Make the computer speak

Here is a GUI program which will speak out the text entered into the textbox or speak out the contents of a specified text file. This simple HTML application or hta file coded in VBScript has a stop button to stop the speaking once it has started. Sadly there is no function to pause the speech.

To make the paste the following code into notepad and save with a .hta extension. Or you can download the program here.

<html>
<head>
<title>SpeakIt</title>
<HTA:APPLICATION
  APPLICATIONNAME="SpeakIt"
  ID="SpeakIt"
  VERSION="1.0"
  MAXIMIZEBUTTON="no"
  SCROLL="no"/>
</head>

<script language="VBScript">

Sub Window_OnLoad
Dim width,height
width=460
height=470
self.ResizeTo width,height
End Sub

Function PInt()
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If (boxa.value = "") Then
X = MsgBox("Enter the path for the text file to speak!", 48, "ERROR!")
Else If Not (fs.FileExists(boxa.value)) Then
X = MsgBox("The specified file does not exist!", 48, "ERROR!")
Else
path = WshShell.SpecialFolders("Templates")
Set a = fs.CreateTextFile(path & "\Script.vbs")
a.WriteLine("Set fs = CreateObject(" & Chr(34) & "Scripting.FileSystemObject" & Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("Set WshShell = CreateObject(" & Chr(34) & "WScript.Shell" & Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("path = WshShell.SpecialFolders(" & Chr(34) & "Templates" & Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("Set sapi = CreateObject(" & Chr(34) & "sapi.spvoice" &Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("Set a = fs.OpenTextFile(" & Chr(34) & boxa.value & Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("text = a.ReadAll")
a.WriteLine("sapi.Speak text")
a.Close
X = SetTimeOut("Speak()", 500)
End If
End If
End Function

Function Intialize()
If (box.value = "") Then
X = MsgBox("Enter the text to speak!", 48, "ERROR!")
Else
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
path = WshShell.SpecialFolders("Templates")
Set a = fs.CreateTextFile(path & "\Script.vbs")
Set b = fs.CreateTextFile(path & "\XFile.txt")
b.Write(box.value)
a.WriteLine("Set fs = CreateObject(" & Chr(34) & "Scripting.FileSystemObject" & Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("Set WshShell = CreateObject(" & Chr(34) & "WScript.Shell" & Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("path = WshShell.SpecialFolders(" & Chr(34) & "Templates" & Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("Set sapi = CreateObject(" & Chr(34) & "sapi.spvoice" &Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("Set a = fs.OpenTextFile(path " & Chr(38) & " " & Chr(34) & "\XFile.txt" & Chr(34) & ")")
a.WriteLine("text = a.ReadAll")
a.WriteLine("sapi.Speak text")
a.Close
b.Close
X = SetTimeOut("Speak()", 500)
End If
End Function

Function Speak()
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
path = WshShell.SpecialFolders("Templates")
X = WshShell.Run(path & "\Script.vbs")
End Function

Function StopSpeaking()
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
X = WshShell.Run("taskkill /im wscript.exe /f", 7)
End Function

</script>

<body bgcolor="white">
<table align="center">
<caption><hr><b>SpeakIt</b><hr></caption>
<tr>
<td>Enter the text file path to speak:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center"><input type="text" id="boxa" size="65"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center"><input id="BTNA" type="button" value="Speak it!" onclick="PInt()" style="width:420px;height:30px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Enter the text to speak:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center"><textarea cols="50" rows="10" id="box"></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center"><input id="BTN" type="button" value="Speak it!" onclick="Intialize()" style="width:420px;height:30px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center"><input id="BTNS" type="button" value="Stop Speaking" onclick="StopSpeaking()" style="width:420px;height:30px;"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Do not forget to leave your comments and ratings after trying this out!