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CREATIVE TextAssist DDE Server  

Copyright (c) Creative Technology Ltd. 1995. All Rights Reserved.

THIS  SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT  WARRANTY OF ANY 
KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED 
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 
THIS SOFTWARE  IS NOT SUPPORTED BY  CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY LTD. WE REGRET THAT 
CREATIVE IS UNABLE TO SUPPORT OR ASSIST YOU, SHOULD YOU HAVE PROBLEMS USING 
THIS SOFTWARE.
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Readme for Creative TextAssist DDE Server Version 1.1
======================================================

This program is created for application that support Dynamic Data Exchange
(DDE) such as Excel or Access to use the Creative TextAssist Text-To-Speech 
conversion software. To use this TextAssist DDE Server users must know how 
to use the DDE functions to program the macro of the above mentioned 
Application. Basically, users just need to know three DDE functions:

INITIATE : This function must be called to setup up the communication link 
	   with the TextAssist  DDE Server. You must use the following  
	   Service name  and  Topic  in  order  to  setup  the communication 
	   with TextAssist DDE Server: 
           
	   Service name : "TASSDDE"
           Topic : "TALK"
           ITEM  : NULL
           
POKE    :  After Setting up the communication link, you can send the Text 
 	   to the TextAssist DDE Server using the POKE function.
          
TERMINATE: When the TextAssist DDE Server is not required, you  should  
	   terminate  it  to  close  the communication link.
           
Installation Guide
------------------
You can copy the TASSDDE.EXE in any directory but preferably you can 
copy it in the T_ASSIST directory for easy maintainence

Select the Window program item option to create new item.

Note: 
Please make sure that you have the file "DDEML.DLL" in your :\WINDOWS\SYSTEM 
directory in order to run this program. This file is normally being bundled 
in those application that support DDE. If you do not have it, please 
approach Microsoft.
    

Features
--------
The TextAssist DDE Server support multiple client. That is to say more than 
one client applications can coexist and link up with the TextAssist DDE 
Server at any one time. 

TextAssist DDE Server will close the TextAssist Speech channel when it is not 
in use. That is when the client Applications have established the link with 
the TextAssist DDE Server but did not send any data for Text-to-Speech 
conversion. This is to allow other application that do not support DDE to 
get hold of the TextAssist Speech channel when the DDE Server is not active.


TextAssist Engine can support Embeded command to change the speech 
characteristics such as speaking rate, pitch, volume, pause period, changing 
of voices, and etc. This applications can change the speech characteristics 
by embeding the command within the text that is being send to the TextAssist 
DDE Server. Please refer to TAEMBED.HLP for more information on the embeded 
command.
  

Excel
----- 
Basically, you just need to use 3 functions. i.e.INITIATE, POKE and 
TERMINATE. The syntax is given below:

Syntax:
        "channel=INITIATE(Application, Topic, Item)"
        "=POKE(channel, ITEM, DATA)"
        "=TERMINATE(channel)"
        
         
Example:
        chan=INITIATE("TASSDDE", "TALK", "")
        =POKE(chan, "", B1:B7)
        =POKE(chan, "", REFERENCE)
        =TERMINATE(chan)


Access
------
DDESend is used to initiate a conversation and send data to the server. 
The Data argument can either be text or a reference to a field. If it 
refers to a field, the field cannot contains another DDE link.

Syntax:
        "=DDESend(Application, Topic, Item, Data)"

Example:
        =DDESend("TASSDDE", "TALK", "", "Please Enter your name")
                  
        =DDESend("TASSDDE", "TALK", "", [Name])
         
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