VS IDE Accessibility Tip
- From: "RicksPlace" <ofbgmail@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 09:53:30 -0400
Hi Guys:
Tell me if the following situation is applicable with JAWS or whether JAWS
handles the following situation
automatically when the scripts are installed if you can.
I am thinking of adding this to the IDE Accessibility Tutorial or starting
another Tutorial on VS Accessibility Tips for experienced users, after a little
more testing, if I find
more performance or accessibility tweaks.
BeginArticle:
Sometimes when working between windows you click on something in one window and
are placed in another window.
This is the case with the ToolBox and a couple of other windows. In this case
the first window is not closed and
it could cause an issue with a screen reader. If you have done this several
times you might have several windows
open or hidden but with their labels docked on your WorkSpace. It is not a
major problem unless you get some
overlapping which can cause problems with a screen reader.
There are several ways to close hidden, docked or floating, Windows:
1: Hit Alt+w then L to close all open windows. This is good when you want a
clean workspace.
Drawback, it closes the window you might want to work in as well and you would
have to open that window manually
again.
2: You Alt+W and close each Window listed in the Open Windows list except the
one you want and then click that
window to put focus on it.
Drawback, slow, slow, slow but it works.
3: Use the mouse, In Windoweyes, to right click the File Tab on the File Tab
Channel you are working on and
select "Close All But This".
DrawBack, Finding that dockable name can be tricky. but this method is
extremely fast for sighted users.
4: Set up a Shortcut to close all but the Active Window.
Draback, None I have seen so far but I am still playing with it.
If you want to set up a Shortcut or HotKey for any of the unassigned functions
available in the IDE, and there
are many very interesting ones from an accessibility perspective, the process
is the same as described below for
setting up this HotKey:
1: Hit Alt to open the Menu Bar, Hit Options under the Tool Menu to bring up
the Options window with the Options
TreeView.
2: Expand the Environment node if not expanded, hit k to be taken to the
Keyboard Tab Group.
Tab over to the textBox labeled "Show Commands Containing" and type in the
word "close".
Tab to the list of IDE Features that will be listed related to the word
"close". You will see some might be
assigned a Key Combination by default and some not.
cursor down to "File.CloseAllButThis".
Tab and make sure the Use In ListBox is set to "Global".
Tab and in the box that says "Press ShortCutKeys I pressed "Alt" "RightWindows"
and "e".
visible, tabbed back to "Assign" and pressed it. Then I tabbed to OK and
pressed it.
Note, if the key combination you try to use is already used you will get a
message in another box in the tab
group telling you it is in use and by which IDE Feature. I saw that message
after I had clicked the Assign button
but it may be there after you just press the key combination. If it is there
nothing gets changed or updated
after you press the assign button until you change the key combination to one
that is not already in use and click the OK button.
If you change your mind later, just repeat the process but click the "Remove"
button and ok to UnAssign your hot
key. Nothing else will be changed or removed. Only your new hot key combination
will be removed but all the
entries of features including the "Close All But This" will still be in the
list of IDE features since they are
supplied by Microsoft and whatever you do that list will not be modified as far
as I know.
When I used the new Hot Key combination the only surprise was that with several
windows open when I clicked the
hot key a pop up came up asking me if I wanted to save the changes. I clicked
yes, I had made changes in the
Properties window and added a control to a form and was in the form with focus
on the added control, after I
clicked yes the work space was cleared and I was still in the form with focus
on the control I was working on,
ready to continue working in the Designer which is exactly what I wanted to
happen.
Remember this is not used in every situation. If I had hit f4 while in the
Designer to set some properties and
executed close all But this, the designer might have been closed and I would
have to open it after I closed the
properties window before continuing to work in the designer.
So this is just another tool in your performance quiver.
Knowing, or enabling, development tools is the diference between keeping up and
falling behind in any programming
environment. EndArticle:
Rick USA
Other related posts:
