Using JAWS to get key events - accessibility

Question

I need to capture the current time each time a spacebar is pressed on the browser while using JAWS Screen reader. I am able to capture the spacebar if I am not using JAWS, however, the system cannot capture any spacebar once JAWS is on.
Here is my code:
$(document).keypress(function(event) {
var chCode = ('charCode' in event) ? event.charCode : event.keyCode;
if (chCode == 32){ //32 is keyCode for spacebar
addTime = addTime + Number(new Date()) + ",";
var x = document.getElementById("spacebar");
alert("spacebars!!!");
}
});
I would like to know what to do so that I can capture the current time each time a spacebar is pressed.
Funny enough, each time a spacebar is pressed, JAWS reads out "space" but the event is not captured at the code level.
OR - Since JAWS reads out "Space" when I press the spacebar, does anyone know how I can capture JAWS event? Since it recognizes it when I press spacebar, I am wondering if I can capture the event directly from JAWS. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

This happens because most screen readers, and namely JAWS, provide so-called virtual cursor in browsers. This is needed for quick navigation on web pages and alike documents.
To test this, try pressing a letter on a web page while JAWS is on. For instance, if you press b, JAWS will say "No buttons" because b moves to the next button (if any). To type text, you need to enter the forms mode.
The spacebar, on the other side, works only when you are on a clickable element (link, button, check box or just an element with onClick event attached), then it activates the element; or in forms mode, then it types the space into an edit field.
In order to accomplish what you want to do, you need to declare a part of your web page as role="application" (more on this here):
When the user navigates an element assigned the role of application, assistive technologies that typically intercept standard keyboard events SHOULD switch to an application browsing mode, and pass keyboard events through to the web application.
The intent is to hint to certain assistive technologies to switch from normal browsing mode into a mode more appropriate for interacting with a web application; some user agents have a browse navigation mode where keys, such as up and down arrows, are used to browse the document, and this native behavior prevents the use of these keys by a web application.
So, in order to be able to count your time, just declare a parent div as role="application", and your Spacebar will be passed directly to the application and not intercepted by JAWS.