WinformBasics - IDE Accessibility Option Settings
- From: "RicksPlace" <ofbgmail@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 15:02:53 -0400
Here are the first tutorials. They are how I set up the IDE for
Accessibility with Windoweyes.
Ask any questions you have about particular settings. That is what this series
is all about - Sharing questions, answers and applying the groups knowledge and
experience. When all the ideas have been discussed and questions answered we
will move on to the next tutorial on creating the WinformBasics project using
the IDE.
One note, if you use JAWS get the Scripts installed. Another point for JAWS
users is to turn off the thingy that displays Unlabeled Graphics in JAWS.
Another fellow was getting allot of noise from JAWS reading unlabeled graphics
making his IDE quite messy to navigate so he turned that feature off in JAWS.
Finally, I am new to CSharp and the IDE settings are diferent so if you see
something I have set that could be better let me know. I will do some reading
on particular settings as they come up during the project. I have not used
Intellisense much so those settings will likely change in CSharp when I try
them out.
Again, ask questions so we can discuss the settings and use the cumulative
brain power of the group to answer questions before moving on to creating the
actual project. We can not deal with every setting but there are settings
applicable to accessibility and we can research those and some others if anyone
has a question not answered in my rather short and non explanitory tutorials on
this subject.
Happy Programming All!
Rick USA
HowTo Setup C#2008Express IDE For Accessibility
Note: I am just starting to use CSharp so am not sure about some of the
settings since many of them are diferent from the ones I use in VB.net. If you
see anything I have set in the following document that could be better please
let me know. I am a relative nube to CSharp so will appreciate any help with it
myself and will experiment with some diferent settings as the project moves
along.
Note: I use Windoweyes so anyone using JAWS please chime in with additional or
alternat settings that work well with JAWS.
Note: Part of the accessibility will involve setting the IDE's individual
windows to be Tabbed Documents which we will do while building our projects.
BeginArticle:
There are many settings that impact how the IDE reads with a screen reader and
how it functions in general.
Below are some settings I am currently using and how to set them.
You can turn on or off options to test if you like the results. Just remember
to make notes of what you change so you can undo the change if you decide you
do not like it later.
Step01:
navigate to your programming language in the Start Menu or wherever it is
located in your environment. Right click it and select the SendTo option. Then
select Create Desktop Shortcut and click it. This should send a DeskTop
shortcut to your DeskTop list of features. Someone please tell us how to do
this in VISTA or Windows7 so I cann add it here to the tutorial later.
After you do this you should be able to rename the shortcut to whatever you
want - I just call mine CSharp2008.
Clicking this DeskTop Icon should then open C#.net.
Step02:
Click your new DeskTop Icon to Open CSharp2008.
You will be in what is called the Start Page but do not worry about anything
yet. We will go through this window later when we build the project.
Step03:
Hit the Alt key to open the IDE's Main MenuBar.
cursorring along the root menu items I hear:
File, Edit, View, Tools, Window and help. and back to the File Menu Item.
Cursor to the Tools Menu and up or down cursor to the Options item and hit
enter on it.
The Options Window comes up. This is a TreeView of sorts with Tabbed Options
for setting up the IDE.
The First Branch is the Environment Branch: If not open right cursor on it to
expand it.
Cursor down to the General tab.
Tab across the items until you hear the "Show All Settings" checkbox and check
it if not checked.
Now, Close any open branches, I just left cursor to do this in Windoweyes.
Then Down Cursoring I hear:
Environment Closed one of 6
Projects And Solutions Closed 2 of 6
Text Editor closed 3 of 6
DataBase Tools closed 4 of 6
Debugging Closed 5 of 6
Windows FormsDesigner closed 6 of 6.
These are the major Branches in the Tree. We will expand a few of them one at a
time and I will tell you what settings I have set. You can set the ones you
want based on my settings, Jamal's documentation for using the IDE with JAWS or
your personal preferences.
Step04: The Environment Branch.
Right cursor on the Environment branch to expand it.
Cursor down to the General tab.
Tab across the items until you hear the "Show All Settings" checkbox and check
it if not checked.
