jeanieb

After poking around on this forum, I'm still not sure I have the answer to this question. I'm hoping a user out there has some experience with this.

 

Does the user authentication from database feature work in the trial version? I'm looking this applicaiton over as a possible replacement to our in house software, and I'd like to use our existing SQL database for user management rather that configuring individual Dial Dictate installations. I did what I could to configure it, and the Test button from the Advanced Options page works. However, actually calling in does not. I'm beginning to suspect the feature is disabled in the trial version because I cannot get any user other than the default to work.

 

It's very strange though, because if I profile the SQL server Dial Dictate runs the following code against it:

 

declare @p1 int
set @p1=180150003
declare @p3 int
set @p3=8
declare @p4 int
set @p4=1
declare @p5 int
set @p5=1
exec sp_cursoropen @p1 output,N'select DialDictateID from DialDictateUsers where Password=''1''',@p3 output,@p4 output,@p5 output
select @p1, @p3, @p4, @p5

 

The first stored proc here returns nothing. However, if you extract the select statement out of it (and take out the extra text qualifiers), it returns the proper value.

 

select DialDictateID from DialDictateUsers where Password='1'

 

 

Maybe I'm just doing something wrong? Any users out there set this up before? I'd like to get this up and working before I start asking management to buy this product.

I don't think this feature will work in the trial version becuase you have no real "users" registered with the system, you have to purchase those. I bought a 1 user license to test the system with before purchasing our site license.

I also tried using the database feature for user IDs and passwords, but you still have to add all the users to the DD system! So, I abandoned that process as it was just 1 more interface to monitor.

To add many users, I wrote a Word macro that created the directories and user.dat files for me from a comma-delimited list. I rarely use the front-end of DD for user management. We use all SIP connections and if you edit a user, it resets all the connections, cutting the dictators off! I do everything on the back end in the Users folder.

I hope this information is helpful.

Jeanie B.

I have been using DialDictate for a long time and I recently started converting all of my servers to Virtual Machines using VMware ESX server. This has really saved me a lot on rack space rental etc. The only server that has given me torubles is my DialDictate machine. All of my lines are Voip through Vonage and I seem to get very choppy audio on both the incomming recording and the outgoing voice prompts when Dial Dictate is running in a virtual machine. I am wondering if anyone has had any luck getting DialDictate to run in a Virtual Machine and if so, what did you do to make it work. What really puzzels me is that I have a Virtual Machine running an Asterisk Voip phone PBX with 10 inbound lines on the same server as this new DialDictate Virtual Machine and I get none of the choppy audio issues on the Asterisk system. I obviously have a lot more control on how Asterisk provisions the Voip lines then in Dial Dictate but I wouldn't think that this should cause me this much trouble.

 

I am running DialDictate version 4.08 in Windows 2000 SP4 all on top of a VMware ESX server.

I was using server hosting for a while which was on virtual windows servers, but had problems and went back to running DD on an XP system in my office. The issue is defintiely with the SIP/network configurations on the virtual servers, but I have no idea how they work. I just stopped using it.

Sorry I could not be of more help.

Jeanie B.

I just downloaded 4.19 version of Express Scribe and now I cannot simply "cursor" down to the next dictation like I could on the older version. I've tried everything and am quite frustrated. I would so appreciate anyone's help. M

Whenever we have odd behavior with upgrading or installing different versions of Express Scribe, we do the following:

1. Using Control Panel, uninstall Express Scribe.

2. Navigate to your Program Files folder and make sure the following folder is gone: C:\Program Files\NCH Swift Sound\Scribe. If it is still there, delete it manually.

3. Then manually delete any folders anywhere on your system which contain Express Scribe configuration. These can be in different locations depending upon your operating system, user setup and version of Express Scribe. For example, in Windows XP, it is in:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\NCH Swift Sound\Scribe

Be aware that by default this folder is hidden. If you cannot find it, you need to change your settings in My Computer->Tools->Folder Options->View and set it to show hidden files.

Then reboot your system and reinstall the new version. So far, this has worked every time we had problems with odd behavior in ExpressScribe and we support hundreds of users.

Jeanie B.

Please help! I have read everything and tried everything to get my wma files to play. They will not play on old ES or new ES. They will not play in Windows Media Player (and I have downloaded the 10 version). I have new directx. I have Windows XP on both computers (both will not play it). I finally get it to play and then it sounds like a chipmunk! help please!

If the WMA files won't play in Windows Media player, this is a windows problem and there are problems with the codec files windows requires to play sound. ExpressScribe uses these same files.

