Application Generation Environment

AGE™

Tutorial - MENU

After the sample application answers the phone and plays a greeting, it needs to ask the caller what they want to do. The way AGE/RAGE handles asking callers what they want is using the Menu Point. The Menu Point is going to play a prompt, typically one that asks the user to make a choice, 0 through 9 and # or *.

If the user enters a choice we didn't anticipate AGE/RAGE will tell the user that the choice is invalid, replay the prompt and wait for input again. The message played is known as the "Invalid Selection Prompt"

If the user does not enter any input for 5 seconds, AGE/RAGE will ask the user to please enter one of the choices and play the Menu Prompt again. The message played is known as the TimeOut Prompt.

If the user enters three invalid selections, or times out three times, the system will play a message thanking the user for calling and saying good-by, then disconnect the caller. The message played is known as the "Max Errors" prompt.

To begin construction of the Menu point click on the Menu Insert button from the Insert Toolbar. The Icon on the Menu Button is shown at the Left. Alternatively, you may select the Menu Point choice from the Insert Menu.

Clicking on this button (or selecting the Menu Point choice from the Insert Menu) bring up the Menu Point Dialog, shown below:

The buttons on the Menu Dialog are described fully in the Menu Point topic. For this sample application we will only need to effect the "Menu Prompt" button and the "Name".

All points within AGE are identified by unique names. For this sample we will use the name "Menu1". So, put your cursor in the box next to Name and type "Menu1".

Next, click the button labeled <Undefined> next to the words "Menu Prompt". The "Set Wave File" dialog comes up. It looks like the illustration below:

The Set Wave File dialog consists primarily of a Wave Edit control used to select, view, play and record voice segments for the Application. Using the Wave Edit control to record was covered more fully in the previous topic, Sample Application Answer, and is covered much more fully in the Wave Edit control topic.

For the purposes of the sample application we need to record a simple menu prompt, something like: "For Directions to the Restaurant, Press 1, For Restaurant Hours, Press 2, Leave a message requesting a Reversion press 3.".

After you have made the recording the Set Wave File Dialog looks something like this:

Click on OK to complete setting the Menu Point prompt and you will be back to the Menu Point Dialog. The Menu point dialog now looks something like this:

Note that the button next to the words "Menu Prompt" now says the file name you created for the Menu Prompt. The Prompt buttons throughout AGE work this way. <Undefined> means that no prompt has been defined for this menu button. <SYSTEM> means that the System Prompt will be played for the given selection.

To complete inserting the Menu Point click on the "OK" button. The cursor will change to a cross hair. Put the cursor at the location you wish to insert the Menu Point (a good spot would be centered a half inch below the Answer Point) and click on the right mouse button. The application will look something like the following illustration when you are done.

Note that the Menu Icon has 12 Cleats on the bottom. These for making connections relating to the choices available on the menu. More information is available on the Cleats on the Menu Icon in the Menu Point topic and in the Connections Topic.. In our case we will be using cleats 1 through 3. Also note that Answer has a Cleat on the bottom. Let's make the connection from the Answer Cleat to the Menu1 Icon. This tells the IVR that after executing the Answer Point it should execute the Menu Point named Menu1.

To make the Connection position the cursor on the Answer Point cleat. Click and Hold the right mouse button on the Cleat. Drag the cursor down to the top of the Menu1 Icon. You should see a line in Blue following your cursor. When you have dragged the Line to the top of the Menu1 Icon, release the mouse. The Line should turn Green and you should hear the sound which indicates that the Connection has been made. If the line disappears you will hear the Disconnect tone. Simply go back to the Answer point cleat and re-draw the line. Much more information about Connections and Lines is available in the Connections topic.

When you have successfully made the connection the AGE application will look like this:

The next step is to give the caller the information which they are requesting by selecting either 1 or 2. Click HERE to continue to the next topic.