Toolbar2000 contains integrated support for Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA), a COM-based technology which provides a consistent mechanism for accessibility aids -- notably, screen readers for the visually impaired -- to query applications for information on their user interface elements.
Enabling MSAA support
When Toolbar2000 is compiled into an EXE or run-time package, MSAA support should work out of the box, provided you have not removed the Application.Initialize call from your project's .dpr file.
When Toolbar2000 is compiled into a DLL, the host application must initialize the COM library in order for the MSAA support to function. If the host application is a Delphi application, the simplest way to ensure the COM library is initialized is to add the ComObj unit to the project's or main form's "uses" clause. Alternatively, the application can manually call the CoInitialize function at startup, and CoUninitialize at shutdown.
Testing MSAA support
Windows 2000 and XP come with a basic MSAA-based screen reader called Narrator which can be used for cursory testing of the MSAA support on Toolbar2000's menus. On English editions of Windows, Narrator may be accessed by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > Narrator. Non-English editions of Windows may not list Narrator on the Start menu, but it should still be possible to start Narrator by running narrator.exe manually.
After starting Narrator, try opening and navigating menus in Toolbar2000. You should hear the captions of menu items announced as you move the mouse over them, the same as with standard menus.
For more sophisticated testing, try the Inspect, AccExplorer, and AccEvent tools from the MSAA SDK, available from Microsoft's web site, and also in the Platform SDK.
Tips for MSAA-friendliness
- Every menu and toolbar item (with the exception of separators) should have a caption assigned. Toolbar2000 will make the caption available to MSAA clients regardless of whether the item has a visible text label. If you do not give your items captions, then visually impaired users may be unable to determine their purpose.
Compatibility
Toolbar2000's MSAA support has been tested on the following operating system and MSAA version combinations:
- Windows 95 with MSAA 1.3
- Windows 98 with MSAA 1.3 and 2.0
- Windows Me with MSAA 1.3 and 2.0
- Windows NT 4.0 SP6 with MSAA 1.3 and 2.0
- Windows 2000 with MSAA 1.3 and 2.0
- Windows XP with MSAA 2.0