Develop Reference

How to make sure TextToSpeech is initialized before using speak?

I'd like to ask you for some help with Android TextToSpeech feature.
Basically, I'd like to develop a simple AI which speaks, asking a question then waits for an answer, and at last, based on answer asks another question and so on, until user pronounces a keyword which stops everything.
Now I know TextToSpeech has to be initialized before using speak method, and I'm trying to take this into account by using onActivityResult method.
Below some code:
Activity class:
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements OnInitListener, Button.OnClickListener{
Button sayHello;
TextView textView;
private static final int CHECK_DATA = 0;
private static final Locale defaultLocale = Locale.UK; // British English
private static final String TAG = "TTS";
private TextToSpeech tts;
private boolean isInit = false;
sayIt Method: used to speak:
public void sayIt(String text, boolean flushQ){
if(isInit){
if(flushQ){
tts.speak(text, TextToSpeech.QUEUE_FLUSH, null, null);
} else {
tts.speak(text, TextToSpeech.QUEUE_ADD, null, null);
}
} else {
Log.i(TAG, "Failure: TTS instance not properly initialized");
}
}
TextToSpeech Listener:
#Override
public void onInit(int status){
if(status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS){
isInit = true;
// Enable input text field and speak button now that we are initialized
sayHello.setEnabled(true);
// Set to a language locale after checking availability
Log.i(TAG, "available="+tts.isLanguageAvailable(Locale.UK));
tts.setLanguage(defaultLocale);
// Examples of voice controls. Set to defaults of 1.0.
tts.setPitch(1.0F);
tts.setSpeechRate(1.0F);
// Issue a greeting and instructions in the default language
tts.speak("Initialized!", TextToSpeech.QUEUE_FLUSH, null, Integer.toString(12));
} else {
isInit = false;
Log.i(TAG, "Failure: TTS instance not properly initialized");
}
}
Button Listener:
#Override
public void onClick(View v){
if(isInit)
sayIt("You clicked!", true);
}
onActivityResult Method:
// Create the TTS instance if TextToSpeech language data are installed on device. If not
// installed, attempt to install it on the device.
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
if (requestCode == CHECK_DATA) {
if (resultCode == TextToSpeech.Engine.CHECK_VOICE_DATA_PASS) {
// Success, so create the TTS instance. But can't use it to speak until
// the onInit(status) callback defined below runs, indicating initialization.
Log.i(TAG, "Success, let's talk");
tts = new TextToSpeech(this, this);
// Use static Locales method to list available locales on device
Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();
Log.i(TAG,"Locales Available on Device:");
for(int i=0; i<locales.length; i++){
String temp = "Locale "+i+": "+locales[i]+" Language="
+locales[i].getDisplayLanguage();
if(locales[i].getDisplayCountry() != "") {
temp += " Country="+locales[i].getDisplayCountry();
}
Log.i(TAG, temp);
}
} else {
// missing data, so install it on the device
Log.i(TAG, "Missing Data; Install it");
Intent installIntent = new Intent();
installIntent.setAction(TextToSpeech.Engine.ACTION_INSTALL_TTS_DATA);
startActivity(installIntent);
}
}
}
And, at last, onCreate Method:
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstance){
super.onCreate(savedInstance);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
sayHello = findViewById(R.id.sayBtn);
textView = findViewById(R.id.textView);
sayHello.setEnabled(false);
sayHello.setOnClickListener(this);
Intent checkIntent = new Intent();
checkIntent.setAction(TextToSpeech.Engine.ACTION_CHECK_TTS_DATA);
startActivityForResult(checkIntent, CHECK_DATA);
/* THIS SPEAK DOES NOT WORK! */
sayIt("Speech from method!", true);
}
Issue is: Button successfully gets enabled when onInit method initialises TextToSpeech and successfully pronounces text.
My goal is to make the Activity speak from onCreate method, since at the moment it only works from onInit and onClick listeners, bot not in onCreate, even if I check for tts initialization using onActivityResult.
Basically I want the TextToSpeech to speak with no Buttons involved.
I know very similar questions were already posted, but none solved my problem. Have some idea?
Hope I've been clear, Thank you!
UPDATE: Log shows ERROR detected occurs in else branch of onInit method, where Log.i(TAG, "Failure: TTS instance not properly initialized"); line is.

SOLUTION:
The only thing to do here is to wait a little time in order to let TextToSpeech initialize for good.
A good way seems to be by using a delayed Handler as follows:
final Handler handler = new Handler();
handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//Waiting for RobotTextToSpeech initialization for 1500ms
rtts.speak("This speak will work!");
rtts.speak("This other speak will work too!");
}
}, 1500);
}
By doing this, looks like TextToSpeech works well even in onCreate method, we just have to wait little time.
Hope this can help.