Continue tabbing in the General Tab and set the following options:
Set Window Layout to Tabbed Document by selecting this RadioButton.
Leave the items shown to the defaults or bump them to some number like 10 or 20.
I have the Show Status Bar option checked.
Close button affects Active Tool Window Only is checked.
AutoHide Button Affects Active Tool Window only is unchecked.
Animate Environment Tools is UnChecked.
Note: Animate means the fading in and out of things getting displayed on the
screen. Since we are using screen readers I don't want this to happen since it
might give false readings to a screen reader if something is not completely
visible or invisible when the screen reader does it's thing so I turn it off.
Leave the RestoreFileAssociations Button alone.
Finally you are back to the Show All Settings CheckBox which should be checked.
Tab and click the OK button and you are returned to the Start Page.
Hit the Alt Key to open the IDE's Main Menu.
Cursor to the Tools Menu, cursor up or down to the Options option and hit enter
on it.
If the Environment Branch is not expanded, expand it and cursor down through
the other items to get a feel for what you will be able to set under this
Environment Branch. I have Tab Items for:
AutoRecover, Documents, FindAndReplace, FontsAndColors, Help,
ImportAndExportSettings,InternationalSettings, Keyboard, StartUp, TaskList.
and Web Browser.
I do not think I changed any of these settings but feel free to experiment with
any of them you are familiar with and let us know if you find anything that
works well with your Screen Reader. For raw beginners just leave the rest of
these items in the Environment Branch alone for now.
Now we will continue down through the branches setting each tab group as we go
along. After setting the options in a Tab Group we click ok to save the changes
and have to open the options again from the start page by clicking Options
under the View Menu. We will have to slogg through this procedure only once and
be done with it so long as you use this IDE and do not make changes to the
Options.
Step05: Projects And Solutions Branch.
collapse the Environment branch by left cursoring on it.
Expand the Projects And Solutions Branch by right cursoring it.
Cursor down to the General Tab.
Tabbing around:
Projects Location, leave as is.
User Project Templats Location, leave as is.
User Item Templates, leav as is.
Always Show Error List if Project builds with errors is checked.
Track active item in Solution Explorer is checked.
Show Advanced Build Configurations is Unchecked.
Always show Solution is unchecked.
Save New Projects when created is Unchecked.
Warn User when Project Location Is not trusted checked
Show Output Window when build starts is unchecked.
Prompt for symbolic renaming when renaming files is Checked.
If you make any changes Click OK and you are returned to the Start Page.
Otherwise just tab to the General tab and down cursor.
If necessary navigate back to the Options Window and down to the ProjectsAnd
Solutions Branch then down to it's
tab group called Build and Run.
Tabbing around this Tab Group:
BeforeBuilding ComboBox is set to Save All Changes.
Maximum Number Of Parellel Projects is set to 2.
Only Build Project and Dependencies on Run is Unchecked.
On Run, When Projects Are Out Of Date ComboBox is set to "Prompt To Build".
On Run, When Build Or Deployment Errors Occur ComboBox is set to Prompt To
Launch.
For New Solutions Use the Currently Selected Project for Startup is unchecked.
MsBuildVerbosity ComboBox is set to Minimal.
If you make changes Click OK.
Again, back to the Start Page.
This concludes the settings for the Projects And Solutions Branch so click the
OK button to save the changes and return to the Start Page if you have not
already done so.
Step06: The Text Editor Settings.
Hit the Alt Key to open the menu Bar, click the Options item under the Tools
Menu.
Cursor down the TreeView and close the Environment and the Projects And
solutions Branches if open.
Expand the Text Editor Branch.
Tabbing around the General Tab Group:
Go To Selection Anchor After Escape is Unchecked.
Drag And Drop Editing is checked.
Include Insertion PointMovements in Undo List is unchecked.
Automatic Delimiter Highlighting is checked.
Track Changes is Checked.
AutoDetect UTF 8 coding without signature is checked.
Display Selection margin is checked.
Display Indicator Margin is checked.
Display Vertical and horizontal check boxes are unchecked.
If you change anything click ok, and it's back to the start page.
