Creating XML IVR menus

FreeSWITCH has a simple but flexible system for building IVR-style menus for caller interaction. In this recipe, we will create a custom menu that is very similar to the demo IVR that is part of the default FreeSWITCH configuration.

Getting ready

You will need a text editor and a telephone for testing. We will create a custom menu for extension number 5002, and use a generic greeting that comes with the FreeSWITCH sound files. To use the dial-by-name directory, be sure to complete the The company directory recipe covered earlier in this chapter.

How to do it...

Create the menu definition by following these steps:

1. Open a text editor and create a new file called conf/ivr_menus/custom_ivr.xml.

2. Add these lines:

   <menu name="simple_greeting"
         greet-long="ivr/ivr-generic_greeting.wav"
         greet-short="ivr/ivr-generic_greeting.wav"
         invalid-sound="ivr/ivr-that_was_an_invalid_entry.wav"
         exit-sound="voicemail/vm-goodbye.wav"
         confirm-attempts="3"
         timeout...