Microsoft Speech API in a Silverlight Out-of-Browser Application

We will use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Silverlight 4, and the Windows 7 SDK to develop this sample.

First, let's navigate to Visual Studio.

1. Begin by creating a new Silverlight application by navigating to File->New Project->Silverlight Application template.
    
2. Next, add reference to the Microsoft.CSharp namespace. To do this, right-click the application in Solution Explorer and click Add Reference, and then select Microsoft.CSharp in the .Net tab. The Microsoft.CSharp namespace contains classes that support compilation and code generation using the C# language.
   
   
    
3. Now, add a Button control to the MainPage.xaml file. Add some sample text to its content. Also, register a click event handler for this button.
   
   
   
   
4. Then, navigate to the event handler of this button.
    
5. In this file, add a reference to the System.Runtime.InteropServices.Automation namespace. It provides classes that enable Silverlight-based applications to communicate with Automation APIs.
    
6. Let's handle the click event of the button. In this, start a try-catch block. Now, in the try block, create a dynamic object named ISpeechVoice by calling the CreateObject() method of the AutomationFactory class. Also, pass the SpVoice object of the speech API. The SpVoice object brings the text-to-speech engine capabilities to the applications using SAPI automation. Here, you can set various fundamental characteristics of the voice. Let's set its volume to 100. Then, call the Speak() method of this class. The Speak method initiates the speaking of a text string, text file, or a wave file. Also, pass some sample text to be converted into speech in this method. Next, in the catch block, add a message box that displays the error message.
   
   
   
7. Since we are developing an Out-of-browser application, let's make this application run out of the browser. To do this, right-click the application in the solution explorer and click Properties. On this page, click the Silverlight tab in the left pane. Check the Enable running out of the browser check box. Click the Out-of-browser settings button. In this, click the Required Elevated trust when running out of the browser check box. Then, click OK.
   
   
    
8. Now, run the application. The application runs in a separate window, out of the browser and a button is displayed in the window. Click the button. You can hear the text that was entered in the application.

This sample demonstrates how you can create a Silverlight Out-of-browser application and use the Microsoft Speech API to convert text to speech.