Within VoiceObjects Desktop for Web, objects are created and modified in editor windows that are called object editors. Object editors share various common features, but also have features that are particular to respective object types. Depending on the object type you want to create or edit, the corresponding object editor is displayed.

In this chapter only the common features shared by all object editors within Desktop for Web will be described. For details on the individual sections of each object editor, see the description of the corresponding object in the Object Reference.

Object Editor Elements

As an example, a Module editor - the object editor for a Module object - is shown below:

 

In general, each object editor contains the following elements:

Component	Function
Title bar	Displays the name of the object and the type of the object editor.
Toolbar	Contains buttons for the most frequently used commands for creating or editing objects.
Name field	To enter a unique name for the object. Entering a name is mandatory and an object cannot be saved without a name. Note that the length of the name is limited to 255 char and that it is not possible to give two objects of the same object type within one project identical names that only differ in capitalization. Using UTF-8 characters is allowed, but may reduce the given size limit, as some characters use more than one byte.
Major sections	Contain all definitions for the object. Depending on the object type, two or more major sections are available. In Desktop for Web, the major sections of an editor are represented by tabs.
Subsections	Contain all attributes and parameters defining an object. Depending on the object type, one or more subsections are available within a major section. In Desktop for Web, the subsections are represented by boxes.

Object Editor Toolbar

The Object Editor toolbar contains buttons for the most frequently used commands for creating or editing objects.

These commands have the following functions:

Button	Command	Function
	Save and Close	Saves and closes the current object editor.
	Save	Saves the current object without closing the object editor.
	Save as	Saves the current object with a new name (which must have been entered before clicking this button) and closes the object editor. The original object is kept unchanged. Note that if the original object has a custom reference ID this ID also needs to be changed manually.
	Minimize All Boxes	Minimizes all boxes.
	Maximize All Boxes	Maximizes all boxes.
	Help	Opens VoiceObjects Online Help.
	Cancel	Closes the current object editor without saving.

Object Editor Sections

Object editors contain several major sections represented as tabs in Desktop for Web, each of them containing several subsections represented as boxes.

Major sections

The following major sections are available, depending on the respective object type:

Major Section	Content
Definition	Available in every object editor. The most important information for the internal dialog flow and the external representation of the object is available in this area of the object editor. For details on the Definition section of a particular object type refer to the Object Reference.
Pre-/Postprocessing	Only available if a precondition can be specified for an object type. Depending on dialog information at call time, this precondition controls whether an object is processed or not. Additionally, many objects allow specifying a sequence of objects here to be processed before or after their own processing. For details see Pre- / Postprocessing in the Object Reference.
Event Handling	Allows specifying event handling in the case of exceptions (No Input, No Match, or System Errors) as well as help options. This information is inherited by nested objects to allow a consistent Voice User Interface (VUI) design. For details see Event Handling in the Object Reference.
Navigation	Allows defining system and custom navigation for an object. This information is inherited by nested objects to facilitate a consistent Voice User Interface (VUI) design. For details see Navigation in the Object Reference.
Tuning	In this section, tuning parameters for an object may be specified that are passed to the media platform or processed by VoiceObjects Server. For details see Tuning in the Object Reference.
Properties	Available in every object editor. All standard properties like descriptions, time stamps, etc. are maintained within this area. For details see Properties in the Object Reference.
OSDM	Only available in the Module editor to define OSDM parameters. For details see Module in the Object Reference.
Security	Available in all configuration object editors. In this section, security settings are specified. For more information on controlling access using the Security section, refer to Access Control in Chapter 2 – User Management – Basic Topics in the Administration Guide.
Libraries	Only available in the Project Version editor to link libraries into your project version. For more information see Link a Library into a Project in Chapter 2 – Working with Projects.

Subsections

Depending on the object type, one or more subsections, represented by boxes, are available within the major sections described above. They contain all available attributes and parameters defining an object.

Example: Welcome Output, Object Sequence, Goodbye Output, and Options in the Definition section of the Module editor:

Click the Maximize button  on the toolbar of the object editor to maximize all boxes. To minimize all boxes, click the Minimize button .

To maximize a single box, click the Maximize button  in the right corner of the particular box or just click the left field of its toolbar. To minimize a single box, click the Minimize button (in place of the previous Maximize button  ) or click the left field of the toolbar again.

