Android not acknowledging TTS Engine

Question

I am developing a very simple app in here. It's for my Cerebral Palsy daughter. It's just a big YES and NO buttons, so she can press them when requested.

Well... I am using SVOX Classic TTS Engine.

Everything was running smoothly until my tablet upgraded to ICS. Now, everytime I run the app, it opens the Market asking for me to install TTS. I hit "back" and then, my app speaks. This is VERY annoying.

Here is what Google API says:

*A successful check will be marked by a CHECK_VOICE_DATA_PASS result code, indicating this device is ready to speak, after the creation of our TextToSpeech object. If not, we need to let the user know to install the data that's required for the device to become a multi-lingual talking machine! Downloading and installing the data is accomplished by firing off the ACTION_INSTALL_TTS_DATA intent, which will take the user to Android Market, and will let her/him initiate the download. Installation of the data will happen automatically once the download completes. Here is an example of what your implementation of onActivityResult() would look like:*

Here is my code:

public class yesOunoActivity extends Activity implements OnInitListener{
ImageView yes;
ImageView no;
public TextToSpeech tts;
private int MY_DATA_CHECK_CODE = 0;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    Intent checkIntent = new Intent();
    checkIntent.setAction(TextToSpeech.Engine.ACTION_CHECK_TTS_DATA);
    startActivityForResult(checkIntent, MY_DATA_CHECK_CODE);

    tts = new TextToSpeech(this, this);

    setContentView(R.layout.yesorno);

    yes = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.yes);
    no = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.no);


    yes.setClickable(true); 
    yes.setOnTouchListener(new OnTouchListener() {
        @Override
        public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent arg1) {

             if (arg1.getAction() == android.view.MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN) {                             
                 tts.speak("yes!", TextToSpeech.QUEUE_ADD, null);
             }
             return true;
        }
    });


    no.setClickable(true); 
    no.setOnTouchListener(new OnTouchListener() {
        @Override
        public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent arg1) {

             if (arg1.getAction() == android.view.MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN) {                             

                //Intent myIntent = new Intent(v.getContext(), ParametrosActivity.class);
                tts.speak("no!", TextToSpeech.QUEUE_ADD, null);
             }
            return true;
    }

    });


}


@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    if (requestCode == MY_DATA_CHECK_CODE) {
        if (resultCode == TextToSpeech.Engine.CHECK_VOICE_DATA_PASS) {
            // success, create the TTS instance
            tts = new TextToSpeech(this, this);
        } else {
            // missing data, install it
            //ATTENTION: BELOW THIS GIVES ME PROBLEMS SINCE IT OPENS MARKET
            //AND I HAVE TO HIT THE BACK BUTTON, THEN, IT SPEAKS!
            //BTW TTS ENGINE "IS" INSTALLED!!
            Intent installIntent = new Intent();
            installIntent
                    .setAction(TextToSpeech.Engine.ACTION_INSTALL_TTS_DATA);
            startActivity(installIntent);
        }
    }

}

@Override
public void onInit(int status) {
    if (status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS) {
    } else if (status == TextToSpeech.ERROR) {
    }
}

@Override
public void onDestroy() {
    if (tts != null) {
        tts.stop();
        tts.shutdown();
    }
    super.onDestroy();
    System.gc();
}

    }

If I remove the area with "ATTENTION" above (since I am SURE I have TTS installed), it works the first time I run the app, if I leave the app and I open it again, it says "speak failed: not bound to tts engine"

It's like it doesn't create the TTS object since the app is still in memory.

So, guys... what do you guys think that I should do??

This is driving me crazy and I really need to communicate to my daughter through the tablet!

Any help is appreciated!!

Answer 1

gingerbread allowed setting of default tts in voice input& output / default tts

gingerbread only allows 'preferred' tts in language and input / text to speech output.

so tts is preferred instead of default, which just means it is not as clear as to which gets used.

The default with application overrides where stated is a better option I think.

Answer 2

I fixed this by installing ivona having both Tts engines cured all problems, though I'm finding other issues such as no default tts is installed using the two together makes one work not a great fix but its s fix,

Also I can't find the option to allow my phone to install non market apps ie apk from my SD card

Answer 3

in my app I also used checkintent.setAction(...) to check if the necessary tts files are installed (which was working like a charm before upgrading to ICS). In ICS it always returned that the files are missing. So now I just ignore this check: i am creating the object and it initializes fine. Moreover I was using two instances for two different languages. This also seems to not work anymore. Now when I set the language for one of the instances, the other instance of the object is set to the same language (behaves like one instance).

Answer 4

I had this trouble on my application as well: TTS works in 2.3, but when I tried 4.0, it had the same symptoms as your problem (which I just found now while searching for a solution). The engine would work if you force-closed the application through Settings and started it again but just "backing out" and going back made the TTS engine in ICS not bind.

I tried setting the TTS object (mTts) to null after running mTts.shutdown(). When I started the application again after backing out, I got a null error on my mTts.speak() line.

At least for ICS, something is not letting go of the TTS engine. My solution (for now) is that I have made my TTS object static:

// in Activity
private static TextToSpeech mTts;
.
.
.
// in onCreate()
mTts = new TextToSpeech(this, this);
.
.
.
// in onDestroy()
if (mTts != null) {
   mTts.stop();
   mTts.shutdown();
   mTts = null;
}

I was already only using one TTS object for the application so I don't think there are too many downsides to this approach.

Answer 5

This is what I have in onActivityResult(...)

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(
        int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    if (requestCode == MY_DATA_CHECK_CODE) {
/*
        if (resultCode == TextToSpeech.Engine.CHECK_VOICE_DATA_PASS) {
            // success, create the TTS instance
            mTts = new TextToSpeech(this, this);
        } else {
            // missing data, install it
            Intent installIntent = new Intent();
            installIntent.setAction(
                TextToSpeech.Engine.ACTION_INSTALL_TTS_DATA);
            startActivity(installIntent);
        }
*/
        if (mTts==null) {
            Intent installIntent = new Intent();
            installIntent.setAction(
                TextToSpeech.Engine.ACTION_INSTALL_TTS_DATA);
            startActivity(installIntent);                           
        }
        mTts = new TextToSpeech(this, this);                
    }
}

Instead of using if (resultCode == TextToSpeech.Engine.CHECK_VOICE_DATA_PASS) {...}, I check if mTts has already been instantiated. You'll also have to set mTts as static, as was mentioned by jlquant and Rakesh in an earlier post, so you'll have only a single instance of it. For example, private static TextToSpeech mTts.

So, unless you "Force stop" the app or it stops working because of an error, it won't anymore call the startActivity(installIntent);-- the annoying culprit that asks you to install TTS every time.

Answer 6

I had the same problem and solved. Maybe it's a timing issue in bounding, not sure, but a simple action before speak helped me. Anyway I did this:

mTts = new TextToSpeech(this, this);

String engine = mTts.getDefaultEngine();

mTts = new TextToSpeech(this, this,engine);

Log.d("","...something here...");

Then when I hit my speak button, it speaks. You should watch your variable status on OnInit method. Maybe a separate thread can help talking in the app.

By the way, if you are sure TTS is installed, you can remove the block Intent checkIntent = new Intent(); for checking.

I definitely hope this helps you.