At least 661 KB free disk space for the Microsoft Agent control, plus at least 1.26 MB if you plan to use speech output, and an additional 6.68 MB if you plan to use speech input
A Windows-compatible sound card
A compatible set of speakers and microphone (recommended)
End-User License Agreement:
You'll need to read and agree to the terms of the end-user license agreement in Appendix E before using Microsoft Agent. A copy of this agreement is downloaded with the Microsoft Agent control.
* Microsoft Command and Control Speech Engine, version 3
* Microsoft Agent Linguistic Information Sound Editing Tool
* Microsoft Agent Visual Basic«, HTML, Visual C++« and Java code samples
How to Use the CD
=================================
Agent control (US version only)
- To install the Agent control, follow these steps:
1. On the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, click the Start button, and then
click Run.
2. Type D:\msagent.exe (or, if your CD-ROM drive uses a drive letter other
than "d," substitute the correct drive letter).
3. Click OK, and then follow the directions on the screen to install.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three character files in the .ACS format -- \Genie.acs, \Merlin.acs, and \Robby.acs
The .ACS format is used when the characters are stored locally and are compiled as part of a single file. These files need to be copied to a folder named characters under the folder where you installed agent (by default this is \program files\microsoft agent\).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft Agent Character Editor (.EXE file, 709 KB)
- To install the Agent Character Editor, follow these steps:
1. On the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, click the Start button, and then
click Run.
2. Type D:\editor\ace.exe (or, if your CD-ROM drive uses a drive letter other
than "d," substitute the correct drive letter).
3. Click OK, and then follow the directions on the screen to install.
At this time only U.S. English speech engines are available from Microsoft. However, SAPI-compliant engines for other languages may be available from third parties. The \Links folder contains a link to Microsoft's Speech Engine Support Requirements site as spchreq.htm. The \Links folder also contains a link to the Speech recognition research Web page at Microsoft.com (as Speech.htm).
- To install the TruVoice text-to-speech engine, follow these steps:
1. On the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, click the Start button, and then
click Run.
2. Type D:\voice\fromtext\cgram.exe (or, if your CD-ROM drive uses a drive letter other
than "d," substitute the correct drive letter).
3. Click OK, and then follow the directions on the screen to install.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft Command and Control Speech Engine, version 3 (.EXE file, 3.15 MB)
- To install the Command and Control Speech Engine, follow these steps:
1. On the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, click the Start button, and then
click Run.
2. Type D:\voice\engine\actcnc.exe (or, if your CD-ROM drive uses a drive letter other
than "d," substitute the correct drive letter).
3. Click OK, and then follow the directions on the screen to install.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Linguistic Information Sound Editing Tool enables you to generate phoneme and word-break information for enhancing sound (.WAV) files to support high-quality lip-synching character animation.
Microsoft Agent Linguistic Information Sound Editing Tool (.EXE file, 2.9 MB)
Requires a microphone and sound card.
- To install the Agent Linguistic Information Sound Editing Tool, follow these steps:
1. On the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, click the Start button, and then
click Run.
2. Type D:\voice\editor\liset.exe (or, if your CD-ROM drive uses a drive letter other
than "d," substitute the correct drive letter).
3. Click OK, and then follow the directions on the screen to install.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sample Code
Microsoft Agent Visual Basic«, Visual C++« and Java code samples are found in the \Examples folder, as is the Overview.HTM page, which provides an overview of the Agent technology presented by the three Microsoft agents. The include files for the code samples can be found in the \Examples\Include folder on the companion CD. These examples all require a connection to the World Wide Web and the \\www.microsoft.com site to function. To run the following examples, you must first copy the character files to the folder \Program Files\Microsoft Agent\Characters.
Each sample includes a Readme.txt file with further instructions for building and running the sample. The instructions assume that you are using Microsoft Visual Basic«, Microsoft Visual C++«, or Microsoft Visual J++, as appropriate.
-Instructions for installing and running the sample are included in its readme document. These instructions assume that you are using Microsoft« Visual Basic«. You will be instructed to install Microsoft Agent and the character data files to build and run the sample.
*HTML Samples (\Examples\Html)
-Hello World HTML/VBScript sample
-Hello World 2 Html Sample -- Illustrates Hello World with AgentNotifySink. Demonstrates how to receive Agent events in HTML/VBScript.
-Hello World 3 Html Sample -- Illustrates Hello World with AgentNotifySink and two characters. Demonstrates how to use Agent events to coordinate multiple characters in HTML/VBScript.
*Visual C++ Samples (\Examples\C) Visual C++ 5.0 required.
-Instructions for installing and running the sample are included in its readme document. These instructions assume that you are using Microsoft Visual C++«. You will be instructed to install Microsoft Agent, the Microsoft Agent Include files, and the character data files to build and run the samples.
-Hello World C++ Sample
-Hello World 2 C++ Sample -- Illustrates Hello World with AgentNotifySink. Demonstrates how to receive Agent events in C++.
-Hello World 3 C++ Sample -- Illustrates Hello World with AgentNotifySink and two characters. Demonstrates how to use Agent events to coordinate multiple characters in C++.
-Instructions for installing and running the sample are included in its readme document. These instructions assume that you are using Microsoft Visual J++. You will be instructed to install Microsoft Agent and the character data files to build and run the samples.
-Hello World 2 Java Sample -- Illustrates Hello World with AgentNotifySink. Demonstrates how to receive Agent events in Java.
-Hello World 3 Java Sample -- Illustrates Hello World with AgentNotifySink and two characters. Demonstrates how to use Agent events to coordinate multiple characters in Java.
*Goodbye World sample (Examples\Html) -- Demonstrates the use of voice input.
Requires a microphone and sound card.
SUPPORT INFORMATION
===================
Microsoft Press support information
-----------------------------------
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the book
and the contents of this companion disc. Microsoft Press
provides corrections for books through the World Wide Web at
http://mspress.microsoft.com/mspress/support/
If you have comments, questions, or ideas regarding the book or
this companion disc, please send them to Microsoft Press via
e-mail to:
MSPINPUT@MICROSOFT.COM
or via postal mail to:
Microsoft Press
Attn: Developing for Microsoft Agent Editor
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
Please note that product support is not offered through the
above addresses.
Developing for Microsoft Agent Support
--------------------------------------
For support information regarding Developing for Microsoft Agent, you can
