Assigning Dual Tone Multi-Frequency Digits to Menu Items

The Web telephony engine automatically assigns Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) digits to each item in a menu, allowing the caller to select a menu item by entering the item's assigned digit. The menu items are assigned consecutive digits beginning with the digit specified by the WTEApplication.InitialAutoNumber property.

WTE assigns digits using the minimum number of digits possible, depending on the number of items in the menu. For example, if the menu has nine or fewer items, the WTE assigns single-digit access-key values. If the menu has from 10 to 99 items, it assigns two-digit values, and so on.

If the InitialAutoNumber property is an empty string, the WTE assigns access-key values beginning with the number 1, 10, 100, or 1000, depending on the number of items in the menu.

The number of items to which WTE assigns single-digit access-key values depends on the values already assigned to other keys. For example, if the home key is 1, the back key is 2, and the operator key is 3, the WTE assigns only the digits 4 through 9 to items in a menu that has fewer than 10 items. By using the ACCESSKEY attribute, you can assign DTMF digits to one or more menu items. In this case, the WTE assigns digits only to items that do not have the ACCESSKEY attribute, and uses only those digits that are not already assigned to other menu items.

The menu announcement for a menu item usually mentions the DTMF digit that the caller must press to select the item. For example:

"For account balance, press 1." 
"For transaction history, press 2."