Re: [orca-list] orca and speech-dispatcher



I have created a patch for this and put it against a bug report http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=636824.

Michael Whapples
On 08/12/10 15:17, Michael Whapples wrote:
Hello,
In trying to find the cause of a problem I am having with orca, speech-dispatcher and ibmtts, I discovered a potential problem with orca's use of speech-dispatcher.

The problem is that orca does not set any priority levels and relies on the default priority level of speech-dispatcher. You may ask what is the problem with this? Well there are possibly two issues: 1. It is possible for the user to change the default priority level in speechd.conf which alters how each call to speak is handled and some levels can actually lead to output which is not correct from orca (eg. the text priority level would mean each call will stop the last speech output and this means that where orca sends output in a few calls like when there is a line with a link half way across a line in firefox, you will only here the last call to speak). 2. This is related to the first, I suspect that the default for when priority is not set in speechd.conf is not correct and if speech-dispatcher developers feel this way and fix it then this will lead to the priority level being text with the undesired impact as above.

Now the question is how to resolve it. I see two ways:
1. When orca creates its speech-dispatcher client it could explicitly set its priority level so making it unaffected by changes in speech-dispatcher or speechd.conf. This should be very simple to do and I could easily create a patch in minutes (I guess). If going down this route what level would be suggested? I think from reading speech-dispatcher documentation it would probably be message although important seems to be the current default orca has been designed around. Setting the level to message would allow only output with priority important to interrupt orca and would maintain the current behaviour that multiple outputs from orca would be queued rather than the later ones interrupting the earlier ones. Speech-dispatcher documentation indicates important should be used rarely as nothing can interrupt it. 2. Orca could make greater use of the priority levels of speech-dispatcher. This might be a better solution as it would mean that its output would be considered in importance to other applications producing speech output. The difficulty would be, is orca designed in such a way that priorities could be set for each call of speak? How much work would it be for this to be supported? I imagine it might be quite a bit of work.

Michael Whapples




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