Android TTS speaks only on emulator, not on a real device

If I start the app on an emulator and press the button I can hear the sound, but if it runs on the real device I don't hear any sound (volume level is ca. 80%):
...
t1 = new TextToSpeech(getActivity().getApplicationContext(), new TextToSpeech.OnInitListener() {
#Override
public void onInit(int status) {
if (status != TextToSpeech.ERROR) {
t1.setLanguage(Locale.UK);
Log.d("TTS", "ok");
} else {
Log.d("TTS", "error");
}
}
});
button1.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
t1.speak("What is your name?", TextToSpeech.QUEUE_FLUSH, null);
}
});
...
According to the output in LogCat everything is fine, but I cannot hear any sound if I press the button:
I/TextToSpeech: Sucessfully bound to com.google.android.tts
I/TextToSpeech: Connected to ComponentInfo{com.google.android.tts/com.google.android.tts.service.GoogleTTSService}
TTS: ok
What can be the problem? Emulator API Level is 4.2.2, device - 4.2.1.
root#android:/ # ls /system/tts/lang_pico/
de-DE_gl0_sg.bin
de-DE_ta.bin
en-GB_kh0_sg.bin
en-GB_ta.bin
en-US_lh0_sg.bin
en-US_ta.bin
es-ES_ta.bin
es-ES_zl0_sg.bin
fr-FR_nk0_sg.bin
fr-FR_ta.bin
it-IT_cm0_sg.bin
it-IT_ta.bin

If your device doesn't have the language installed or doesn't support, it, obviously, can't play it. If it's anything but US, try that...!
does this helped?

Read Aloud not working in XE16 GDK app

I had a read aloud menu option which was working fine with the API 15. But fails to work in the API 19. There is no error as such in the code but clicking on the menu doesn't lead to anything. Here is the code:
I have added this in the onCreate
mSpeech = new TextToSpeech(this, new TextToSpeech.OnInitListener() {
public void onInit(int status) {
if(status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS)
result=mSpeech.setLanguage(Locale.US);
if(result==TextToSpeech.LANG_MISSING_DATA ||
result==TextToSpeech.LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED){
Log.e("error", "This Language is not supported");
}
}
});
And this is the code i run when the menu is clicked:
case R.id.read_aloud_menu_item:
System.out.println("goes into read aloud case");
System.out.println(TextToSpeech.ERROR);
mSpeech.speak("Hello, this is a sample data", TextToSpeech.QUEUE_FLUSH, null);

Android TTS different languages supported each time when checked

I am struggling with one very strange bug in my app.
I have added TTS to it, and I am using the build one. The user can choose the language from the spinner which is filled in during AsyncTask started in onResume().
The AsyncTask looks like this:
private class AsyncTTSDownload extends AsyncTask<Void, Integer, String> {
#Override
protected String doInBackground(Void... params) {
try {
languagesTTS = tts.testLang();
} catch (Exception ex) {
if (D)
Log.e(TAG, ex.toString());
}
return null;
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
ttsUpdate.dismiss();
TTSSpinnerAdapter adapterTTS = new TTSSpinnerAdapter(
MyTTS.this, android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item,
languagesTTS);
int savedLangTTS = ttsLang.getInt("savedTTS", -1);
langTTS.setAdapter(adapterTTS);
if (savedLangTTS == -1)
{
try {
int langObject = languagesTTS.indexOf(tts.getLanguage());
langTTS.setSelection(langObject);
} catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException ie) {
langTTS.setSelection(0);
}
} else {
langTTS.setSelection(savedLangTTS);
}
Locale langChoosen = (Locale) langTTS.getItemAtPosition(langTTS
.getSelectedItemPosition());
tts.setTTSLanguage(langChoosen);
}
#Override
protected void onPreExecute() {
ttsUpdate = ProgressDialog.show(MyTTS.this, "Wait",
"Loading TTS...");
ttsUpdate.setCancelable(false);
}
}
the thing is, that I am from time to time getting different number of languages supported. This is on this same device, during this same run. Just I open and close Activity with TTS. This bug is causing IndexOutOfBoundsException. This is my way of getting TTS languages:
public List<Locale> testLang() {
Locale[] AvalLoc = Locale.getAvailableLocales();
List<Locale> listaOK = new ArrayList<Locale>();
String tester = "";
for (Locale l : AvalLoc) {
if(tester.contains(l.getLanguage()))
{
continue;
}
int buf = tts.isLanguageAvailable(l);
if (buf == TextToSpeech.LANG_MISSING_DATA
|| buf == TextToSpeech.LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED) {
//TODO maybe
} else {
listaOK.add(l);
tester += l.getLanguage() + ";";
}
}
tts.setLanguage(Locale.ENGLISH);
return listaOK;
}
For now I've only find out a small hack for not showing this error, just save in shared preferences number of languages and compare it with what tts received, but it is not working well at all. Each time I am getting different number.
For me it seems, that something is not finished or started when I am starting again this same activity after return, because this is tts.isAvaliableLanguage(l) who is deciding whether language is supported or not and from time to time, one language is not supported and after reload it is.
EDIT:
As there appeared new comment about my question I need to add one important thing about TTS engine itself.
testLang() is a method inside my class Called TTSClass, that is implementing TextToSpeech.OnInitListener. tts object is created in onCreate of MyTTS activity and this constructor looks like this in TTSClass:
public TTSClass(Context context, Locale language) {
contextTTS = context;
languageTTS = language;
tts = new TextToSpeech(contextTTS, this);
}
and call in activity:
tts = new TTSClass(getApplicationContext(), Locale.ENGLISH);
Because TTSClass implements TextToSpeech.OnInitListener there is also onInit() method which looks like this:
#Override
public void onInit(int status) {
if (status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS) {
int result = 0;
result = tts.setLanguage(languageTTS);
if (result == TextToSpeech.LANG_MISSING_DATA
|| result == TextToSpeech.LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED) {
if(D) Log.e(TAG, "This Language is not supported");
}
if(D) Log.d(TAG,"Initialized");
} else {
if(D) Log.e(TAG, "Initilization Failed!");
}
}
So, this is everything connecting to this class and problem I think. If anything is missing, let me now.
EDIT2:
Suggested by shoe rat comment I've run few more tests, and the outcome is just amazing, or extraordinary, I think it is better word.
So what I've done was adding 3 Log from different places in code informing me about list size on different stages.
First was added in onInit() in if status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS. This one is just simple call of testLang().size(). The outcome is 5 languages - that is the correct number and it is always like this, no matter if there is or isn't an exception.
Second was added there:
protected String doInBackground(Void... params) {
try {
Log.w(TAG,"before: "+tts.testLang().size());
languagesTTS = tts.testLang();
}
and this one is starting to act quite weird. It is sometimes, or even quite often, showing number lower than 5. But this is not the strangest thing.
The third one is just at the beginning of onPostExecute checking the size of languagesTTS. And believe or not, the number is quite often totally different from the second log. However, it is never smaller. It can be equal or bigger.
Does anyone know, what is going one?

