Chapter 3. VoiceXML language reference

In Chapter 2, “VoiceXML essentials,” on page 24 our exploration of VoiceXML was motivated by how the language is generally used. This chapter will exhaustively cover the entirety of VoiceXML from the perspective of its Document Type Definition (DTD). We will begin with a brief overview of the structure of the language, defining several abstract element types that will be used as a shorthand throughout the remainder of this chapter as we examine each language element type individually.

This chapter uses the graphical Unified Modeling Language (UML) to visualize the VoiceXML elements and their relationships. Appendix F, “UML Class Diagram primer,” briefly summarizes UML.

This chapter indicates attributes based on VoiceXML 2.0 Working Draft. New attributes that are exclusive to VoiceXML 2.0 implementations - i.e. not available in VoiceXML 1.0 implementations - have the notation "(2.0)."