ReOpen the Options window and navigate back to the Text Editor Branch and down
past the
File Extensions tab. to the
AllLanguages tab which is a sub branch and expand it.
In the General Tab:
AutoListMembers is unchecked.
Parameter Information is unchecked.
Note: The above items just turn of the automatic popping up of the Intellisense
window. You can still use them by hitting ctrl+J if you want to bring up
Intellisense but this keeps the window from popping up while you are typing
which annoyed me.
Enable Virtual Space is unchecked.
Word Wrap is Checked
Show Visual Gliffs for Word Wrap is unchecked.
Apply cut or copy to blank lines when there is no selection is checked.
Line Numbers is partially checked.
Enable single click navigation is partially checked.
Navigation Bar is unchecked
Click OK and from the Start Page
Navigate back to the Options Window, TextEditor, down to the All Languages
Branch and to the
Tabs Tab:
Indenting Radio Button is set to None.
Tab size and indent size TextBoxes are left empty.
Tab, insert spaces radio is Selected.
Click OK if you change anything. Then navigate back to the Options Window, to
the TextEditor Branch and down to the
C# Tab which is another branch and expand it.
These settings are for the CSharp Text Editor. Any settings you change here
will be reflected in the All Languages Tab Groups but changing something in the
All Languages Tab Group will change these settings as well if I remember
correctly.
Under the General Tab:
Autolist Members and Parameters are unchecked.
WordWrap is checked.
Show Gliffs is unchecked.
Apply cut or copy to blank lines is checked.
Line Numbers is checked.
Single Click Navigation is checked.
If you make no changes just
Tab back to the General Tab and cursor down to the Tabs option.
Indenting is set to none,Tab size and indent size are set to 1, it would not
allow me to set it to 0 or empty.
Note: I don't like indenting as it sometimes messes with Windoweyes reading a
line or with copying a line.
Click OK if you made a change and from the Start Page navigate back to the
Options Window, Back to the Text Editor Branch and back down to
Tabs item and cursor down to the Advanced tab:
Enter Outlineing Mode When Files Open is checked.
Underline Errors In The Editor is UnChecked.
Note: I am unchecking this since I am not sure my screen reader will read a
word with an underline, could change it back if there is any reason.
Show Live Symantic Errors is unchecked.
Warn if build errors exist when refactoring is checked.
Warn on members with compiler generated references is checked.
Generate xml documentation for chis checked.
Surround Generated Code with Region is checked.
Warn if build errors exist when organizing Using is checked.
Place System Directives first when sorting usings is checked.
Note: I am clueless so far about most of these settings but will read up on
them a little if anyone has any questions or if I think they might be better
set diferently as the project moves along.
Click OK if you made changes. Then Navigate back to the Options Window, down to
the C# Editor options and past the Advanced Tab to the
Formatting Tab which is really a SubBranch and expand it.
In the General Tab:.
Automatically Complete Formatted Statement is Unchecked.
Automatically Format Completed Block is UnChecked.
Automatically Format on Paste is unchecked.
Click OK to save the settings.
Navigate back to the C# Text Editor and down to the Formatting sub Branch and
down to the Indentation Tab.
IndentBlockContents is UnChecked. Note cursor down this looks like a check
listbox.
Indent open and close braces is unchecked.
Indent Case Content is unchecked.
Indent Case Labels is Unchecked.
Note: I just unchecked everything that was checked to avoid any automatic
formatting which I prefer to do manually.
Option Preview has some stuff I don't understand, it is ReadOnly anyway.
Click OK to save changes if you made any and return to Start Page.
Navigate back to the C# Text Editor and down past the NewLines Tab Group,
past the Spacing Tab Group past the Wrapping Tab Group to the Intellisense Tab
Group.
Show Intellisense after a character is typed is unchecked.
Place keywords in completion lists is checked.
Place code snipets in completion lists is checked.
Commited by typing the following characters, just left them alone.
Commited by pressing the space bar is checked.
Add NewLine on commit with enter at end of fully typed word unchecked.
Intellisense Preselects most recently used members is checked.