The toolbars of the boxes contain the following buttons. Not all of these buttons are available for all subsections:

Button	Command	Function
	Browse and Link Available Object	Browses for an available object to be linked into the current object instead of defining an embedded object (see below).
	Save as Autonomous object	Saves an embedded object as an autonomous object.
	Edit Linked Object	Opens up the corresponding object editor for a linked object.
	Clear	Clears the entire box. If an object has been linked into the box it will be removed.
	Add New Element	Adds a new empty element to a box where more than one element is possible (e.g. several output items in an Output object).
	Remove Element	Removes an element from a box.
	Open Context Menu	Opens up a context menu containing commands for modifying a list of items. For information on the respective commands see Object Editor Context Menu.
	Help	Opens up the Online Help for this specific section.
	Maximize Box	Expands the box.
	Minimize Box	Collapses the box.

 

For detailed information on the individual features of every section see the description of the respective object type in the Object Reference.

Browse and link available objects

Some sections in various object editors allow browsing for an available object to be linked onto the section instead of configuring an embedded object definition. This is indicated by the Browse and Link Available Object button  on the toolbar of the respective box:

If an object has been linked onto a section the entire section gets replaced by the referenced object and its appearance changes accordingly:

Add new elements

Some sections and fields in various object editors allow specifying multiple elements (e.g. several output items within an Output object or several objects within an object sequence).

Click the Add button  in the toolbar of the respective section to add a new object item or to insert another row.

 

Object Editor Fields

Object editors provide several types of input fields to specify the various properties that define an object.

For details on the particular properties of each object type refer to the Object Reference.

For information on the context menus on editor fields see Object Editor Context Menu below.

Text fields

Text fields allow entering individual input. This can either be a single line or a multiple line field.

 

Some text fields also allow linking an object that can be evaluated at call time (e.g. Variable, Expression, Script or Layer object).

 

Others allow linking objects into it combined with entering individual input.

 

Linking objects using the shortcut notation

Objects can be linked in certain objects like Output, Log, and Resource Locator either by typing in the shortcut notation manually, or by using the context menu on the text field.
Object references added in the latter way are appended to the end of the respective item. You need to manually place them at the desired position, if required.

Using the shortcut notation, the following object types can be linked:

·          [O:Output_Name] for Output objects,

·          [V:Variable_Name] for Variable objects,

·          [C:Collection_Name] for Collection objects,

·          [E:Expression_Name] for Expression objects,

·          [X:Script_Name] for Script objects,

·          [A:Audio_Name] for Audio objects,

·          [M:Video_Name] for Video objects,

·          [S:Silence_Name] for Silence objects,

·          [L:Layer_Name] for Layer objects.

When inserting an object using the shortcut notation, the validation button  should be used to check whether the object (or objects) could be found. If the referenced object could not be found, the reference will be displayed, e.g., as <?V:Sumof rebates?> (and analogously for Output, Collection, Expression, Script, Audio, Video, Silence, and Layer objects). In this case, check whether you have typed the name of the object correctly and whether the referenced object really exists. Also, validation fails if the object name contains square brackets. You may still save the object even if some of the references are invalid. These references will be ignored when processing the object. When opening and saving the object the next time, the references will be validated again.

In case an object from a library is to be added, use the following notation instead:

[V:LibraryName/VersionName#Variable_Name]

and similar for all other types of objects.

Objects referenced using the shortcut notation can be edited by using the Edit command in the context menu on the text field. The corresponding object editor will open up. Object references are removed from the field by using the Remove command in the context menu, or by deleting the corresponding reference manually.

 List fields

List fields allow selecting input from a drop-down list.

 

Some of the list fields also allow linking an object type that can be evaluated at call time (e.g. Variable, Expression, Script or Layer object).

 

Other list fields allow entering individual input instead of or combined with a selection from a drop-down list. In this case you make a selection from a drop-down list first and press the RIGHT ARROW key to place the cursor behind the entry in the respective field in order to add individual text to the selection.

Reference fields

Reference fields allow linking autonomous objects.

Depending on the section in which a reference field is used the object types that can be linked may differ.

Layer fields

Layer fields are used for defining a layer condition. To do so, click the Context Menu button  to the right of the layer field and point to one of the Layer objects at the bottom of the context menu. From the upcoming submenu select the layer state you want to use as layer condition.
Once a layer condition has been linked the layer operator can be modified by left-clicking the switch button  to the right of the operator.

 

Layer fields also allow linking autonomous objects, but this is restricted to object types that can be evaluated as a Boolean condition at call time (Variable, Expression, or Script object).

Check boxes

Check boxes allow selecting an option.

 

Most check boxes also allow linking an object of any object type that can be evaluated as a Boolean condition at call time (Variable, Expression, Script or Layer object).

Description fields

Some sections contain description fields, which are most often related to a list field in the same section. Based on the selection made in the list field the description field displays the corresponding description. It is not possible to edit a description field.

File browsing fields

File browsing fields allow browsing for a file on the file system by clicking the Browse button  to the right of the field. This button will only be displayed if the Resource Locator object, defined in the Location field of the corresponding section, is available and includes a physical path definition.

The filename can also be entered manually if the files are not available yet.

 

File browsing fields also allow linking autonomous objects, but this is restricted to object types that can be evaluated at call time (Variable, Expression, or Script object).

Auto-complete function

Most list fields that allow selecting input from a drop-down list provide an auto-complete function. This means that if you enter for example just a single letter the selection in the drop-down list will be reduced to all entries starting with this letter and the first entry that applies to the selection will be entered into the field.

Example: if you enter “F” in any Language field the selection in the drop-down list will be reduced to all available entries starting with an “F” (Finnish, French, French (CA), French (FR)) with Finnish being entered into the Language field.

Press BACKSPACE to return to the entire list.

Use the DOWN ARROW key and the UP ARROW key to move up and down within the list.

With the PgnDw and PgnUp keys you can jump to the next or the previous set of entries in the list. Use the END key to get to the last entry and the POS1 key to get to the first entry in the list.

i8Note: Refrain from using the numpad of your keyboard when entering dots or commas as the respective key is interpreted different according to your current locale. Use the keys for comma and dot on the main part of the keyboard instead.

Object Editor Context Menu

The context menus that open up if you click the Context Menu button  to the right of a reference field in an object editor contain the following commands:

Menu Command	Function
Edit	Opens the object editor for the linked object selected from the corresponding submenu.
New	If only one object type is allowed, this command opens up the corresponding object editor for creating a new object to be linked into the field. If more than one object type is allowed a submenu opens up to select an object type to be created.
Browse	Browses for an existing object to be linked into the field, sorted by object type. If only one object type is allowed all available objects of this type are displayed. If more than one object type is allowed a submenu opens up to first select an object type before searching.
Search	Opens up the Search editor to search for an existing object to be linked into the field according to particular search criteria. See also Search Objects in Chapter 7 – Basic Commands.
Clipboard	Opens up a submenu containing all objects that are currently in the Clipboard.
Import	Opens the Import – Browser Clipboard window to select an object from the browser clipboard to be linked into the field. Only available in outputs. See also Import objects from the browser clipboard in Chapter 7 – Basic Commands.
Clear	Clears the selected field by removing the linked object.
Remove	To the right of a text field this command removes the linked object selected from the corresponding submenu. To the right of a row in a list this command removes the entire row containing the linked object.
Move (To Top, Up, Down, To End)	Changes the position of a selected row in a list of items (e.g. in lists, menus, or sequences). See also Re-Order Objects or Object Items in Chapter 7 – Basic Commands.

Search Result Window

If you browse or search for an object to be linked into a reference field of an object editor (see Object Editor Context Menu) all available objects of the selected object type will be displayed in a Search Result window.

To link an object from the search result list into the respective reference field, simply click it.

To leave the Search Result window without selecting an object, click Cancel.

File Browser Window

Some object editors (e.g. Audio object, Grammar object) not only allow linking other objects but also external file resources. If you search for an external file, the search result is displayed in a File Browser window.

To link a file from the search result list into the respective editor field, select a file and click it.

To leave the File Browser window without selecting a file, click Cancel.

i8Note: The file search refers to the folder that is specified in the physical path of the Resource Locator object related to the current object.