using TTS engine as preferred TTS engine

Question

I'm new at developing TTS for android and I don't quite understand a part of it. My company uses a TTS engine and we are trying to write an application so it can be used as a text to speech engine(not in the app but by the phone). I've read through several threads on other sites such as: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/tts-for-android/EzXyyqG7cvw

my question is this: if I create an app, which uses the TTS engine in the app, will it also be included as a preferred TTS engine in settings->Language_and_input->Text-to-speech_options? or do I have the create something specific for the TTS engine to be used as a preferred TTS engine?

Answer 1

Yes, you can create a TTS Engine which is available as the default on the device.

There are manifest additions you have to add and Intents you must respond to, so the best way to understand these is to look at the Robot Speak app in the SDK samples

It's quite straight forward from there.

Answer 2

The user gets to set his preferred engine. You can use a specific engine inside your app of course, but only the user can set default services. This is to prevent malware apps from specifying themselves as the default regardless of what the user wants. You will show up as a possible TTS engine if you follow the rules and set up your manifest correctly.