Asterisk: The Future of Telephony, 2nd Edition

Name

Dictate() — Virtual dictation machine

Synopsis

Dictate([base_dir[,filename]])

This application allows the recording and playback of files, similar to a traditional dictation machine. The base_dir parameter specifies the directory in which Asterisk will write the recorded files. If not specified, it defaults to the dictate subdirectory of the Asterisk spool directory (as defined in asterisk.conf).

If the filename parameter is specified, it will be used when the file is written. If not specified, Asterisk will prompt the caller for a numeric filename for the file.

Note

Asterisk writes the files in raw, headerless, signed-linear format. If you’d like to convert the file to another format, you can use an outside utility such as sox, or use the file convert command from the Asterisk command-line interface.

The Dictate() application has two main modes: recording mode and playback mode. The caller can press the 1 key to switch between these modes. In both modes, the 0 key can be used to get help. The * key is used to pause or unpause the recording or playback. The # key allows the caller to choose a new filename.

In recording mode, the 8 key can be used to erase the entire recording and start over.

In playback mode, the 7 key rewinds the recording a few frames, and the 8 key forwards the recording a few frames. The 2 key is used to toggle the playback speed (either 1x, 2x, 3x, or 4x).

; begin dictating, and save the files in the /tmp/dictate directory
exten => 123,1,Dictate(/tmp/dictate)

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