Re: Request to change WebSpeech to remove usage of SpeechSynthesisVoiceList

Tommy discovered that WebIDL forbids sequence<xx> for attributes, it's only
for function results: http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/WebIDL/#idl-sequence

So I see three options for SpeechRecognitionEvent.results:

1. Define it as an array instead of a sequence.  The change to the IDL
would be:

  Section 5.1 IDL:
    "readonly attribute sequence<SpeechRecognitionResult> results;"
  should be
    "readonly attribute SpeechRecognitionResult[] results"


2. Revert back to the original IDL in the spec. (That is, strikeout errata
E04.) [1]


3. Change it from a readonly attribute to a function. The change to the IDL
would be:

  Section 5.1 IDL:
    "readonly attribute sequence<SpeechRecognitionResult> results;"
  should be
    "sequence<SpeechRecognitionResult> getResults()"



I prefer the first option. Like sequence<xx> an array remains compatible
with the result[i] syntax (so no change for JavaScript applications using
this syntax), and doesn't support the result.item(i) syntax.

The second option would be OK too.

I dislike the third option because the syntax for JavaScript applications
changes. Also, because this would add a function call
to SpeechRecognitionEvent, which currently holds only attributes, so it
would be inconsistent and "odd" in my opinion.

What are your thoughts?

Also, any additional thoughts on SpeechGrammarList?

Glen Shires


[1] https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/speech-api/raw-file/tip/speechapi-errata.html


On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 7:01 AM, Tommy Widenflycht (ᛏᚮᛘᛘᚤ) <tommyw@google.com
> wrote:

> FYI the "Media Capture and Streams" spec did this with MediaStream and
> MediaStreamtrackList and it turned out OK imho.
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 7:56 AM, Glen Shires <gshires@google.com> wrote:
>
>> One option for a similar change to SpeechGrammarList is to move its
>> methods to its parent as shown below.
>>
>> Remove SpeechRecognitionResultList and change:
>>
>> interface SpeechRecognition : EventTarget {
>>         attribute sequence<SpeechGrammar> grammars;
>>
>>         void addGrammarFromURI(in DOMString src, optional float weight);
>>         void addGrammarFromString(in DOMString string, optional float
>> weight);
>>         ...
>> }
>>
>>
>> However, I prefer the current syntax because the encapsulation of methods
>> is cleaner.  Any thoughts or other proposals?
>>
>> /Glen Shires
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 10:36 PM, Glen Shires <gshires@google.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I've updated the errata with the above change:
>>> https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/speech-api/rev/58e2afd5d423
>>>
>>> As always, the current errata is at:
>>> http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/speech-api/raw-file/tip/speechapi-errata.html
>>>
>>>
>>> Should we consider a similar change to SpeechGrammarList? (It's not as
>>> straight-forward because the object has methods.) Any proposals?
>>>
>>> /Glen Shires
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 3:43 PM, Glen Shires <gshires@google.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I agree, this makes for a cleaner, more modern IDL and doesn't affect
>>>> the JavaScript syntax.  So unless there is disagreement, I will add the
>>>> following to the errata on Feb 4.
>>>>
>>>> Remove SpeechSynthesisVoiceList and change:
>>>>
>>>> interface SpeechSynthesis {
>>>>         sequence<SpeechSynthesisVoice> getVoices();
>>>> };
>>>>
>>>> Remove SpeechRecognitionResultList and change:
>>>>
>>>> interface SpeechRecognitionEvent : Event {
>>>>         readonly attribute sequence<SpeechRecognitionResult> results;
>>>> };
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Also, we might consider a similar change to SpeechGrammarList, but it's
>>>> not as straight-forward because this object has methods. Any proposals?
>>>>
>>>> Glen
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 12:34 AM, Tommy Widenflycht (ᛏᚮᛘᛘᚤ) <
>>>> tommyw@google.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Yeah, I am doing exactly the same to the WebRTC stuff in WebKit. The
>>>>> recentish support for sequence<> in WebKit rocks. And the change
>>>>> wouldn't break anything either.
>>>>>
>>>>> /Tommy
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 9:27 AM, Hans Wennborg <hwennborg@google.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> > On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:19 PM, Chris Fleizach <cfleizach@apple.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> >> Hi,
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> I think that instead of using the custom SpeechSynthesisVoiceList
>>>>> object, we can use a normative Javascript array to return the list of voices
>>>>> >> in getVoices().
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> The IDL change would change from
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> interface SpeechSynthesis {
>>>>> >>         SpeechSynthesisVoiceList getVoices();
>>>>> >> };
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> to
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> interface SpeechSynthesis {
>>>>> >>         sequence<SpeechSynthesisVoice> getVoices();
>>>>> >> };
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> Then the SpeechSynthesisVoiceList can be removed.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> Thanks for your consideration
>>>>> >
>>>>> > +tommyw
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I guess this would apply to the other lists in the spec too? I.e.
>>>>> > SpeechGrammarList and SpeechRecognitionResultList?
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Seems like this would both simplify the spec and implementation a
>>>>> bit.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Thanks,
>>>>> > Hans
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>