All prompt sets are located within this folder:

Windows XP / 2003:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\3CX\Ivr\Prompts\Sets

Windows Vista / 2008 / 7 / 2008:
C:\ProgramData\3CX\Data\Ivr\Prompts\Sets

Each prompt set has a separate subdirectory. So for example, the default English prompt set is located within the “…\Sets\8210986B-9412-497f-AD77-3A554F4A9BDB” directory;
The German prompt set is located within the “…\Sets\03E2DC8C-3382-43e2-A9D5-115F92C847BE” directory.

The name of the prompt set directory it actually the ID of the prompt set.

To get information about a prompt set, just have a look at the SetInfo.xml file within the directory of prompt set.
This file fully describes prompt set, including the name of the prompt set, its version, and prompts.

Prompt Set Grammar

The grammar of prompt sets (the way audio prompts are combined into phrases) is hardcoded into the IVR scripts and by default is set to English-style grammar.

This can be customized by setting:

<langopts num_style=”1″ />

… which changes the grammar for combining phrases in German-style grammar. Currently only English and German style grammar are available.

Prompt Set Translation

Choosing Base Prompt Set

First, you have to choose a prompt set which you will use as a base, that is a prompt set you will translate. You can use the default English prompt set or download some other prompt set within 3CX Web Console (General -> Phone System Updates -> System Prompts Update).

Making a Copy of a Prompt Set

After you have chosen the prompt set for translation, you have to create a changeable copy of this prompt set. You cannot change the default English prompt set or prompt sets downloaded from 3CX Web Site, but you can create a copy from that prompt set and change this copy. All other languages can be edited directly. If you want to create a new language it is recommended to use a copy of the “Standard English Prompts Set”.

In the 3CX Management Console, go to “General -> System Prompts” and create a copy of the ”Standard English Prompts Set”:

• click “Manage Promptsets”
• in the “Active Promptset” field, ensure “Standard English Prompts Set” is selected
• click “Copy Promptset”
• choose a Name for the new Prompts you are going to create; for example “Hungarian Prompts Set” and the ordering of numbers (default is UK/US number ordering, alternate is German number ordering)

Picture 2 Copy of Prompt Set

The 3CX Management Console will create a new directory within the “…\Sets” folder and copies all files from the base prompt set to this folder (see the Picture 3). The name of the new directory corresponds to the ID of the new prompt set. The ID of prompt set is a random string being created on prompt set creation.

Picture 3 Directory of Copied Prompt Set

Creating New Audio Files

You can create new audio files (containing translated phrases from the base prompt set) by using a speech synthesizer or by recording audio from a microphone.
You can then edit audio with your favourite audio editor.

When you create audio files:

• The supported audio file format is: WAV, PCM, 8 KHz, 16 bit.
• Big WAV files can be converted to MP3 files, but keep in mind the following considerations:
  • Converting to mp3 usually creates significant silence at the beginning and at the end of prompt; so it is not recommended to use mp3-conversion for prompts being used in combined phrases, because it can create unwanted pauses between different parts of a combined phrase
  • Conversion to mp3 can drastically decrease quality of sound unless you use tools that can do high quality MP3 conversion
  • Remove redundant silence (more than 10-20 ms) at the beginning and at the end of prompts where possible
  • Avoid abrupt clipping of audio at the end of prompts to avoid audio artifacts (clicks) at the end of prompts.
  • Try to create prompts with similar audio characteristics, such as volume, pitch, voice timbre – so that combined phrases sound smooth

Replacing Audio Files

Picture 4 Changing the audio file for a prompt

You can replace audio files using the “Browse“button within the “Settings -> System Prompts” page in the 3CX Management Console. You should replace all the audio files required to fully translate the prompt set.

Translating Descriptions of Prompts

When changing the content of audio files, you should also change the prompt descriptions.

The SetInfo.xml file contains descriptions for all prompts within a prompt set (see Example 1). Descriptions of prompts are displayed in the “Prompts” column of the “System Prompts” window (see Picture 1 and Picture 2). The descriptions of prompts cannot be changed from the 3CX Management Console, but can be changed manually in the “SetInfo.xml” file using of a text-editor or xml-editor.

Prompt descriptions can contain international (non-Latin) symbols. There are two ways to insert international characters to a prompt description:

1. You can use the ‘&#xHH;’ html sequences, where ‘HH’ is hexadecimal code of a Unicode character. For example, the “Accès refusé”  string is displayed as “Accès refusé”.
2. You should edit the SetInfo.xml file as a UTF-8 file, so you can use any Unicode characters within the prompt description.

Example 1 Description of Prompts in SetInfo.xml File

Prompt Set Packaging

After you have translated a prompt set (changed content of audio files and translated description of prompts), you may want to send this prompt set to 3CX.

To make a prompt set package, just pack the directory of the prompt set (together with files and subfolders) using an archive utility like Rar or Zip. The prompt set directory must contain all audio files and the SetInfo.xml file. Then you can send the resulting archive to 3CX.