Audio and Text Customization Overview and Prerequisites

Each customizable interface component is controlled by text contained in a specific properties file. Properties files are plain text files that contain field labels, values, commands and variables. These files control the following interface components:

• Prompts — The prompts file contains the largest set of customizable text for the AlertFind interface, including prompts spoken by the text-to-speech (TTS) engine, such as the outbound greeting.
• Constants — Constants set the standard labels displayed in the AlertFind web interface, such as Broadcast Group or Conference Call. Most organizations do not customize these constants.
• Date and Time Formats — The display of dates and times can be customized in a format other than the default.
• Dictionary — The dictionary allows a word to be spelled phonetically so that AlertFind can pronounce it correctly.

For each language purchased, each customizable component is controlled by an individual properties file. For example, if your organization uses the default United States English language and purchased an additional language pack for French, your set of customizable properties files would include:

Component	Locale	Default File
Constants	United States English (en_US)	Constants_en_US.properties
	French (fr_FR)	Constants_fr_FR.properties
Date and Time Formats	United States English (en_US)	DateFormats_en_US.properties
	French (fr_FR)	DateFormats_fr_FR.properties
Prompts	United States English (en_US)	Prompts_en_US.properties
	French (fr_FR)	Prompts_fr_FR.properties
Dictionary	United States English (en_US)	Dictionary-en-US.xml
	French (fr_FR)	Dictionary-fr-FR.xml

Before you edit properties files, become comfortable and familiar with the following:

• Using a text editor such as WordPad to edit plain text files. Use a plain text editor to edit the files and save them as plain text (TXT) files. Notepad (basic) cannot properly display the customization text files, and MS Word’s DOC format is not readable by the customization engine.
• Working around commands and variables that appear in text files. The customization files contain both plain text (which can be safely edited), and commands and variables (which cannot be changed).
  Preserve commands and variables intact as you edit customization files. If even one character that appears within a command or variable is changed, AlertFind is unable to validate the customized file. Commands and variables are explained in further detail under Commands and Variables.
• Reading and editing field name and value pairs in a text file. Each customizable text file contains field names and values in the form field_name=value. You can customize the values (the text that follows the equal sign, except for commands and variables), but no part of the field name itself should be changed. For example, the following field name/value line appears in the prompts.properties file:
  cli.general.help=Please contact your ${customer.notificationSystemName} administrator or call ${callNumber} for assistance.

In this example, not even one character of the field name (cli.general.help) should be changed, but some portions of the value can be edited, which is the text that follows the equal sign (=). However, the value text also contains two variables that must be preserved intact.

• This leaves only the strings (Please contact your), (administrator or call), and (for assistance) as the items that can be safely customized. For example, this item might be customized to read Please contact your ${customer.notificationSystemName} Help Desk Representative or call ${callNumber} for more information.

When you are familiar and comfortable with the file formats, and commands and variables, you can customize the following components:

• Outbound Greeting — The outbound greeting is the message that users hear when they answer a phone notification. By default, the standard greeting is read by the text-to-speech (TTS) engine when a user answers the phone. This greeting can be customized in several ways. See Customizing the Outbound Greeting for instructions.
• Prompts — The prompts file contains the largest set of customizable text for the AlertFind interface. Instructions for customizing these prompts are available under Customizing Prompts.
• Constants — Constants set the standard labels displayed in the AlertFind web interface, such as Broadcast Group or Conference Call. Most organizations do not customize these constants. To change these labels, follow the instructions under Customizing Constants.
• Date and Time Formats — The display of dates and times can be customized into a format other than the default. See Customizing Date and Time Formats.
• Dictionary — The dictionary allows words to be spelled phonetically so that AlertFind can pronounce it correctly. These overrides are kept in the dictionary.xml file. See Customizing Pronunciation with the Dictionary.

Commands and Variables

Commands and variables are pieces of text inside a customization file that enable AlertFind to automatically insert your organization’s standard value into a prompt, notification, or greeting.

For example, by default, the variable ${customer.notificationSystemName} inserts the value AlertFind into any message where it appears.

All variables start with the characters “${“ (dollar sign, open curly bracket) and end with the character “}” (closed curly bracket). Never change any text that falls between these characters in a customization file.

Variable Example

For example, the standard greeting can be customized so that it reads differently for your organization. By default, it reads:

voice.hotline.greeting=Hello. Welcome to the ${customer.voiceNotificationSystemName}.

This prompt could state the name of the user being called. To do this, add the variable ${user.name} to the value, such as

voice.hotline.greeting=Hello ${user.name}. Welcome to the ${customer.voiceNotificationSystemName}.

Commands insert logic to control the contents of a some customizable fields. All commands are enclosed in angle brackets ( <, > ) and should not be modified except by the most experienced administrators.

For example, the <#if> command within:

voice.scenarionotificationtask.header_manual=The following <#if incidentTemplateNotificationTask.priority.value == "Normal"><#else>${incidentTemplateNotificationTask.priority}</#if> ${incidentTemplateNotificationTask.msgType} message will be put on hold awaiting manual execution.

begins with <#if> and ends with </#if> determines which priority level is spoken to the caller: “The following high priority announcement message will be put on hold awaiting manual execution.”