If you’d like to be among the first to know when 9.0 R1 is available on the Developer Portal, follow us on Twitter.