CODEWITHSUNDEEP
actions-on-google
James
James

Reputation: 729

Only play audio conv reply in SSML?

I was wondering if it was possible to not include text in my SSML, since my audio file says 'Are you ready to play?', I dont need any speech from the google assistant itself.

app.intent('Default Welcome Intent',(conv) =>{

  const reply = `<speak>
  <audio src="intro.mp3"></audio>
   </speak>`;
  conv.ask(reply);

});

The code above produces an error since I do not have any text input.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 288

Answers (3)

Huy Tower
Huy Tower

Reputation: 7976

The other way to trick, try to use blank space to don't get No Response error (... is not responding now)

conv.ask(new SimpleResponse(" "))
const reply = `<speak>
  <audio src="intro.mp3"></audio>
   </speak>`;
conv.ask(reply);

Upvotes: 0

Prisoner
Prisoner

Reputation: 50731

The error you probably got was something like

expected_inputs[0].input_prompt.rich_initial_prompt.items[0].simple_response: 'display_text' must be set or 'ssml' must have a valid display rendering.

As it notes, there are conditions where the Assistant runs on a device with a display (such as your phone), and it should show a message that is substantively the same as what the audio plays.

You have a couple of options that are appropriate for these cases.

First, you can provide optional text inside the <audio> tag that will be shown, but not read out (unless the audio file couldn't be loaded for some reason).

<speak>
  <audio src="intro.mp3">Are you ready to play?</audio>
</speak>

Alternately, you can provide separate strings that represent the SSML version and the plain text version of what you're saying.

const ssml = `<speak><audio src="intro.mp3"></audio></speak>`;
const text = "Are you ready to play?";
conv.ask( new SimpleResponse({
  speech: ssml,
  text: text
}) );

Upvotes: 2

James
James

Reputation: 729

Found a hacky work around for this, By adding a very short string and then putting it in a prosody tag with a silent volume:

app.intent('Default Welcome Intent',(conv) =>{
  const reply = `<speak>
  <audio src="intro.mp3"></audio>
  <prosody volume ="silent">a</prosody> </speak>`;
  conv.ask(reply);

});

This plays the audio and does not speak the 'a' text.

Upvotes: 2

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