NSSpeechRecognition doesn't respond for macOS Speech Recognition

Question

I'm a noob here so I might be missing something basic. Find my code below, I can't seem to figure out why the speech recognition function is not being called. The microphone is active and the dictionary is populated but the recognition is not taking place. Can someone please help me out.

//
//  ViewController.swift
//  Kara
//
//  Created by Akash Sonthalia on 31/07/18.
//  Copyright © 2018 Akash Sonthalia. All rights reserved.
//

import Cocoa

class ViewController: NSViewController, NSSpeechRecognizerDelegate {

    var recognizer = NSSpeechRecognizer()

    @IBOutlet weak var karaStatus: NSTextField!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        // Kara's Ears 
        recognizer!.delegate = self
        recognizer!.commands = ["Hi", "Hello", "Kara Wake Up", "Kara Take a break"]
        recognizer!.startListening()
        recognizer!.blocksOtherRecognizers = true
        print("[Kara]: Has started listening")
    }

    func speechRecognizer(_ sender: NSSpeechRecognizer, didRecognizeCommand command: String) {
        print("************************")
        print(command)
        print("************************")
        self.karaStatus!.stringValue = "\(command)"
    }

    override var representedObject: Any? {
        didSet {
        // Update the view, if already loaded.
        }
    }


}

The console dumps are coming in this way, can someone explain what this means and how to understand them.

2018-08-02 10:58:03.476733+0530 Kara[13818:945857] Broker -> <dictionary: 0x604000163480> { count = 1, transaction: 0, voucher = 0x0, contents =
    "recID" => <int64: 0x6000002247c0>: 0
}
[Kara]: Has started listening
2018-08-02 10:58:13.920578+0530 Kara[13818:946011] Broker -> <dictionary: 0x6040001657c0> { count = 3, transaction: 1, voucher = 0x604000088700, contents =
    "blocked" => <bool: 0x7fffa713eb98>: true
    "msg" => <int64: 0x604000037520>: 600
    "recID" => <int64: 0x6040000372e0>: 0
}
2018-08-02 10:58:25.946379+0530 Kara[13818:946397] Broker -> <dictionary: 0x604000165700> { count = 3, transaction: 1, voucher = 0x604000083cf0, contents =
    "blocked" => <bool: 0x7fffa713ebb8>: false
    "msg" => <int64: 0x604000037440>: 600
    "recID" => <int64: 0x6040000348a0>: 0
}
2018-08-02 10:58:27.659137+0530 Kara[13818:946392] Broker -> <dictionary: 0x604000163780> { count = 3, transaction: 1, voucher = 0x604000086ae0, contents =
    "blocked" => <bool: 0x7fffa713eb98>: true
    "msg" => <int64: 0x604000037660>: 600
    "recID" => <int64: 0x604000036600>: 0
}
2018-08-02 11:00:31.255674+0530 Kara[13818:947580] Broker -> <dictionary: 0x604000165940> { count = 3, transaction: 1, voucher = 0x604000085c80, contents =
    "blocked" => <bool: 0x7fffa713ebb8>: false
    "msg" => <int64: 0x604000036600>: 600
    "recID" => <int64: 0x604000036ee0>: 0
}
2018-08-02 11:00:32.168927+0530 Kara[13818:947592] Broker -> <dictionary: 0x6000001633c0> { count = 3, transaction: 1, voucher = 0x6000000906d0, contents =
    "blocked" => <bool: 0x7fffa713eb98>: true
    "msg" => <int64: 0x60000003b540>: 600
    "recID" => <int64: 0x60000003b1e0>: 0
}
2018-08-02 11:03:11.842603+0530 Kara[13818:948910] Broker -> <dictionary: 0x6000001633c0> { count = 3, transaction: 1, voucher = 0x604000088160, contents =
    "blocked" => <bool: 0x7fffa713ebb8>: false
    "msg" => <int64: 0x60000003b540>: 600
    "recID" => <int64: 0x60000003b320>: 0
}
2018-08-02 11:03:12.690056+0530 Kara[13818:948910] Broker -> <dictionary: 0x604000165a00> { count = 3, transaction: 1, voucher = 0x604000083cf0, contents =
    "blocked" => <bool: 0x7fffa713eb98>: true
    "msg" => <int64: 0x6040000315c0>: 600
    "recID" => <int64: 0x604000037580>: 0
}

Answer 1

Your code works for me. I did a couple of extra things:

1. Enable microphone in your app's App Sandbox settings.

2. In System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation, there's a keyboard shortcut setting. I press that shortcut after running your app, listen for the beep, and then it recognizes the commands.

Hope this helps. :)