Note: Again I very seldom used Intellisense in Vb.net so will be checking out
these settings as the project develops and note anything I find if applicable.
Click OK if you changed anything.
That is the end of the settings for the C# Text Editor.
The rest of the settings are related to things we will not be working with yet
so you can leave them alone for now.
You are done with setting up the IDE Options Window until later.
End Of Article:
Happy Programming!
Rick USA
On the General TabList of settings:
select Tabbed Documents for the Window Layout Radio Buttons;
Uncheck AnimateEnvironmentTools;
Close the Environment Branch.
Expand The ProjectsAndSolutions Branch.
On the General TabList of settings:
AlwaysShow ErrorList If Build Finishes With Errors is UnChecked;
Always Show Solution is unchecked;
Show Output Window When Build Starts is Unchecked.
On the BuildAndRun TabList of settings:
Build Output Verbosity setting is set to Quiet.
Close the ProjectsAndSolutions Root Branch.
Expand the TextEditor Root Branch.
Expand the All Languages SubBranch.
General TabList of settings:
Autolist Members is Unchecked;
Parameter Information is unchecked;
Word Wrap is checked.
ShowVisualGlifs For WordWrap is unchecked.
Line Numbers is checked;
NavigationBar is Checked.
Note: Unchecking the Autolist and Parameters options will not disable them. You
can still hit ctrl+j to open the Intellisense. It just won't pop up
automatically all the time stealing focus from where you are working which gets
to be a pain in Windoweyes.
Tabs TabList of settings:
Indenting is set to None;
TabSize and IndentSize are set to 1;
TabInsertSpaces is selected.
Close the All Languages Branch.
Expand Basic Language Branch.
VB Specific TabList of settings:
AutomaticInsertOfEndConstructs is Unchecked;
PrettyListing is Unchecked;
ShowProcedureSeperator Lines is unchecked;
Enable Error Correction Suggestions is unchecked.
Close the Basic Language Branch.
Note: The Automatic Error PopUp can be a pain since it pops up and steals focus
away from where you are working. You can view errors by clicking the Error list
option under the View menu when you want to view errors. Even with this turned
off Error PopUps can be a pain at times but it is what it is and this is the
best setting I have found so far with Windoweyes. JAWS handles this diferently
so it is not a problem.
On the Miscellaneous TabList of settings:
Auto Format On paste is UnChecked.
There are many, many VWD settings in this Window. Some other settings that
might prove very helpful if learned are the ability to set shortcut hotkeys for
almost every window, dialog orobject in the IDE from the
Tools>Options>Environment>Keyboard Settings TabList. Most of them do not have
PreDefined shortcut keys associated with them by default. I will be interested
to hear of any experimenting you do with defining hot keys for other IDE
features or changes you find helpful to the above features..
Happy Programming!
EndOfArticleHowTo Setup VB2008Express IDE For Accessibility
Note: I use Windoweyes so anyone using JAWS please chime in with additional or
alternat settings that work well with JAWS.
Note: Part of the accessibility will involve setting the IDE's individual
windows to be Tabbed Documents which we will do while building our projects.
BeginArticle:
There are many settings that impact how the IDE reads with a screen reader and
how it functions in general.
Below are some settings I am currently using and how to set them.
You can turn on or off options to test if you like the results. Just remember
to make notes of what you change so you can undo the change if you decide you
do not like it later.
Step01:
navigate to your programming language in the Start Menu or wherever it is
located in your environment. Right click it and select the SendTo option. Then
select Create Desktop Shortcut and click it. This should send a DeskTop
shortcut to your DeskTop list of features. Someone please tell us how to do
this in VISTA or Windows7 so I cann add it here to the tutorial later.
After you do this you should be able to rename the shortcut to whatever you
want - I just call mine Vb2008.
Clicking this DeskTop Icon should then open Vb.net.
Step02:
Click your new DeskTop Icon to Open Vb2008.
You will be in what is called the Start Page but do not worry about anything
yet. We will go through this window later when we build the project.
Step03:
Hit the Alt key to open the IDE's Main MenuBar.
cursorring along the root menu items I hear:
File, Edit, View, Tools, Window and help. and back to the File Menu Item.