You could try going to your control Panel->Add or remove programs->Add/Remove windows components and remove windows media player. Reboot your system, then go to Windows updates and reinstall Windows Media Player. At that point, it SHOULD reinstall the audio codecs needed...but there are lots of things Windows SHOULD do and seems to forget!

I often receive sound files on CDs, which I then load into Express Scribe to transcribe. However, I can generally only load the first track from the CD. I have to rip all other tracks using a media player and THEN load them into Express Scribe. Is there any way to streamline this? Why does the first track load easily from the CD, but the following ones don't? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You may just be impatient. I thought I had the same problem, however, if I leave the CD in the drive and start playing the first audio track, it starts loading the next tracks. Because it is coming from the CD and loading the sound, it takes several minutes.

Can anyone please let me know how to integrate Express Scribe with Microsoft Word, maybe with SDK and/or wherein I can put Express Scribe on the tool bar of Microsoft Word. I know maybe I am asking for too much but still if admin can help with in either affirmative and/or negative and can give any idea as to is there any possibility of doing it and for that matter what will be the approach. Thanks in advance.

This is a 2-step process. First create a macro to launch ExpressSribe with the following code (for XP):

Sub ExpressScribe()

Shell "C:\Program Files\NCH Swift Sound\Scribe\scribe.exe", vbNormalFocus

End Sub

Then you add this macro to one of the toolbar menus or create a new menu just for ExpressScribe.

Remember, macros and toolbars are stored in the template they are associated with. If you are going to distribute this, it should be created in a separate template that the user loads.

I was transcribing in Express Scribe, doing great, then all of a sudden my volume disappeared. My sound card is fine. I've checked it, as well as all volume settings. It is strictly this program. I can see that my file is playing, however no volume. I can go to another file and, again, no volume. What is up? Jus to let you know, this is a large file. I've noticed on other topics that there is conversation about the size of a file. But why would my other .wav files stop? It's honestly like I hit a key or something and the volume has stopped. I'd appreciate any information to help me. This is making me crazy!

Check your Windows Volume control to see that it is not "muted". There is a hot-key combination I push in Express Scribe, not sure which one it is, that mutes the Windows volume control. It is usually in your Task Tray.

When ES loads a dct file it either moves it to another location or deletes it. I need to keep the file around for longer than that, is there any way to have the delete operation take place later, maybe at "Done"?

 

Otherwise, it'd be ok if I knew where the file was moved to so I could ref it there. In this thread

 

http://nch.invisionzone.com/index.php?show...art=#entry14922

 

there is mention of a location that ES is supposed to move the files to:

 

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\NCH Swift Sound\Scribe\Current\

 

However for me a least with the current ES nothing is moved there. The dct files how do seem to be converted to wav files, moved, and renamed to my own profile's location parallel to the one mentioned in the thread. It'd be hard/impossible to guess at the renamed files name so this seems like non-solution.

 

How else can I get at the file after loading?

 

I'm using the rather sparse command line interface that ES offers. An alternate way to solve the issue I face would be to be able to tell if ES has a dct file loaded, or not. I don't see a way to find that out with the current commands available?

Where the completed file is saved is dependent upon your operating system. However, the simplest way to resolve this issue is to use the Recover old files option on the file menu (Ctrl+O). You also need to set the length of time to keep old files on the Settings->Files menu. Set it to 0 if you never want them deleted.

XP Path: The path to the "done" files is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\NCH Swift Sound\Scribe\Done\. The *.dct file is parsed to 3 components: the actual wave file, the job data (*.dat file) and the data entered by the user for work type and reference number (*.txt file). You can always search the directory contents for the job number you need and it will show you which file it is. The Recover old files option is much more efficient.

The Path in Vista is different, in one of the "local" folders under the user.

Is anyone using the option to get the user IDs from a database and if so, please post exactly how you have the settings on that screen. I'm not sure what to use for the connection string.

Thank you!

Hi,

 

I have been looking at the software and am wondering if it can be installed on a server. I can't find any articles or tutorials relating to installing the software on a server so if anybody can shed some light it would be very helpful.

 

Thank you!

Alex

Per the website:

System Requirements

Windows 95/NT4/98/2000/Me/XP/2003/Vista.

NT, 2000 and 2003 are server versions of Windows. Yes, DialDictate can be loaded on a server.

Jeanie B.

www.x2voice.com

I am using ExpressScribe with a transcription ASP called Emdat. Each time a new dictation is started a new instance of ES is launched, very annoying. However, if I uninstall version 4.12 and install version 4.11, it does not launch a new instance of ES, each dictation file is loaded into the current running ES, the way it should.

Please advise.

jb