I've found solution. It came out that indeed it was initialization problem.
I'm not sure if documentation is saying anything about it, but it seem like the TTS engine initialization is done asynchronously, so it can finish at any time.
My solution was to change the doInBackground() method like this:
#Override
protected String doInBackground(Void... params) {
try {
while(!TTSClass.isInit){}
languagesTTS = tts.testLang();
} catch (Exception ex) {
if (D)
Log.e(TAG, ex.toString());
}
return null;
}
and in onInit() method I've added isInit public static boolean variable:
#Override
public void onInit(int status) {
if (status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS) {
int result = 0;
result = tts.setLanguage(languageTTS);
if (result == TextToSpeech.LANG_MISSING_DATA
|| result == TextToSpeech.LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED) {
if(D) Log.e(TAG, "This Language is not supported");
}
if(D) Log.d(TAG,"initialized");
isInit = true;
} else {
if(D) Log.e(TAG, "Initilization Failed!");
}
}
Hope, that someone will find it helpful.

Android Text-To-Speech Configuration and Variations

I am currently developing an app that makes intensive use of Text-To-Speech (I am using android.speech.tts.TextToSpeech) I have been able to integrate TTS in my voice and at present, a default American US voice is what reads aloud my text.
I would like to know how to make configurational changes to the speech engine. For example, I would like to reduce the speed at which the text is being read, swap between male and female voices and even provide support for different languages. Can anyone please help me with this information. Thanks in Advance :)
[Below is the code I am currently using (courtesy: a very well written basic blog on android TTS), all variable have been declared I am not copying the entire code, and this code snippet works just fine.]
btnSpeak = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.ttsIB);
btnSpeak.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View arg0) {
speakOut();
}
});
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
// to shutdown TTS
if (tts != null) {
tts.stop();
tts.shutdown();
}
super.onDestroy();
}
#Override
public void onInit(int status)
{
if (status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS)
{
int result = tts.setLanguage(Locale.US);
if (result == TextToSpeech.LANG_MISSING_DATA || result == TextToSpeech.LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED)
{
Log.e("TTS", "This Language is not supported");
}
else
{
btnSpeak.setEnabled(true);
speakOut();
}
}
else
{
Log.e("TTS", "Initilization Failed!");
}
}
private void speakOut()
{
String text = textVal.getText().toString();
tts.speak(text, TextToSpeech.QUEUE_FLUSH, null);
}

I've worked with TTS a couple of years ago and remember, that there were not so much configuration possibilities.
There is a useful method setEngineByPackageName(String packageName).
Some TTS engines have separate package names for every voice. For example, with Loquendo you need to write tts.setEngineByPackageName("com.loquendo.tts.susan") and your app will speak with US voice Susan.
But some TTS engines has common application and voices as plugins. So, you can configure it only this way:
tts.setEngineByPackageName("com.svox.pico");
tts.setLanguage(Locale.US);
If there are several US voices for this engine, your application will speak with default (selected in phone preferences)