More Resources Dialog Designer Fact Sheet Whitepaper: Delivering Superior Self Service     with Voice XML Dialog Designer Elements More DevConnect Resources

Avaya Dialog Designer can take your VoiceXML (VXML) or Call Control XML (CCXML) application all the way from concept to fully-tested deployment—and it's every bit as strong in the later phases of the development cycle as it is in up-front design. The key to Avaya Dialog Designer's test and debug prowess is Avaya Application Simulator, a built-in voice browser and simulator that allows you to simulate calls from the Dialog Designer IDE. With the application simulator, you can test DTMF or speech-enabled applications without interfering with production Avaya Voice Portal or Avaya Interactive Response (IR) platforms. After testing, you can easily deploy completed applications over to production servers. Avaya Application Simulator fully integrates testing in the development process, not only encouraging thorough testing but also fostering iterative development.

Simulation is just one of the capabilities of Avaya Dialog Designer, an Eclipse-based IDE for creating speech-based self-service applications including those using VXML and CCXML. With Avaya Dialog Designer, you can build self-service applications such as reservation systems or account information services and later deploy them to either the Avaya Voice Portal or Avaya IR. Although we'll focus on test and simulation here, the IDE also includes a graphical flow editor (Figure 1) for designing user interactions and connection wizards for accessing web services, JDBC data sources, CTI using Avaya Application Enablement Services, and services offered by Avaya Interaction Center.

Figure 1. Avaya Dialog Designer is built on the Eclipse platform and includes specialized editors for building self-service applications. The application simulator pane is at the bottom, in the center (indicated by red circle).

You can download a CD image that includes Avaya Dialog Designer, Eclipse, and all other prerequisites from Avaya DevConnect (free registration is required). The CD includes a number of sample applications, one of which we'll use to illustrate the simulation features of Avaya Dialog Designer. The DevConnect site also includes full documentation for Avaya Dialog Designer, including a Getting Started document and a Developer's Guide.

Focusing on Simulation
A Dialog Designer VXML or CCXML application is structured much like an HTML web application, with a web server/servlet container hosting Servlets and serving them up to a browser. In production, those roles might be filled by an IBM WebSphere, BEA Weblogic or Apache Tomcat server hosting Servlets to an Avaya Voice Portal voice browser. VXML is then rendered dynamically by the Avaya Voice Browser.

Avaya Dialog Designer replicates this stack in a self-contained development environment. In Avaya Dialog Designer, you use the integrated design tools to generate Java servlets which are then served by Tomcat (under the control of the IDE) to the integrated voice browser. The voice browser is common to Avaya Dialog Designer, Avaya Voice Portal, and Avaya IR. In simulation, you drive the integrated voice browser using simulated inputs, including DTMF tones and basic speech recognition through the Microsoft SAPI-based Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) engines.

Figure 2. The Avaya Application Simulator view. Here, the Application tab is active. The Application tab is where you can set startup parameters and start and stop the application.

Figure 2 shows the Avaya Application Simulator interface. The screenshot shows the Application tab, where you can start a simulation run. There are a number of additional tabs arrayed across the bottom. Each tab may control a simulation feature or display simulation results. These are the functions of each of the tabs:

• Application: This is the starting tab. On the Application tab, select the application to run and set startup parameters. Startup parameters, which are optional, include a calling number (for ANI or automatic number identification), a called number (for DNIS or dialed number identification service), and simulated Converse On data (in production, this would come from a call center switch).


• CCXML Log: Displays CCXML log messages from the application simulator.


• VXML Log: Displays VXML log messages from the application simulator.


• Connector Log: Applications in Avaya Dialog Designer can interact with external computer telephony integration (CTI) servers such as Avaya Application Enablement (AE) Services and with Avaya Interaction Center (IC). Applications interface with these systems through connectors in Avaya Dialog Designer. The connector log tab shows log messages from CTI and IC connectors.


• Script: Caller responses (DTMF and speech recognition) may be scripted. You can use scripts for regression testing, or in debug mode to move a call along to an interesting position. Avaya Dialog Designer also supports a second type of script, used to simulate connector actions. With connector scripts, you can test CTI and IC connector applications without access to real servers. You write both types of scripts as external XML files. The script tab allows you to manage these scripts.


• Parameters: Allows you to specify parameters to be passed to the application under test in a number of categories, including call control and call classification. In a production system, these parameters would be set by Avaya Voice Portal or Avaya IR.


• Call: Avaya Application Simulator creates a call tab once the application is started. The Call tab includes a keypad for generating DTMF input, a Hang Up button, and call status information. This is the main interface you'll use while a simulation is active, and we'll discuss it in some detail in the following section.