Why Use Outfox?

As a web developer, Outfox enables you to access input and output devices beyond what Firefox provides across platforms. Using pure JavaScript, you can potentially synthesize speech; play sounds; get input from joysticks, game pads, and switches; recognize speech; and more. The services you can use are limited only by the Outfox modules the user has installed.

Using Outfox from JavaScript

To use Outfox in your web application, you must first include the outfox.js file in your page.

1. Download a copy of the outfox.js script from http://code.google.com/p/outfox.
2. Place the file on your web server in a public location.
3. Include the file in any document that will use Outfox.
1. <script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/outfox.js"></script>

Next, you must include a JavaScript library with JSON encode and decode functions. For example, you might choose to include the JSON reference implementation.

1. Download a copy of the json2.js script from http://www.JSON.org/json2.js.
2. Place the file on your web server in a public location.
3. Include the file in any document that will use Outfox.
1. <script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/json2.js"></script>

Now you must initialize Outfox:

1. Create an element on your page with a well-known ID.
1. <div id="outfox"></div>
2. In your page load handler, invoke the outfox.init method with the element ID and your JSON encode and decode functions.
1. outfox.init("outfox", JSON.stringify, JSON.parse);

Finally, start the services you wish to use:

1. Define callbacks for successful service starts and service failures.
1. function onServiceStart(cmd) { // do something on success}
2. function onServiceFail(cmd) { // do something on failure}
2. After invoking outfox.init , use the outfox.startService method to initialize a service. For example, to start the audio service:
1. outfox.startService('audio').addCallback(onServiceStart).addErrback(onServiceFail);

If Outfox invokes your success function, you may safely call other service methods:

1. For example, to speak text using the audio service:
1. outfox.audio.say("Hello out there!")

View the source for the Outfox demo page for full code samples. See the JavaScriptAPI for descriptions of all available methods.