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Cover: Tom Draper Design Body Part No. X15-66460 Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................... vii 1 The UI Automation Environment ............................................................ 1 Providers and Clients .......................................................................................................... 1 Providers ...................................................................................................................... 2 Clients ........................................................................................................................... 2 Main Components ............................................................................................................... 3 Automation Elements.............................................................................................. 3 The UIA Tree ............................................................................................................... 3 Control Patterns ........................................................................................................ 5 Control Types ............................................................................................................. 5 Properties .................................................................................................................... 6 Events ............................................................................................................................ 7 Custom Control Patterns, Properties, and Events ......................................... 7 Planning Your Hierarchy ................................................................................................... 8 2 Designing the Logical Hierarchy ............................................................. 9 The Logical Hierarchy ....................................................................................................... 10 Mapping Basics ................................................................................................................... 11 Elements and Controls .......................................................................................... 11 Element Relationships and Navigation ........................................................... 12 Getting Started ................................................................................................................... 14 How to Do It ........................................................................................................................ 16 Example: Employee Timecard ............................................................................ 17 iii iv Table of Contents Using the Logical Hierarchy for Planning Accessibility Settings ....................... 23 Keyboard Navigation ............................................................................................ 24 Graphics: Decorative vs. Contextual ................................................................. 24 Complex User Interfaces ................................................................................................. 24 Designing Element Functionality ................................................................................. 25 3 Designing Your Implementation ........................................................... 27 Product Example Continued: Employee Timecard ................................................. 28 Prep Work: Creating the Implementation Table .................................................... 29 Process A: Control Maps to a UIA Control Type ..................................................... 31 Step 1: Gathering Required Control Patterns ............................................... 31 Step 2: Gathering Required Control Type Properties ................................ 32 Step 3: Gathering Requirements for Additional Control Functionality ............................................................................................................. 36 Process B: Control Does Not Map to a UIA Control Type ................................... 40 Methods and Events ......................................................................................................... 41 Framework-Dependent Decisions ................................................................................ 42 Implementing Your Native UIA Solution .................................................................. 43 Rounding Up Native Solutions ..................................................................................... 43 4 Testing and Delivery .................................................................................. 45 Accessibility Testing and Test Automation ............................................................... 46 Tools ....................................................................................................................................... 47 Investigation Tools ................................................................................................. 47 UIA Verify Test Automation Framework ........................................................ 48 Keyboard ............................................................................................................................... 49 Users and AT Devices........................................................................................................ 50 Delivery ................................................................................................................................. 50 Conclusion: 7 Steps to a Better Computing World ................................................ 51 References ............................................................................................................................ 51 Table of Contents v Appendix A: Windows Automation API: Overview ......................... 53 Microsoft Active Accessibility and UI Automation Compared .......................... 54 Architecture and Interoperability ................................................................................ 54 Microsoft Active Accessibility Architecture ................................................... 55 UI Automation Architecture .......................................................................................... 56 Interoperability Between Microsoft Active Accessibility-Based Applications and UI Automation-Based Applications ............................... 56 Limitations of Microsoft Active Accessibility ........................................................... 58 UI Automation Specification .......................................................................................... 58 UI Automation Elements ...................................................................................... 59 UI Automation Tree ............................................................................................... 60 UI Automation Properties .................................................................................... 61 UI Automation Control Patterns ....................................................................... 61 UI Automation Control Types ............................................................................ 61 UI Automation Events ........................................................................................... 62 The IAccessibleEx Interface ............................................................................................ 62 Choosing Microsoft Active Accessibility, UI Automation, or IAccessibleEx 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