Q.

How Can I Make My Grammars Load Faster?

A.

Grammars created and edited in Grammar Editor in Microsoft Speech Application SDK (SASDK) 1.1 are XML text files. Text is fine for development work and debugging, but speed is important in a production environment. Because a compiled grammar is smaller, it loads faster from the Web server.

Use the command-line grammar compiler, SrGSGc.exe, to compile your XML grammars. The grammar compiler installs with the SASDK and by default is located at %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Microsoft Speech Application SDK 1.1\SDKTools\Bin. The following example shows how to compile a grammar called Input.grxml into a grammar called Output.cfg.

Srgsgc.exe /O C:\myProject\Grammars\Input.grxml C:\myProject\Grammars\Output.cfg

As a rule of thumb, compiling a 320-KB text grammar yields a 210-KB compiled grammar.