xPert Speech Guide

When speech-friendly features are enabled, xPert will add UI elements above the question navigation tree and at the top of the list section data-entry panel. These UI elements all have keyboard shortcuts that can be used by speech macros for Nuance Dragon, Dolbey Fusion, or other speech recognition systems that support speech macros. The usefulness of the xPert speech-friendly features hinges on the existence of these macros. This document describes the standard keyboard shortcuts that xPert supports in any mode and then the keyboard shortcuts that are relevant for facilitating use with speech recognition systems. It goes on to make suggestions regarding how to use those keyboard shortcuts to create useful speech macros to allow control of xPert navigation and list item selection.

Enabling Speech in xPert

To enable the speech, open xPert and select ‘View’ from the toolbar and select ‘Speech Enable’. The next time xPert is launched support for speech will be enabled.

Standard xPert Keyboard Shortcuts for Question Navigation and Item Selection:

Tab: Advance to next question using currently selected default question selection option (i.e., Next Unanswered, Next Required, Next, Previous).
Shift-Tab: Navigate to the Previous question.
Enter: While in a free text/numeric entry field, press Enter to perform the default navigation (Next, Next Unanswered, Next Required, etc.)
Up-Arrow and Down-Arrow: (not fully supported in xPertWeb) While in a list section, Up-Arrow and Down-Arrow keys navigate up and down respectively through the set of list items.
Spacebar: (not fully supported in xPertWeb) While in a list section, Spacebar causes the highlighted list item to be selected (as though the mouse left-button was clicked).
Right-Arrow: (not fully supported in xPertWeb) While in a list section and highlighted a list item, the Right-Arrow 1) allows annotation and 2) has an annotation value. (To move into the annotation text box to write your annotation, simply press the Right-Arrow key again)

Additional xPert Keyboard Shortcuts Available in Speech-Friendly Mode:

Alt-Q: Sets focus to the “Question” entry box.
Alt-G: Sends a mouse click to the “Go” button which causes navigation to the question specified in the “Question” box.
Alt-I: Sets focus to the “Items” entry box.
Alt-S: Sends a mouse click to the “Select” button which causes immediate selection or unselection of the items specified in the “Items” box.
Enter: The action of the Enter key is different when focus is in either the “Question” or “Items” entry boxes, as described below:
1. When “Question” has focus: pressing Enter causes immediate, direct navigation to the question with the number that corresponds with the entered number.
2. When “Items” has focus: pressing Enter causes immediate selection or unselection of the specified items with numbers corresponding to those entered.

Speech Recognition System Macro Guidance:

Most speech recognition systems provide a speech macro creation feature. This feature allows the creation of macros, which are like simple computer programs, to be created that perform some specified action when their name is spoken by the user of the speech recognition program.

Speech macros can be created to perform sequences of key presses when they are activated by the user of the speech recognition program. To take advantage of that feature, xPert supports a number of keyboard shortcuts which cause xPert to perform certain actions. These keyboard shortcuts can be activated by a speech macro.

The following speech macros are suggested when using xPert with a speech recognition program:

“question” macro to send “Alt-Q” to xPert. This will set focus to the “Question” entry box.
“item” or “items” macro to send “Alt-I” to xPert. This will set focus to the “Items” entry box.
“go next” macro to send “TAB” to xPert. This will cause xPert to perform the currently set default question navigation action.
“go last” macro to send “Shift-Tab” to xPert. This will cause xPert to perform the “Previous” question navigation action.
“go” or alternatively “now” to send “Alt-G” to xPert. This sends a mouse click to the “Go” button which causes navigation to the question specified in the “Question” box.
“select” macro to send “Alt-S” to xPert. This sends a mouse click to the “Select” button which causes immediate selection or unselection of the items specified in the “Items” box.
“page down” to send “Alt-O” to xPert. This sends a mouse click to the “Page Down” button which scrolls the navigation tree down.
“page up” to send “Alt-P” to xPert. This sends a mouse click to the “Page Up” button which scrolls the navigation tree up.
“items down” to send “Alt-D” to xPert. This sends a mouse click to the “Items Down” button which scrolls the list items down.
“items up” to send “Alt-U” to xPert. This sends a mouse click to the “Items Up” button which scrolls the list items up.

Speech Recognition Result Entry Boxes:

When set to Speech-Friendly Mode xPert will display two entry boxes that allow direct question navigation and list item selection without requiring use of the mouse. A description of those boxes and how they can be used follows:
“Question” entry box: This box is used to enter the number of the question to navigate. This box requires the entry of a single number. Any other entry or an entry outside the range of question numbers will be ignored. If a non-valid entry is mistakenly made then either clicking the “Go” button or the “Clear Question” button will clear the non-valid entry and set focus to the entry box for another try.
“Items” entry box: This box is used to enter the number of a list item to select. A list of items for a multi-select List question can also be entered with a comma, space, or the word “and” separating the numbers, e.g., “one and three and two” is a valid utterance in that case. The action on the List entries is a “toggle” action, that is, if an item “2” is currently unselected in the List then entering “2” and clicking the “Select” button will select that item – and if an item in the List is currently selected then entering its number and clicking “Select” will unselect it. This box requires the entry of a single number or of a list of comma-delimited or space-delimited numbers. Any other entry or an entry outside the range of item numbers will be ignored – note that if a list of item numbers is entered then non-valid numbers will be ignored, however valid numbers will still be used. If a non-valid entry is mistakenly made then either clicking the “Select” button or the “Clear Items” button will clear the non-valid entry and set focus back to the entry box.