[Accessibility-ia2] next changes to IAccessible2

[James Teh]

On 29/06/2011 4:54 AM, Pete Brunet wrote:
> AT devs, do you use IAccessibleEditableText?
No.

> Is there a kind of AT that can't use the GUI for clipboard operations?
Maybe an AT implementing an alternative input method for those that 
don't have the use of their hands? They might still be able to use the 
GUI, but it might be far less efficient for them. However, we'd need to 
see a use case from users or developers who specialise in this area, as 
my knowledge of this area is sadly virtually non-existent. Note that 
this isn't necessarily support for IAccessibleEditableText; see below.

> The same question often comes up regarding IAccessibleAction, i.e. why
> have actions if the same thing can be done via the GUI.
There's actually a use case here for users that can't use the mouse (and 
thus implemented in screen readers). Sometimes, a user needs to access a 
control which isn't keyboard focusable (e.g. a control on a toolbar that 
isn't normally used by keyboard users). In these cases, the user will 
use the screen reader's review functionality to get to that object, but 
then might want to perform actions on that object.

I'd argue that copy, cut, paste, etc. should actually be implemented on 
the object using IAccessibleAction, rather than having a separate 
IAccessibleEditableText. This would use the current selection within the 
object as is normally the case. However, in order to have quick access 
to these actions, we might need to introduce a way to activate 
predefined action constants, rather than having to iterate through all 
actions and check their names.

Jamie

-- 
James Teh
Vice President, Developer
NV Access Inc, ABN 61773362390
Email: jamie at nvaccess.org
Web site: http://www.nvaccess.org/