Cursor to the Tools Menu and up or down cursor to the Options item and hit
enter on it.
The Options Window comes up. This is a TreeView of sorts with Tabbed Options
for setting up the IDE.
If the Environment Branch is closed expand it and cursor to the General Tab
Group. Tab around this group to where you hear the Show All Settings Check box
and check it if not checked.
Now Close any open branches, I just left cursor to do this in Windoweyes.
Then Down Cursoring I hear:
Environment Closed one of 5
Projects And Solutions Closed 2 of 5
Text Editor closed 3 of 5
DataBase Tools closed 4 of 5
Windows FormsDesigner closed 5 of 5.
These are the major Branches in the Tree. We will expand a few of them one at a
time and I will tell you what settings I have set. You can set the ones you
want based on my settings, Jamal's documentation for using the IDE with JAWS or
your personal preferences.
Step04: The Environment Branch.
Right cursor on the Environment branch to expand it.
Cursor down to the General tab.
Tab across the items until you hear the "Show All Settings" checkbox and check
it if not checked.
Continue tabbing in the General Tab and set the following options:
Set Window Layout to Tabbed Document by selecting this RadioButton.
Leave the items shown to the defaults or bump them to some number like 10 or 20.
I have the Show Status Bar option checked.
Close button affects Active Tool Window Only is checked.
AutoHide Button Affects Active Tool Window only is unchecked.
Animate Environment Tools is UnChecked.
Note: Animate is where controls fade in and out slowly and I think might mess
with a Screen Reader so I turned it off.
Leave the RestoreFileAssociations Button alone.
Finally you are back to the Show All Settings CheckBox which should be checked.
Tab and click the OK button and you are returned to the Start Page.
Hit the Alt Key to open the IDE's Main Menu.
Cursor to the Tools Menu, cursor up or down to the Options option and hit enter
on it.
If the Environment Branch is not expanded, expand it and cursor down through
the other items to get a feel for what you will be able to set under this
Environment Branch. I have Tab Items for:
AutoRecover, Documents, FindAndReplace, FontsAndColors, Help,
ImportAndExportSettings,InternationalSettings, Keyboard, StartUp and
TaskList.
I do not think I changed any of these settings but feel free to experiment with
any of them you are familiar with and let us know if you find anything that
works well with your Screen Reader. For raw beginners just leave the rest of
these items in the Environment Branch alone for now.
Now we will continue down through the branches setting each tab group as we go
along. After setting the options in a Tab Group we click ok to save the changes
and have to open the options again from the start page by clicking Options
under the View Menu. We will have to slogg through this procedure only once and
be done with it so long as you use this IDE and do not make changes to the
Options.
Step05: The Projects And Solutions Branch.
collapse the Environment branch by left cursoring on it.
Expand the Projects And Solutions Branch by right cursoring it.
Cursor down to the General Tab.
Tabbing around:
Projects Location, leave as is.
User Project Templats Location, leave as is.
User Item Templates, leav as is.
Always Show Error List if Project builds with errors is checked.
Track active item in Solution Explorer is checked.
Show Advanced Build Configurations is Unchecked.
Always show Solution is unchecked.
Save New Projects when created is Unchecked.
Warn User when Project Location Is not trusted is checked
Show Output Window when build starts is unchecked.
Prompt for symbolic renaming when renaming files is UnChecked.
If you make any changes Click OK and you are returned to the Start Page.
Otherwise just tab to the General tab and down cursor.
If you returned to the Start Page click on Options under the Tools Menu and
navigate down to the Projects And Solutions Branch and down to the
tab group called Build and Run.
Tabbing around this Tab Group:
BeforeBuilding ComboBox is set to Save All Changes.
Maximum Number Of Parellel Projects is set to 2.
Only Build Project and Dependencies on Run is Unchecked.
On Run, When Projects Are Out Of Date ComboBox is set to "Always Build".
On Run, When Build Or Deployment Errors Occur ComboBox is set to Prompt To
Launch.
For New Solutions Use the Currently Selected Project for Startup is unchecked.
