Method and apparatus for interoperation between legacy software and screen reader programs

• US 20040145607A1
• Filed: 10/27/2003
• Published: 07/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Alderson, Graham Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,484,174 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/746
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A computer program and method facilitate operation of a screen reader with legacy programs whose user interface definitions do not conform to the design guidelines expected by the screen reader program. The method involves: analyzing a graphical user interface to identify a logical sequence of user interface elements within the interface; comparing the sequence of user interface elements within a definition of the user interface with the identified logical sequence, to identify any required reordering of the elements to conform to the identifed logical sequence; and performing the required reordering of the elements to conform to the identified logical sequence. One or more lists or tables is generated for each saparable user interface component (such as a dialog) to specify the required sequence for reordering incorrectly-sequenced user interface controls within the definition, and to identify a new static text control which is dynamically generated for use with an edit control which does not have a required static text control.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating operation of a screen reader, comprising the steps of:

analyzing a graphical user interface to identify a logical sequence of user interface elements within the interface;

comparing the sequence of user interface elements within a definition of the user interface with the identified logical sequence, to identify any required reordering of the elements to conform to the identifed logical sequence; and

performing the required reordering of the elements to conform to the identified logical sequence.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein, in response to said comparing step, an ordered list of user interface element identifiers is generated to represent the required sequence of user interface elements.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said list is stored in association with said user interface definition and said step of performing the required reordering of the elements comprises modifying the user interface definition to implement the required sequence.

4. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the step of performing the required reordering comprises modifying the user interface definition by adding sequence information as a property of the user interface elements.

5. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the step of performing the required reordering is performed in response to a command or message to initiate display of the user interface.

6. A method according to any preceding claim, including comparing the sequence of user interface elements within a definition of the user interface with a set of predefined rules for user interface definitions and, responsive to identifying non-conformance with a rule requiring a specific user interface control, generating an instance of the required user interface control.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the set of predefined rules include a rule requiring each edit control within a user interface definition to be immediately preceded by a static text control, and wherein, responsive to identifying non-conformance with said rule, generating a new static text control, and adding the new control to the user interface definition.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the text for the new static text control is extracted from the user interface element that immediately precedes the edit control within the identified logical sequence.

9. A method according to claim 7 or claim 8, including setting the properties of the new static text control to prevent its display within a visual representation of the user interface.

10. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, including performing the following step in response to said identification of non-conformance for an edit control:

generating a table including an identifier of the edit control, an identifier of the control which precedes the edit control, and a pointer to the new static text control;

wherein the step of adding the new static text control to the user interface definition is performed in response to a command or message to initiate display of the user interface.

11. A computer program for controlling the operation of a data processing apparatus on which it runs to perform a method comprising the steps of:

determining whether a user interface definition has an associated list defining a required sequence for the user interface elements within the definition;

responsive to determining that the user interface definition has such an associated list, invoking a process to modify the sequence of user interface elements within the definition to conform to the required sequence.

12. A computer program according to claim 11, wherein said determining step is performed in response to a command or message to initiate display of the user interface.

13. A computer program according to claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the computer program includes program code for controlling the data processing apparatus to perform the steps of

determining whether the user interface definition has an associated table identifying:

an edit control of the interface definition,

a non-static-text control immediately preceding the edit control within the interface definition, and

a reference to a required static text control; and

responsive to determining that the user interface definition has such an associated table, invoking a process to modify the interface definition by generating the required static text control and adding the generated static text control immediately preceding the edit control.

14. A computer program for controlling the operation of a data processing apparatus on which it runs to perform a method comprising the steps of:

analyzing a graphical user interface to identify a logical sequence of user interface elements within the interface;

comparing the sequence of user interface elements within a definition of the user interface with the identified logical sequence, to identify any required reordering of the elements to conform to the identifed logical sequence; and

performing the required reordering of the elements to conform to the identified logical sequence.

15. A computer program according to claim 14, wherein the method includes comparing the sequence of user interface elements within a definition of the user interface with a set of predefined rules for user interface definitions and, responsive to identifying non-conformance with a rule requiring a specific user interface control, generating an instance of the required user interface control.

16. A computer program according to claim 15, wherein the set of predefined rules include a rule requiring each edit control within a user interface definition to be immediately preceded by a static text control, and wherein the method includes the steps, responsive to identifying non-conformance with said rule, of generating a new static text control and then adding the new control to the user interface definition.

17. A computer program according to claim 16, wherein the text for the new static text control is extracted from the user interface element that immediately precedes the edit control within the identified logical sequence.

18. A data processing apparatus including:

an application program including a user interface definition;

a screen reader program for generating non-visual prompts corresponding to information within the user interface definition;

an operating system for reading the user interface definition to provide input to the screen reader program;

wherein the apparatus also includes program code for determining whether a user interface definition has an associated list defining a required sequence for the user interface elements within the definition and, responsive to determining that the user interface definition has such an associated list, for invoking a process to modify the sequence of user interface elements within the definition to conform to the required sequence.

19. A data processing apparatus according to claim 18, including program code for determining whether the user interface definition has an associated table identifying:

an edit control of the interface definition,

a non-static-text control immediately preceding the edit control within the interface definition, and

a reference to a required static text control; and

program code responsive to determining that the user interface definition has such an associated table, for invoking a process to modify the interface definition by generating the required static text control and adding the static text control to the interface definition immediately preceding the edit control.