Using FreeTTS via Java Web Start & sandbox

Jenny:

Good to hear from you again.  

There are some comments about JSAPI security in the JSAPI FAQ at:

http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/speech/forDevelopers/jsapifaq.html

I think the problem that you are seeing in particular is that JSAPI wants to read the speech.properties file in your home directory. 

One possible solution for you will be to sign your application. Information on this can be found on the web start faq:

http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart/faq.html

*** How can I enable my application to gain unrestricted access to the system?  ***

     An application requesting unresticted access must be digitally signed ...

This link talks about how to sign jar files:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/jar/sign/signing.html

I've never actually done any of this so if you get this to work and feel so inclined (you've been very helpful in the past, as I recall), please write up a quick description on how you did it so we can add it to the FreeTTS faq, because, this is indeed a frequently asked question.

Paul

Okay... progress... signing my jar files does indeed allow me to ask for permissions on the system, which are necessary for even reading the user.home system property.  Now, however, I'm running into the problem that the user does not yet have a speech.properties file.  I am next going to investigate providing that via the JNLP api meant to support properties files safely.

I'm still experimenting; if I come up with a good solution I'll come back and write up an explanation of it.  [For now all I figured out was signing, which is plenty well documented elsewhere on the net.]

Jenny:

Will Walker suggested this approach to avoid needing the speech.properties file at all. The idea is to bypass JSAPI Central and instead go directly to the FreeTTSEngineCentral to get the synthesizer. This bypasses the loading of the speech.properties file. The downside is that you have locked your application into using a particular synthesizer.  

Here is an example of how to do this:

/**
* Copyright 2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
*
* See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and
* redistribution of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL
* WARRANTIES.
*/
import java.io.File;
import java.util.Locale;

// import javax.speech.Central;

import com.sun.speech.freetts.jsapi.FreeTTSEngineCentral;
import javax.speech.EngineList;
import javax.speech.EngineCreate;
import javax.speech.synthesis.Synthesizer;
import javax.speech.synthesis.SynthesizerModeDesc;

/**
* Simple program showing how to use FreeTTS in JSAPI.
*/
public class HelloWorld {
   
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        try {
            // Create a new SynthesizerModeDesc that will match the FreeTTS
            // Synthesizer.
            SynthesizerModeDesc desc = new SynthesizerModeDesc
                ("Unlimited domain FreeTTS Speech Synthesizer from Sun Labs",
                 null,
                 Locale.US,
                 Boolean.FALSE,         // running?
                 null);                 // voice

            FreeTTSEngineCentral central = new FreeTTSEngineCentral();
            Synthesizer synthesizer = null;;

            EngineList list = central.createEngineList(desc);

            if (list.size() > 0) {
                EngineCreate creator  = (EngineCreate) list.get(0);
                synthesizer = (Synthesizer) creator.createEngine();
            }

            if (synthesizer == null) {
                System.err.println("Can't find synthesizer");
                System.exit(1);
            }
           
            // get it ready to speak
            synthesizer.allocate();
            synthesizer.resume();
           
            // speak the "Hello world" string
            synthesizer.speakPlainText("Hello, world!", null);
           
            // wait till speaking is done
            synthesizer.waitEngineState(Synthesizer.QUEUE_EMPTY);
           
            // clean up
            synthesizer.deallocate();
        }
        catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        System.exit(0);
    }
}

Perhaps this will be helpful.

Paul

Dear Rod,

You should avoid reading from the synthesizer.properties file. We have created a new demo at FreeTTS/demo/JSAPI/WebStartClock/JSAPIClock.java that illustrates how to make FreeTTS/JSAPI work with Java Web Start. You will need to download the latest FreeTTS release. Please take a look at it. If you're still having problems, please post again. One important thing is that in your JNLP file, you must give it <all-permissions/>. Also, show the Java Web Start console to see what exceptions you are getting.

philip

Dear Rod,

You should avoid reading from the synthesizer.properties file. We have created a new demo at FreeTTS/demo/JSAPI/WebStartClock/JSAPIClock.java that illustrates how to make FreeTTS/JSAPI work with Java Web Start. You will need to download the latest FreeTTS release. Please take a look at it. If you're still having problems, please post again. One important thing is that in your JNLP file, you must give it <all-permissions/>. Also, show the Java Web Start console to see what exceptions you are getting.

philip