MsBuildVerbosity ComboBox is set to Minimal.
If you make changes Click OK.
Again, back to the Start Page.
Again open the Options Window and cursor down to the Projects And Solutions
Branch then down to the
VB Defaults Tab Group.
Tabbing Around:
Option Explicit is on in the combo box.
Option Strict is off in that ComboBox.
Option Compare is set to Binary in that ComboBox.
Option Infer is set to on in that ComboBox.
This concludes the settings for the Projects And Solutions Branch so click the
OK button to save the changes and return to the Start Page if you have not
already done so.
Step06: The Text Editor Settings.
Hit the Alt Key to open the menu Bar, click the Options item under the Tools
Menu.
Cursor down the TreeView and close the Environment and the Projects And
solutions Branches if open.
Expand the Text Editor Branch.
Tabbing around the General Tab Group:
Go To Selection Anchor After Escape is unchecked.
Drag And Drop Editing is checked.
Include Insertion PointMovements in Undo List is unchecked.
Automatic Delimiter Highlighting is checked.
Track Changes is UnChecked.
AutoDetect UTF 8 coding without signature is checked.
Display Selection margin is checked.
Display Indicator Margin is checked.
Display Vertical and horizontal check boxes are unchecked.
If you change anything click ok, and it's back to the start page.
ReOpen the Options window and navigate back to the Text Editor Branch and down
past the
File Extensions tab to the
AllLanguages tab which is a sub branch and expand it.
In the General Tab:
AutoListMembers is unchecked.
Parameter Information is unchecked.
Note: Unchecking the above will still allow them to be used with intellisense
but they will just not pop up automatically which can cause problems with focus
and a screen reader.
Enable Virtual Space is unchecked.
Word Wrap is Checked
Show Visual Gliffs for Word Wrap is unchecked.
Apply cut or copy to blank lines when there is no selection is checked.
Line Numbers is partially checked.
Enable single click navigation is partially checked.
Navigation Bar is unchecked
Click OK and from the Start Page
Navigate back to the Options Window, TextEditor, down to the All Languages
Branch and to the
Tabs Tab:
Indenting Radio Button is set to None.
Tab size and indent size TextBoxes are left empty.
Tab, insert spaces radio is unselected and keep tabs radio is selected.
Click OK if you change anything. Then navigate back to the Options Window, to
the TextEditor Branch and down to the
Basic Tab, which is another Sub branch of the main Text Editor Branch, and
expand it.
These settings are for the VB Text Editor. Any settings you change here will be
reflected in the All Languages Tab Groups but changing something in the All
Languages Tab Group will change these settings as well if I remember correctly.
Under the General Tab:
Autolist Members and Parameters are unchecked.
WordWrap is checked.
Show Gliffs is unchecked.
Apply cut or copy to blank lines is checked.
Line Numbers is checked.
Single Click Navigation is checked.
If you make no changes just
Tab back to the General Tab and cursor down to the Tabs option.
Indenting is set to none,Tab size and indent size are set to 1.
Note: it would not allow me to set it to 0 or empty so I just picked 1 as the
smallest indent.
Click OK if you made a change and from the Start Page navigate back to the
Options Window, Back to the Text Editor Branch and back down to
Tabs item and cursor down to the VB Specific tab:
Automatic Insertion of End Constructs is unchecked.
Pretty Listing is unchecked.
Note: The above features can make your code look nice and dynamically add end
constructs to statements but the pretty listing makes the code hard to work
with in Windoweyes and I prefer to add my own end to statements like the If and
End If constructs.
Enable Outlining Mode is checked.
Automatic Insertion interface and must override members is checked.
Show Procedure Line Seperators is unchecked.
Enable Error Correction Suggestions is Unchecked.
Note: The above was an attempt to reduce how often that bloody Error Window
automatically pops up while trying to work in the text Editor with a Screen
Reader.
Tab to ok and click it to save your settings for the Text Editor.
The rest of the settings are related to things we will not be working with yet
so you can leave them alone for now.
You are done with setting up the IDE Options Window until later.
End Of Article:
Happy Programming!
Rick USA
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