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Xamarin.Forms - Text To Speech Using Xamarin Essentials

Introduction
Xamarin

Xamarin.Forms code runs on multiple platforms - each of which has its own filesystem. This means that reading and writing files is most easily done using the native file APIs on each platform. Alternatively, embedded resources are a simpler solution to distribute data files with an app.

Xamarin.Essentials

Xamarin.Essentials 

Xamarin.Essentials plugin provides 20+ cross-platform APIs for mobile application development. Xamarin.Essentials API works with all Xamarin.Forms, Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, or UWP applications that can be accessed from shared code. Now, Xamarin.Essentials has overcome the problem. The developers can access every native platform API using C#. This plugin provides many APIs so initially, there is no need of more plugins for Xamarin. Xamarin.Essentials plugin impacts your app's minimum size.

Platform Support
 
Xamarin.Essentials supports platforms and operating systems,
 
 PlatformVersion 
 Android 
4.4 (API 19) or earlier
 iOS10.0 or higher
 UWP10.0.16299.0 or earlier
 
Prerequisites
  • Visual Studio 2017(Windows or Mac)

Setting up a Xamarin.Forms Project

Start by creating a new Xamarin.Forms project. You’ll learn more by going through the steps yourself.

Choose the Xamarin.Forms App Project type, under Cross-platform/App in the New Project dialog.
 
Setting up a Xamarin.Forms Project 
 
Name your app, select “Use Portable Class Library” for shared code, and target both - Android and iOS.
 
Use Portable Class Library 
 
You probably want your project and solution to use the same name as your app. Put it in your preferred folder for projects and click "Create".
 
project 
 
You now have a basic Xamarin.Forms app. Click the Play button to try it out.

Xamarin.Forms app 

Setting up the User Interface

Go to MainPage.Xaml and write the following code.
 
MainPage.xaml
  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>  
  2. <ContentPage xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms"  
  3.              xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"  
  4.              xmlns:local="clr-namespace:XamarinEssentials"  
  5.              x:Class="XamarinEssentials.MainPage">  
  6.   
  7.     <StackLayout>  
  8.         <StackLayout HorizontalOptions="Center" VerticalOptions="Start">  
  9.   
  10.          <Image Margin="0,50,0,0" x:Name="imgBanner" Source="banner.png" ></Image>  
  11.          <Image Margin="0,0,0,10" x:Name="imgXamarinEssential" Source="xamarinessential.png" ></Image>  
  12.          <Label Margin="0,0,0,10" FontAttributes="Bold" FontSize="Large" TextColor="#CA6F1E" HorizontalTextAlignment="Center" Text="Text To Speech"></Label>  
  13.          <Entry x:Name="txtInpout" Placeholder="Type what i should say"></Entry>  
  14.          <Button x:Name="btnSpeak" Text="Speak" Clicked="btnSpeak_Clicked" />  
  15.         </StackLayout>  
  16.     </StackLayout>  
  17.   
  18. </ContentPage>  
Add Xamarin Essentials
 
In this step, add Xamarin.Essentials to your project. You can install Xamarin.Essentials via NuGet, or you can browse the source code on GitHub.

Go to Solution Explorer and select your solution. Right-click and select "Manage NuGet Packages for Solution". Search "Xamarin.Essentials" and add Package. Remember to install it for each project (PCL, Android, iO, and UWP).

Xamarin.Essentials

Xamarin.Essentials requires platform-specific setup

Android

The following steps are necessary for Android.
  1. Xamarin.Essentials supports a minimum Android version of 4.4
  2. Target Android version for compiling must be 8.1, API level 27.
In the Android project's MainActivity that is launched Xamarin.Essentials must be initialized in the OnCreate method.

MainActivity.cs
  1. Xamarin.Essentials.Platform.Init(this, bundle);  
Xamarin.Essentials must receive any OnRequestPermissionsResult. write the following code for runtime permission.

MainActivity.cs
  1. public override void OnRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, string[] permissions, [GeneratedEnum] Android.Content.PM.Permission[] grantResults)  
  2. {  
  3.     Xamarin.Essentials.Platform.OnRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);  
  4.   
  5.     base.OnRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);  
  6. }   
iOS

No additional setup required.

UWP

No additional setup required.

In this step, write the following code for Text to Speech.

MainPage.xaml.cs
  1. using Xamarin.Essentials;  
  2. namespace XamarinEssentials  
  3. {  
  4.     public partial class MainPage : ContentPage  
  5.     {  
  6.         public MainPage()  
  7.         {  
  8.             InitializeComponent();  
  9.         }  
  10.         protected override void OnAppearing()  
  11.         {  
  12.             base.OnAppearing();  
  13.         }  
  14.   
  15.         async void btnSpeak_Clicked(object sender, System.EventArgs e)  
  16.         {  
  17.             await TextToSpeech.SpeakAsync(txtInpout.Text);  
  18.         }  
  19.     }  
  20. }   
Click the play button to try it out.
 
 
 
SpeakMultiple

Now, write the following code for Multiple Speak

MainPage.xaml.cs
  1. bool isBusy = false;  
  2. public void SpeakMultiple()  
  3. {  
  4.     isBusy = true;  
  5.     Task.Run(async () =>  
  6.     {  
  7.         await TextToSpeech.SpeakAsync("Hello World 1");  
  8.         await TextToSpeech.SpeakAsync("Hello World 2");  
  9.         await TextToSpeech.SpeakAsync("Hello World 3");  
  10.         isBusy = false;  
  11.     });  
  12.   
  13.       
  14.     Task.WhenAll(  
  15.         TextToSpeech.SpeakAsync("Hello World 1"),  
  16.         TextToSpeech.SpeakAsync("Hello World 2"),  
  17.         TextToSpeech.SpeakAsync("Hello World 3"))  
  18.         .ContinueWith((t) => { isBusy = false; }, TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());  
  19. }  
Click the play button to try it out.

Speech Settings

Now, write the following code for Speak Settings

MainPage.xaml.cs
  1. public async Task SpeakNow()  
  2. {  
  3.     var settings = new SpeakSettings()  
  4.         {  
  5.             Volume = .50,  
  6.             Pitch = 2.0  
  7.         };  
  8.   
  9.     await TextToSpeech.SpeakAsync("Hello Xamarin", settings);  
  10. }   
Click the play button to try it out.

Speech Settings 
 
Related post
I hope you have understood Text to Speech Using Xamarin Essentials in Xamarin.Forms.

Thanks for reading. Please share comments and feedback.


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