README

    PerlSpeak version 0.50
    ======================
      PerlSpeak - Perl Module for text to speach with festival, cepstral and others.

      PerlSpeak.pm is Perl Module for text to speach with festival or cepstral.
      (Other tts systems may be used by setting the tts command properties).
      PerlSpeak.pm includes several useful interface methods like an audio file
      selector and menu system. PerlSpeak.pm was developed to use in the
      Linux Speaks system, an audio interface to linux. More information can be
      found at the authors website http://www.joekamphaus.net

    INSTALLATION

    To install this module type the following:

       perl Makefile.PL
       make
       make test
       make install

    COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

     Copyright (C) 2007 by Joe Kamphaus

     This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
     it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.8 or,
     at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.

    SYNOPSIS

     my $ps = PerlSpeak->new([property => value, property => value, ...]);

    METHODS

     $ps = PerlSpeak->new([property => value, property => value, ...]);
      Creates a new instance of the PerlSpeak object.

     $ps->say("Text to speak.");
     $ps->say("file_name");
      The basic text to speach interface.

     $ps->readfile("file_name");
      Reads contents of a text file.

     $ps->file2wave("text_file_in", "audio_file_out");
      Converts a text file to an audio file.

     $path = $ps->filepicker("/start/directory");
      An audio file selector that returns a path to a file. If "dir_return" is true
      "filepicker" may also return the path to a directory.

     $path = $ps->dirpicker("/start/directory");
      An audio directory selector that returns a path to a directroy.

     $chr = $ps->getchr();
      Returns next character typed on keyboard

     $ps->menu("Text to speak" => $callback, ...)
      An audio menu executes callback when item is selected

    PROPERTIES

      The default property settings should work in most cases. The exception is
      if you want to use a tts system other than festival or cepstral. The rest
      of the properties are included because I found them usefull in some instances.

     $ps->{tts_engine} => "festival" or "cepstral";  Default is "festival"
      Other tts engines can be used by using the tts command properties.

     $ps->{tts_command} => "command text_arg";  Default is ""
      Command to read a text string. "text_arg" = text string.

     $ps->{tts_file_command} => "command file_arg"  Default is ""
      Command to read a text file. "file_arg"  = path to text file to be read.

     $ps->{file2wave_command} => "command IN OUT";  Default is ""
      Command for text file to wave file. "IN" = input file "OUT" = output file.
      Not needed if tts_engine is festival" or "cepstral.

     $ps->{no_dot_files} => $boolean;  Default is 1
     $ Hides files that begin with a '.'

     $ps->{hide_extentions} => $boolean;   Default is 0
      Will hide file extensions.
      NOTE: If hiding extensions the no_dot_files property must be set to 1.

     $ps->{make_readable} => "regexp pattern";  default is "[_\\]"
      will substitute spaces for regexp pattern

     $ps->{browsable} => $boolean;  Default is 1
      If true filepicker can browse other directories via the right and left arrows.

     $ps->{dir_return} => $boolean;  Default is 1
      If true filepicker may return directories as well as files.

     $ps->{file_prefix} => $text;  Default is "File"
      For filepicker. Sets text to speak prior to file name.

     $ps->{dir_prefix} => "text";  Default is "Folder"
      For filepicker and dirpicker. Sets text to speak prior to directory name.

    HOW TO USE
      !/usr/bin/perl

      use PerlSpeak;

      my $ps = PerlSpeak->new();

      # Set properties
      $ps->{tts_engine} = "festival";  or cepstrel
      # Optionally set your own tts command use text_arg where the text goes
      $ps->{tts_command} => "";
      $ps->{no_dot_files} => 1;
      $ps->{hide_extentions} => 0;

      # Audio file selectors
      my $file = $ps->filepicker($ENV{HOME});  Returns a file.
      my $dir = $ps->dirpicker($ENV{HOME});  Returns a directory.

      $ps->say("Hello World!");  #The computer talks.

      # Returns the next character typed on the keyboard
      # May take 2 or 3 calls for escape sequences.
      print $ps->getch();

      # Make some sub refs to pass to menu
      my $email = sub {
    	print "Email\n";
      };
      my $internet = sub {
    	print "Internet\n";
      };
      my $docs = sub {
    	print "Documents\n"
      };
      my $mp3 = sub {
    	print "MP3\n";
      };
      my $cdaudio = sub {
    	print "CD Audio\n"
      };
      my $help = sub {
    	print "Browse Help\n"
      };

      # menu is a talking menu
      # Pass menu a hash of "text to speak" => $callback pairs
      $ps->menu(
    	"E-mail Menu" => $email,
    	"Internet Menu" => $internet,
    	"Documents Menu" => $docs,
    	"M P 3 audio" => $mp3,
    	"C D audio" => $cdaudio,
    	"Browse help files" => $help,
      };

    CHANGES

    1/9/2007

     1/9/2007 ver 0.03

     * Fixed error handling for opendir and readdir.

     * Added property tts_command => $string
        (insert "text_arg" where the text to speak should be.)

     * Added property no_dot_files => $boolean default is 1
        (Set to 0 to show hidden files)

     * Fixed bug in tts_engine => "cepstral" (previously misspelled as cepstrel)

     * Added funtionality to traverse directory tree up as well as down.
        (user can now use the arrow keys for browsing and selecting
        up and down browses files in current directory. Right selects the
        file or directory. Left moves up one directory like "cd ..")

     * Added property hide_extentions => $boolean to turn off speaking of file
        extensions with the filepicker method. Default is 0.
        (NOTE: If hiding extensions the no_dot_files property must be set to 1)

     * Added property "make_readable" which takes a regular expression as an argument.
        PerlSpeak.pm substitues a space for characters that match expression.  The
        default is "[_\\]" which substitutes a space for "\" and "_".

     1/9/2007 ver 0.50

     * Added funtionality for reading a text file. Method "say" will now take
        text or a file name as an argument. Also added method "readfile" which
        takes a file name as an argument. The property tts_file_command was also
        added to accomodate tts systems other than festival or cepstral.

     * Added funtionality for converting a text file to a wave file via the
        "file2wave" method and optionally the "file2wave_command" property.

     * Added properties "file_prefix" and "dir_prefix" to enable changing
        text to speak prior to file and directory names in the "filepicker"
        and "dirpicker" methods.

     * Added "browsable", a boolean property which will togle the browsable feature
        of the "filepicker" method.

     * Added "dir_return", a boolean property which will allows the "filepicker"
        method to return the path to a directory as well as the path to a file.

     * Changed required version of perl to 5.6. I see no reason why PerlSpeak.pm
        should not work under perl 5.6, however, this has not yet been tested. If
        you have problems with PerlSpeak on your version of perl let me know.

    SEE ALSO

      More information can be found at the authors website http://www.joekamphaus.net

      Festival Speech Synthesis System is an open source tts system and is usually
      included in most Linux distributions.
      The Festival Speech Synthesis System can be found at
      http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/

      Cepstral voices are recomended if you don't mind paying for proprietary
      software.  I mean no disrespect to any open source zealots, but cepstral
      has reasonably priced (I paid about $30) high quality proprietary voices.
    . Cepstral voices can be found at http://www.cepstral.com.