Enhancement request: Long numbers (voice notifier)

[Mighty]

I would like to request that the Voice Notifier have an option to not speak long numbers.

I almost never need to hear an order number read out loud. It's just a lot of noise. I can't think of a nice, short substitution. I don't think I want to hear the word "number" because those subject lines often have a "#", so it'll be saying "number," already. So, unless someone comes up with something clever, I guess just skip it. Or, maybe give me a field for the word I want to substitute in.

OTOH, I'm sure some people have a few situations where they do need to actually hear the number read out. So, maybe have an exceptions list, holding addresses and/or regular expressions.

Thanks,
Drake Christensen

[spc3rd]

Hello Drake,

On behalf of The Esumsoft Team, thank you for your suggestion/request. It appears to be very similar to a suggestion you made in June 2015, shown in this post, to which Jeff responded with some information.

Did you give his instructions a try? If so, how did things work out?

Best regards,

[Mighty]

Yes, it's similar. And, I did implement his substitution suggestion. (I usually post a thank you, and apparently I neglected to do that that time, darn it.) That helps with the vast majority of the messages I get from Amazon. Albeit a few slip through, somehow. And, I can't make substitutions for every single possible sender, especially those who I'm hearing from for the first time.

So, my enhancement request stands. I'd like an option to exclude long numbers being read out loud. I'd imagine, anything over three or four digits.

I expect that's kind of a pain to search for. The really tricky bit would be numbers with dashes in them, like phone numbers. But, I think it would make a big difference. When I'm on the phone or trying to listen to something, those numbers feel interminable.

Thanks

[Mighty]

Just as a clarification, it's not just Amazon order numbers that have long numbers in the Subject. I also get them with customer support ticket numbers, receipts from other sites, etc. As I said, some are brand new. Some I only ever order from a coupla times a year. It's kind of a lot of work to go in and create a new substitution in those cases. And, sometimes a site will change email systems, which will change the format of their outgoing Subjects. All of those would be covered if I could just say, "I don't really need to hear long numbers read out."

An added twist. I suspect even for people who do want to hear the number, they probably don't need to hear the entire 8, 10, 12 digits. They probably would appreciate an option to hear only the last three or four digits.

Again, I know this adds extra processing. OTOH, it's only for new messages. And, beyond a couple of messages your voice notifier bails and says, "[account] has [x] new messages." So, it shouldn't add any cost for the bulk of existing messages.

Hopefully you can see the value of what I'm getting at, and will put it in your queue. And, someone will be intrigued enough to tackle it

[Jeff]

Ok... I've been thinking about this a lot. My first reaction was that RegEx was the way to go -- it would be the most flexible solution and would allow people to customize it based on their own needs. However, the overwhelming flaw with that is that most people won't know how to create a regex rule even if they knew that was the solution.

So then I started thinking: what if "words" that contained a certain number of numbers in them could be removed. "Words" would be any consecutive non-whitespace characters. e.g. decimals, commas, hyphens would all be included in the word, so $999.99 would have 5 numbers, 123-456-7890 would be 10 numbers, etc. but note that (123) 456-7890 would be 2 words of 3 and 7 numbers.

PP would give the user the choice of how many numbers are required to trigger the effect. Perhaps there would be a default, maybe 5-7; but using a default may be contingent on how comfortable I felt about the result, which could end up sounding strange.

Perhaps the words would simply be skipped. Or possibly a provided text could replace it (it would have to be a catch-all).


- - - - -

Further, something else I've been thinking about regarding the voice notifier --
Background: When people submit an error report, it shows the list of installed plugins. Somewhat recently (in v4.x), I included whether the plugins were disabled or not. This was done for troubleshooting purposes (after all, what good is seeing that a plugin is installed if it's actually disabled), but I've noticed that a lot of people disable the voice notifier (and I also get a lot of people asking how to disable it). And I get that, it's definitely not ideal in every environment. And even in more suitable environments, it may be overwhelming, especially if you've just installed the Plus Pack and you're not expecting it and don't know how to shut it up.

SO... my other idea is --
What if the default syntax simply said who the message was from?

