Favella

Favella (faˈvɛlla) is an Italian word that means "speech" or better the "power of speech".

The idea behind Favella is to make your console error speaks to you. No need to read errors, simply listen it.

I developed this simple library playing with Web Speech API, in particular with Speech Synthesis API a web API for controlling a text-to-speech output.

Unfortunately not all browsers support that API, so assure to check the list of them at caniuse.com.

From 0.3.0 version also speech recognition is supported in few browsers :-(

Install

Install with npm

You can use npm to install Favella in your app

# just install
$ npm install favella

# install and add to package.json dependencies
$ npm install favella -S

# install and add to package.json dev dependencies
$ npm install favella -D

Install with bower

You can use bower to install Favella in your app.

$ bower install favella

If you want to install and add it to your bower.json dependencies

# to add as dependencies
$ bower install favella --save

# to add as devDependencies
$ bower install favella --save-dev

Then you find it in bower_components folder.

Install by hand

Download the latest release and link dist/favella.min.js or dist/favella.js in your project.

How it works

It is simple. Every time a console.error() is triggered the error message is read to you. So, turn up your speakers, open your js console and write

console.error('what a beautiful error');

Favella API

Favella.speak(message, options)

Favella speaks to you reading a message. You can use options to customize some SpeechSynthesisUtterance attributes.

Favella.speak('Ciao mondo', {
    // the volume from 0 to 1
    volume: 1,
    // the rate from 0.1 to 10
    rate: 2,
    // the pitch from 0 to 2
    pitch: 1,
    // lang to use. If it's not available use en-US
    lang: 'it-IT',
    // fired when Favella starts to speak
    onstart: function(e) {},
    // fired when Favella ends to speak
    onend: function(e) {},
     // fired when there was an error
    onerror: function(e) {},
     // fired when Favella is paused
    onpause: function(e) {},
     // fired when the spoken utterance reaches a word or sentence boundary
    onboundary: function(e) {},
     // fired when the spoken utterance reaches a named "mark" tag in SSML
    onmark: function(e) {}
});

Favella.listen(options)

Favella listen to you using speech recognition feature. You can use options to customize some SpeechRecognition attributes.

Pages hosted on HTTP need to ask permission each time they want to make an audio capture in a similar way to requesting access to other items via the browser. Pages on HTTPS do not have to repeatedly request access.

Favella.listen({
    // the language you want Favella listens
    lang: 'it-IT',
    // set true to make Favella continuously listens
    continuous: false,
    // controls whether interim results are returned
    interimResults: false,
    // fired when audio capture started
    onaudiostart: function(e) {},
    // fired when some sound has been detected
    onsoundstart: function(e) {},
    // fired when the speech that will be used for speech recognition has started
    onspeechstart: function(e) {},
    // fired when the speech that will be used for speech recognition has ended
    onspeechend: function(e) {},
    // fired when sound is no longer detected
    onsoundend: function(e) {},
    // fired when audio capture ended
    onaudioend: function(e) {},
    // fired when speech recognizer returns a result
    // In additions to the SpeechRecognitionEvent Object it has as second argument a special result object containing useful information:
    // - isFinal: true if it's the final result of a recognition, false if it's an interim result
    // - interim: the interim transcript (if any)
    // - final:  the complete final transcript
    // - partial: the partial transcript useful if Favella.listen() is used with continuous = true
    onresult: function(e, result) {},
    // fired when speech recognizer returns a final result with no recognition hypothesis that meet or exceed the confidence threshold
    onnomatch: function(e) {},
    // fired when a speech recognition error occurs
    onerror: function(e) {},
    // fired when a speech recognition service has begun
    onstart: function(e) {},
    // fired when a speech recognition service has disconnected
    onend: function(e) {}
});

Favella.setup(options)

Setup default Favella options.

Favella.setup({
    // list of curses that will be randomly appended at `console.error` messages.
    // Simply funny. Ok ok, Italian people will go wild :)
    curses: ['Damn', 'Shit', 'You, bastard'],
    // set true for mute the curses (false is the default)
    parentalControl: false,
    // options seen above in Favella.speak
    speakOptions: {},
    // define if console.error() speaks or not
    // set to 'console' to mute it
    mute: 'console',
    // options to speech recognition. See Favella.listen() to a complete list
    recognitionOptions: {}
});

Favella.getConfig(name)

Return Favella configuration or a specific conf if name was specified.

Favella.mute(what)

C'mon, Favella shut up!

If what is 'console' the console.error() is muted while Favella.speak() continue to work.

Favella.unmute()

Ehi, I was joking. Talk to me, please!

Favella.isMute(what)

Is Favella disabled?

If what is 'console' return the mute state of `console.error()``

Favella.getVoice(lang)

Return the speechSynthesisVoices corresponding to lang. If it is not found return speechSynthesisVoices for en-US.

Favella.getVoices(force)

Return a list of SpeechSynthesisVoice object available. It's a wrapper of speechsynthesis.getVoices() that save it in a private var. Use force = true to force reloading from speechsynthesis.getVoices().

Favella.pause()

Pause Favella if it was spoken. It's a wrapper of speechsynthesis.pause()

Favella.resume()

Resume Favella if it was paused. It's a wrapper of speechsynthesis.resume()

Favella.cancel()

Stop speaking and remove all utterances from the queue. It's a wrapper of speechsynthesis.cancel()

Favella.isSpeaking()

Is Favella speaking? It's a wrapper of speechsynthesis.speaking.

Favella.isPending()

Return true if there are utterances in the queue that have not yet started speaking. It's a wrapper of speechsynthesis.pending.

Favella.isPaused()

Return true if Favella is paused. It's a wrapper of speechsynthesis.paused.

Favella.isListening()

Is Favella listening to you? (Speech recognition status)

Favella.stopListen(abort)

Immediately stop speech recognition using SpeechRecognition.stop(). Pass abort = true to use SpeechRecognition.abort() instead.

Useless but funny API

Favella.parrotMode(lang)

Toggle parrot mode. When it is active Favella listens to and repeats. lang is required when you want to switch on parrot mode to say to Favella which language is to be expected.

Favella.parrotMode('it-IT');

Favella.me(fail)

How do you say Favella in Italian?

Favella.me();

And what happens if Italian voice missing? Simulate it

Favella.me(true);