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Can DNS select text in Explorer without the mouse?
Submitted by markr on Sun, 03/30/2008 - 17:57.
Hi everybody,
Part of my job involves cutting and pasting text from Internet Explorer to Dragon pad for research purposes. I have severe tendinitis and try to avoid the mouse whenever possible. So, I use the mouse grid function to place the cursor in the right position, and then say mouse click, then say the appropriate mouse drag function. However I don't find that this works effectively in Microsoft Internet explorer. For some reason DNS w won't click in the text in this application like it does in Notepad. Any suggestions here? Clicking and dragging overtaxed is probably the most painful thing I can do with my physical limitations. Even if I use my mouse ball to place the cursor in the right place that's fine but it's the dragging and clicking at the same time that hurts.
Thanks so much and thanks for addressing my last post.
Yours, Mark
Follow up question
So I've gone back and tried fooling around with this a more. The best I've gotten is physically placing the cursor over text, then saying mouse double-click. Then I say mouse drag down and half the time it starts working but sometimes it produces a circle with a line through it and set of a cursor.
What's more difficult is that once he gets over the first page it starts selecting everything and won't slow down even though I space say stop. And it selects all the images and bits on the side rather than just the article which it does fine if you use a mouse. In other words, you lose all the control if you want to select more than just a paragraph or two. Instead you get a tremendous amount that's not useful for copying and pasting.
Thanks again, Mark
My set up: Athlon dual core 3700 processor, 2 gigabytes DDR RAM, Sennheiser M E3, Andrea a USB pod for microphone input, windows XP
markr wrote:
sometimes it produces a circle with a line through it and set of a cursor.
Apparently this is a scrolling feature built into the mouse driver, but I can only get it sporadically with the glidepad!
I've long since relegated the mouse to the scrap pile, but I've never been able duplicate its features via voice, so I make do with a pair of Cirque glidepads -- for me they literally require less than 10% of the energy drained by mouse usage. But apparently its a subjective thing because others say that the glidepads are as bad if not worse than mice, so YMMV.
Hopefully a true hands-free user will provide a solution.
Bruce
Selecting & copying text from the Internet
The VoicePower program includes several commands that let you use Dragon's Select & Say commands to copy and paste text from the Internet.
One example: If you’re working in Microsoft Word or some other program and wish to copy text from the Internet or virtually any window, you’d simply say:
1. "Select Text to Copy"
2. "Select text through text"
And, the text you selected would be pasted at your cursor position.
Ron Katsuranis
Developer & programmer of VoicePower
Nuance Certified Partner
www.voiceteach.com
Selecting text by voice in any browser
Part of my job involves cutting and pasting text from Internet Explorer to Dragon pad for research purposes. I have severe tendinitis and try to avoid the mouse whenever possible. So, I use the mouse grid function to place the cursor in the right position, and then say mouse click, then say the appropriate mouse drag function. However I don't find that this works effectively in Microsoft Internet explorer. For some reason DNS w won't click in the text in this application like it does in Notepad. Any suggestions here? Clicking and dragging overtaxed is probably the most painful thing I can do with my physical limitations. Even if I use my mouse ball to place the cursor in the right place that's fine but it's the dragging and clicking at the same time that hurts
Mark,
Although it is possible to create a command that will select text by voice, this is not an easy process and you can spin your wheels trying to do so unless you have one of the professional versions (Legal, Medical, or Professional). The simple reason for this is that browsers are not text editors. As such, speech recognition requires SAPI intervention (Speech Application Program Interface) in order to access text in any window. Therefore, any window displaying text has to be accessible by SAPI, which browsers are not.
I would strongly suggest that you look at VoicePower (the post by Ron at VoiceTeach because he has a command in his software that does this superbly. In addition, there are numerous other capabilities in VoicePower that are designed specifically for hands-free use and make life a lot easier. In addition, VoicePower works with DNS Preferred.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, you would be much better off purchasing VoicePower because it is not only an additional command interface for DNS, it also provides an extremely comprehensive, voice accessible help interface that allows you to find any information that you need with regard to using Dragon NaturallySpeaking by simple voice commands. Its comprehensive help, which is totally voice-enabled, goes well beyond any other similar type of application available.
I've been working with Ron for several months and I find VoicePower invaluable whether you are a novice or an expert. Take a good look at. It will solve many problems that users in your circumstance experience.
