Using KMouth

The first start
During the first start of KMouth, a wizard is displayed into which you can enter some basic configuration.
The wizard
The wizard
With the first page of the wizard (the left screen shot) you specify the command that shall later be used for the text-to-speech conversion. For more details look into the description of the configuration dialog.
With the second page you select which standard phrase books you need. From the phrase books you later can select often used phrases so that you do not need to type them in. Of course KMouth also has an edit dialog for the case that you later want to edit your phrase books.

The main window
The main window of KMouth is fairly simple. It consists basically of an edit field into which you type your sentences (the lower white field in the screen shot) and a history of spoken sentences (the upper white field in the screen shot).
The main window of KMouth
Screen shot
Assuming that you have correctly configured KMouth you can use the edit field for entering sentences you want to hear. Once a sentence got spoken it will be appended to the history. From the history you can select sentences to be re-spoken.
From the phrase books (located in the line below the tool bar) you can select often used phrases.

The Configuration Dialog
By using the menu entry Settings Configure KMouth... you open the configuration dialog of KMouth. This dialog consists of two tabs, Text-to-Speech and Preferences.
The configuration dialog of KMouth
Screen shot

The Text-to-Speech tab
Into the edit field of the Text-to-Speech tab you enter the command for calling the speech synthesizer. With the combo box below the edit field you specify the character encoding that is used for passing the text to the speech synthesizer.
KMouth knows two ways of passing the text: If the command expects the text as standard input you select the check box.
The other way is to pass the text as a parameter: Before calling the command KMouth replaces every occurrence of %t in the command by the text (write %% for passing a percent sign).
Off course the command for speaking texts is dependent on which speech synthesizer you use. Please look into the documentation of your speech synthesizer for the command for speaking texts.
By selecting Use kttsd speech service if possible you tell KMouth first to try to send the kttsd speech service. If this succeeds the other configuration entries on this tab are ignored. The kttsd speech service is a daemon which gives applications a standardized interface for speech synthesis and is currently developed in CVS. It is safe to select this option even if kttsd is not installed.

The Preferences tab
The Preferences tab contains options that alter the behavior of KMouth in certain situations.
With the first combo box, Selection of phrases in the phrase book, you specify which action is triggered by typing the shortcut of a phrase or by selecting a phrase in the Phrase Book menu or in the phrase book bar.
By selecting Speak immediately the selected phrase gets immediately spoken and is entered into the history. If you select Insert Into Edit Field the selected phrase is just inserted into the edit field.
With the second combo box, Closing the phrase book edit window, you specify whether the phrase book gets saved if you just close the phrase book edit window.
By selecting Save Phrase Book the phrase book gets saved. If you select Discard changes the changes are discarded and the phrase book is not saved. If you select Ask whether to Save KMouth will ask you whether it shall save the phrase book.

The Phrase Book Edit Window
By using the menu entry Phrase Books Edit... you open the phrase book edit window.
The phrase book edit window
Screens hot
The main area of the phrase book edit window is divided into two parts. Within the upper part the phrase books are displayed in some tree structure.
Within the lower part you may modify a selected item. If you have selected a phrase you can modify the contents of the phrase as well as its shortcut. If you have selected a phrase book you can only change its name.
Actions like adding new phrases and phrase books and deleting selected phrases and phrase books can be done by selecting them in either the menu bar, the tool bar or a pop up menu.
You can change the order of the phrase books and phrases by dragging them to their new places or by using the arrow keys while the key is pressed.