ok, I work mainly in VB 6, and know only a little about vb.net, so keep this in mind, I have collected some hints as to using Visual studios with screen readers
so here is a post that I picked up on visual studios and working with menu strips:
" 1. Enter the form where you wish the menu strip to be placed. You can do this by arrowing down in the "Solution Explorer" until your chosen form is highlighted. Once it is highlighted press enter. 2. Go to the toolbox and add a menu strip to your form. You can enter the toolbox in one of two ways. 1. Press ctrl+alt+x. 2. Press ctrl+w and then after releasing this key combination press x. The menu strip control can be found under the group labeled "Menus and Toolbars". It may be necessary for you to open this group, if so, after highlighting the group press the right arrow. When the group is open "Menu Strip" is the third item down under this group. Press enter to place the control on the form. 3. Highlight the menu strip. If you just added the menu strip to your form, and have done nothing else, the menu strip should automatically be highlighted. If it is not highlighted press tab until you here "Menu Strip 1". 4. Press your applications key. This is akin to right clicking the menu strip. 5. Arrow down to "Edit Items...", and press enter. 6. Tab to the combo box where it says: "Select Item and Add to List Below". 7. Select the type of item you want to add. The option labeled "Menu Item" adds a menu item to your menu strip that will become the different menus such as "File", "Edit", etc. Then tab once to the "Add" button and press enter. The newly added control is now listed in the listbox located just after the "Add" button and just before the "Remove" button. The newly added control should be labeled "Tool Strip Menu Item #". The "#" representing how many items you've added that have this name. The last added control should be automatically selected. You can arrow up and down to be sure of this. 8. To set the options for the selected control tab three times. You should find yourself in a list of attributes associated with the selected control. Set these attributes as best suits your application by selecting the attribute you wish to change, tab once and select or type the value you desire for the selected attribute. *NOTE* When you first load Visual Studio the list of attributes is grouped by "Category". However, you may change this organization by tabbing only twice from your list of controls to "Categorize Button" and left/right arrowing to "Alphabetical Button". Your screen reader should inform you which of the two buttons is currently checked. To check the other one simply press the spacebar once the appropriate button is highlighted. 9. (Optional) If you wish to add menu items beneath the menu you just constructed then arrow through the list of attributes to "Drop Down Items", and then tab twice to "Brows..." and press enter. This will take you into the area to add and edit items within the menu you've recently added. 10. Repeat 6-9 until you have things satisfactory for the menu you are working on. Then tab to "ok" and press enter. This will return you to the form in stages depending on how many menu levels deep you went *NOTE* Every level of a menu works the same as described above. Steps 6-9 can be followed no matter the depth of your menus. HTH, Eunice " i Hope this Helps, inthane proprietor, The Grab Bag, for blind computer users and programmers http://grabbag.alacorncomputer.com Owner: Alacorn Computer Enterprises "own the might and majesty of a Alacorn!" www.alacorncomputer.com Owner: Agemtree "merchants in fine facetted and cabochon gemstones" www.agemtree.com __________View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
