AppleScript in a Nutshell

Name

Speech Listener Application

Dictionary commands

listen for

listen for is the only command in the Speech Listener application’s dictionary. The Speech Listener app is located in the startup disk:System Folder:Scripting Additions folder. Figure 30-3 shows the Speech Listener icon.

Figure 30-3. Speech Listener app icon

listen for allows a script to “listen for” any text provided in a list of strings (or numbers), then respond accordingly when it hears one of the listed words or numbers. The return value of the listen for command is the text or number that is recognized. The following example first sets a fam variable to a list of names. It then uses the listen for command to prompt the user to say one of the names. If the name is recognized (let’s say it’s “Emily”) then the computer responds by saying “Hey guys, Emily is my family member too!” The [[emph - ]] syntax is an embedded speech command that (in this case) de-emphasizes the pronunciation of the following word. Embedded speech commands are explained elsewhere in this chapter. If the script listens but does not hear any spoken commands in 60 seconds, it will time out and raise error number -1712. The example script catches this error, says “bye-bye,” and exits the repeat loop (effectively terminating the script). Listen for also raises an error when text is heard but does not match any of the specified text options.

(* repeat ...