Gather

The <Gather> verb transcribes speech or collects digits during a call.

Verb attributes

Supported languages

You can find a list of our supported languages here.

Request parameters for action URL

The action request contains the Standard Request Parameters as well as:

Nesting

The following verbs can be nested within a <Gather>:

• <Play>: plays an audio file, that SignalWire fetches from the URL you configured, back to the caller.
• <Pause>: waits silently for a distinctive number of seconds.
• <Say>: reads supplied text back to the caller.

Examples

Handle gathered input on your server

This example demonstrates a complete flow: the initial cXML prompts the caller for input, and your server handles the POST request to process Digits or SpeechResult and respond with appropriate cXML.

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<Response>
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    <Gather input="speech dtmf" action="https://example.com/handle-gather" method="POST"
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            numDigits="1" hints="sales, support, billing" timeout="5" speechTimeout="auto">
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        <Say>
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            Press 1 or say sales for sales.
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            Press 2 or say support for technical support.
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            Press 3 or say billing for billing questions.
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        </Say>
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    </Gather>
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    <Say>We did not receive any input. Goodbye!</Say>
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</Response>

A simple gather

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<Response>
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    <Gather/>
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</Response>

SignalWire will collect any speech or digits pressed during a call.

Nesting <Say> within a gather

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<Response>
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    <Gather action="https://example.com/process_gather.php" method="GET">
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        <Say>
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            Please enter your account number,
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            followed by the pound sign.
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        </Say>
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    </Gather>
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    <Say>We did not receive any input. Goodbye!</Say>
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</Response>

You can use the <Say> verb to prompt callers to enter the desired input. In this example, when a caller enters their account number, SignalWire will submit the result to the URL provided in the action attribute. If the caller does not enter any digits, SignalWire will prompt the ‘Goodbye’ statement.

Nesting <Play> within a gather

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<Response>
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    <Gather action="https://example.com/process_gather.php" method="GET">
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        <Play>https://your-application.com/audio.mp3</Play>
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    </Gather>
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    <Say>We did not receive any input. Goodbye!</Say>
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</Response>

You can use the <Play> verb to prompt callers to enter the desired input. In this example, when a caller enters their account number, SignalWire will submit the result to the URL provided in the action attribute. If the caller does not enter any digits, SignalWire will prompt the ‘Goodbye’ statement.

Gather DTMF or speech

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<Response>
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    <Gather input="speech dtmf" timeout="5" numDigits="1">
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        <Say>Please press 3 or say account for account information.</Say>
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    </Gather>
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</Response>

A caller can access their account information either through speech recognition or DTMF tones. SignalWire will wait 5 seconds before processing the information and sending the data.

Potential issues

<Gather> doesn’t receive caller input when the caller is using a VoIP phone.

Solution: Some VoIP phones have trouble sending DTMF tones. Phones typically use compressed bandwidth-conserving audio protocols that can interfere with the transmission of the digit’s signal.

The Digits parameter is not sent to the <Gather> URL.

Solution: Verify that your application is not responding to the action URL with an HTTP 3xx redirect. SignalWire will follow this redirect but will not resend the Digits parameter.

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