The current default syntax is:
New message on %act% From %from% . %subject%
and I'm suggesting simply:
New message from %from%


Further to add to that, instead of forcing the user to write their own syntax if they don't like the default, there could be several preset options to choose from.



Let me know what you (anybody) thinks about this. Right now I'm just thinking out loud, so feedback is encouraged!

[Mighty]

On the last bit, I see where you're headed. I think those pre-loaded options for a shorter notification make a lot of sense. I suspect you're right, that most people only care about who a message is from. And, just being able to click on a radio button or choose from a list makes it very accessible. And, maybe even shorten it further: "Messages from: Name1 *pause* Name2 *pause*, Name 3, etc"

I guess your current substitution system can handle a user who wants to pick a few addresses where they do want to hear the subject read out? Or, would you need to implement inclusion/exclusion lists to handle that?

I agree that regex is complicated. I'm not sure I could come up with one to do what I'm asking. I'd prolly end up having to clip one from the forum, or ask for help coming up with one. (I'm dealing with that right now in another context, and have a question posted on Stack Overflow.) But, advanced users would probably like it. And, it does give you the option to help someone build a custom solution without any coding changes. Basically, expanding on what you're currently doing with substitutions. So, you might want to implement it as an advanced option for your own sake.

Your "words containing numbers" discussion I think is similar to what I was saying. Again, I can't think of a short word that makes a good substitute for "long number" or "many digits."

I still like my idea of an option to read the last x digits of a long number. Especially if it could be tied to a specific account or sender. I could see that being useful to someone wanting to keep track of orders or support tickets or the like.

One other thing that popped to mind. I wish there was a way to bail out of the notifier. For example, if I click on the "Mark All As Read" button. I don't know if the voice system gives you a way to stop it once you've fed it a string.

[mjs]

One other thing that popped to mind. I wish there was a way to bail out of the notifier.....

There is a way to stop the Voice Notification sound at the time an incoming message is retrieved by setting a Hotkey to do so.

If this something that might help you can go to "Tools"> "Voice notifier">"Voice notifier settings...", "General" page: by setting a Hotkey (i.e. Ctrl+Shift+S for "Stop") in the "Global hotkey to stop current and queued messages" option you can stop the incoming Voice Notification for a specific incoming message. As a result of using the Hotkey combination the Voice Notification will immediately stop for that message. Note: This only impacts that specific message -- if a new message is retrieved the Notification Voice will once again speak.

You might also notice under "Tools">"Voice notifier" there is an option to "Stop current voice" as well (w/out using a Hotkey).

[Mighty]

Ah, I missed that.

Is there any way you could add a button to do that? That would be more convenient, the way I have my desk arranged. Very low priority. But, maybe add it to the queue, for when you're looking for an easy task.

[mjs]

.... Is there any way you could add a button to do that?....

Actually there is a way YOU can add a button to do that.

Go to PP Help (Help>Contents) > select the "Search" tab: Type "command" in the keyword box and click on the "List Topics" button, then double-click on "Add new toolbar button" in the topics listed -- you'll find info on adding new toolbar buttons that includes how you can add your own button. Note: the "Voice Notifier: Stop the current voice" ID Reference is "329" as you can see by clicking on the "Custom toolbar ID reference" link on that help page to get the list of available Command ID's. -- Have fun!

That said, I use the Hotkey "Ctrl+Alt+S" to Stop the Voice Notifier which is pretty easy to do and is functional even if the PP interface is closed (minimized) --- can't get much simpler than that (which I think is perhaps more convenient than using a Button in the PP interface to do this ).

.... But then using the default ("Open POP Peeper" Hotkey) "Alt+X" (you'll find included in "Tools">"PPtweaker...", "HotKeys") to open PP (assuming the interface was closed) and then click on your added Button is pretty easy too!.....

[Mighty]

The way I have my desk arranged, the keyboard on the machine running Pop Peeper is often off to the side, where it's not convenient for me to reach. Meanwhile, the trackball I use for that machine is right next to the mousepad of my main machine. So, clicking on a button is far more convenient most of the time.

Okay. Done with the tangent.

It sounds like you and I are mostly on the same page on the numbers thing. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Don't worry, I understand that this isn't top priority. But, I'm available if and when you need a beta tester.

Thanks,
Drake