Chuck Runquist
Former Dragon NaturallySpeaking SDK & Senior Technical Solutions PM for DNS
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- In memoriam of Arthur C. Clarke who passed on this week. (1917-2008)
My set up: Athlon dual core
My set up: Athlon dual core 3700 processor, 2 gigabytes DDR RAM, Sennheiser M E3, Andrea a USB pod for microphone input, windows
it also provides an extremely comprehensive, voice accessible help interface that allows you to find any information that you need with regard to using Dragon NaturallySpeaking by simple voice commands.
I'm not exactly sure what this means regarding information you need. Does that mean that instead of consulting the online manual-which is a pain-that I simply ask what I want?
Also, budget is an issue. They have a scripting program for 50 bucks at the site and this is $200. For the extra hundred 50 am by avoiding that reinventing the wheel problem? Will it also allow me to do things like create macros so that I can go to my inbox on Microsoft's Outlook automatically without saying mouse grid like five times?
Thanks so much,
m
Another Option
We believe that VoicePower has impressive
help files but is somewhat limited in end-user command creating capabilities (such
as the ability to select text) and built-in commands in that you can only capture
keystrokes. If you want real Advanced-Scripting capabilities (similar to DNS
Pro), you might want to consider the original third-party command utility KnowBrainer
2007 which is now free to the physically disabled. Additional information
on KnowBrainer is available at What
is KnowBrainer
Lunis Orcutt - Developer of KnowBrainer &
Host
of the Http://www.KnowBrainer.com Speech Recognition Forum
VoicePower vs. KnowBrainer
Lunis,
Your knowledge of VoicePower and the distinction between VoicePower and KnowBrainer is rather limited. It is obvious that you have never seriously used or tested VoicePower.
Not only is your assessment incorrect, your understanding of the command structure available to end-users under VoicePower is as far from the facts as you can possibly get.
You will have no commands in KnowBrainer capable of extracting text from a webpage as efficiently as VoicePower, and I don't think you ever will.
Chuck Runquist
Former Dragon NaturallySpeaking SDK & Senior Technical Solutions PM for DNS
"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving." -- Dale Carnegie
Text selection in Internet Explorer
I wrote a natlink script some time ago that enables simple text selection in Internet Explorer. The user can say "Text Select to " and if this selection is valid, the text is selected in the page just as if the user would have used the mouse to select it. I have posted it on Speech Wiki (http://speechwiki.org/NL/TextSelectionInternetExpl...). This script requires Natlink to work.
You could sort of roll your
You could sort of roll your own macro based on the caret browsing (F7) in Firefox (if you are not limited to Internet Explorer). See:
http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/hack-attack...
Perhaps combined with 'find as you type' functionality.
I can't get the natlink macro to work
I saved it in my macro system folder, but it doesn't seem even be picking it up. I played with placing some other macros there just to make sure that natlink is working and it is.
Any thoughts or comments?
As an aside, I also have to agree with Chuck concerning voice power. While I commend Lunis for his work on his forum, is great service, and contribution to the voice-recognition community in general, knowbrainer software is really a collection of macros, it's not an application.
Any macro system based on naturally speaking pro is pretty limited in my opinion, i.e.inability to accept any word as a parameter in a macro, editing experience is horrible for the disabled, etc.
I have not tried out voice power yet, but even from the screenshots and appears to have some great features, I will purchase and review soon...
http://agileconsulting.blogspot.com
Thomasjeffreyandersontwin
As an aside, I also have to agree with Chuck concerning voice power. While I commend Lunis for his work on his forum, is great service, and contribution to the voice-recognition community in general, knowbrainer software is really a collection of macros, it's not an application.
On Pro, KnowBrainer adds macros and Verbal Basic. For Preferred it actually adds the ability to use (and add more) the same macros that KnowBrainer uses in Pro and adds Verbal Basic. From that I would think it's a combination of macros and applications.
Thomasjeffreyandersontwin
As an aside, I also have to agree with Chuck concerning voice power. While I commend Lunis for his work on his forum, is great service, and contribution to the voice-recognition community in general, knowbrainer software is really a collection of macros, it's not an application.
Any macro system based on naturally speaking pro is pretty limited in my opinion, i.e.inability to accept any word as a parameter in a macro, editing experience is horrible for the disabled, etc.
I have not tried out voice power yet, but even from the screenshots and appears to have some great features, I will purchase and review soon...
http://agileconsulting.blogspot.com
In this context, comments anticipating results rather than reporting experience are well-nigh useless for all parties, especially the author who runs the risk of having to eat a word or two:-) However, your observations regarding DNS Pro's limitations are accurate enough that you've whetted my appetite: I'm looking forward to the actual review based on experience.
Bruce