Integrating virtual keyboard on a HP TouchSmart with an Adobe AIR app - apache-flex

Does anyone know if it's possible to integrate the ToushSmart's virtual keyboard with an Adobe AIR application?
In most programs (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc), when a user touches a text field a little keyboard icon automatically pops up which, when pressed, will bring up the virtual keyboard. However, this doesn't happen when clicking on text input fields in Adobe AIR applications.
Has anyone had any experience working with AIR/Flash and touchscreens? Is there any API that can tell Windows (or the HP virtual keyboard specifically) that the user has clicked in a text field and that the virtual keyboard should be shown? The text fields are the standard kind (fl.controls.TextInput).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Maybe try compiling your project as "accessible"? This is designed for things like screen readers, but it may hook into the same API that's used by the "virtual keyboard". Sorry I don't know where this setting is, should be in project/compiler settings somewhere.

Related

How to disable the browser's ability to track if it's window is actively in use?

How does the browser come to know when we are actively clicking on it and when we have clicked out of it?
Is there a method using which we can disable the browser's ability to know when we have clicked out or switched apps?
I am using chorme on Windows right now, Mozilla will also do.
Thank you in advance!

How do I test the accessibility of my Firefox extension's toolbar button (and attached popup)?

I'm writing a Firefox (web)extension. I have a browser_action in my manifest.json, with a default_popup. I want my extension to be accessible by all users, including those with vision impairment.
So I'd like to, as I change and develop things, test what it's like to (for example) interact with this feature, using only the keyboard. How do I do this? How do I focus and thus "click" the toolbar button, without a mouse?
Ideally, without actually running special screen reader software every time.
So I'd like to, as I change and develop things, test what it's like to
(for example) interact with this feature, using only the keyboard. How
do I do this? How do I focus and thus "click" the toolbar button,
without a mouse?
You can use commands to set a keyboard shortcut.
_execute_browser_action: works like a click on the extension's browser action
You may also add commands.update() (Firefox 60+) API to let users change that keyboard shortcut.
Thanks for considering accessibility. Just to clarify, because I don't think you meant this, but you can do keyboard testing without a screen reader. Just don't use your mouse :-) Seriously.
In my current firefox, I have an address bar, the search field, then a bunch of plugins on a toolbar.
On a PC (should be similar for a Mac, but Cmd instead of Ctrl):
I can move my keyboard focus to the address bar with alt+d or ctrl+L (cmd+L)
I can move my keyboard focus to the search field with ctrl+k (cmd+k)
Interestingly enough, I could not get my focus on the toolbar. I could have sworn I could tab from the address field, to the search field, to the toolbar, but it's not working now.
If you can get your focus there, then you should be able to use the left/right arrows to move between tools and then space/enter to select the tool.
If you want to play with a screen reader, NVDA is free.

Text console for development in JAWS?

I'm working on a web application and I want to make it easy to use via screen reader.
Testing stuff in JAWS is time consuming.
Is it possible to make JAWS display text instead of reading it?
I don't want actually to hear the content during development.
I just want to see what would be read by JAWS.
There is no speech viewer for Jaws, as far as I know. However, you can make it write all speech output to a log file using the "/z" switch. Unfortunately, you cannot view the log file in a text editor while the screen reader is running, because it is locked.
Open a command prompt or bring up the Run dialog by pressing Win+r and type:
"jaws_executable" /z"log_file"
Where "jaws_executable" is the full path and file name of the Jaws application and "log_file" is the location and name of the speech log file.
Important: There should be no space between "/z" and the log file name.
This is an old thread, but since it came up top in my search I thought I'd update it. JAWS 15 has just introduced this capability through the "Speech History" feature. Follow these directions to enable it:
If you miss one or more messages spoken by JAWS, you can press
INSERT+SPACEBAR, followed by H to open a Results Viewer window
containing up to the last 50 announcements spoken by the synthesizer.
When the Speech History window opens, you are placed on the line
containing the most recent announcement. To clear the history, press
INSERT+SPACEBAR, followed by SHIFT+H. The history is also cleared when
you lock the computer or completely log off. If you do not want JAWS
to maintain a speech history, clear the Enable Speech History check
box in Settings Center.
Read more in the JAWS 15 What's New document under New Speech History for Speech-only Users.
For those of you stuck with JAWS 14, Nektarios Paisios answer using the "/z" log worked best for me.
I believe there is a visual indicator in JAWS, but my version of JAWS is being a bit wonky. These days, NVDA plays pretty similarly to JAWS, so you can use that, and it has a speech output console: Right click the NVDA icon in the system tray, select Tools, and Speech Viewer.
The easiest way to see what a screen reader 'sees' is to disable the CSS. This will show you everything on the page that the screen reader can access. This will give you a good idea what is going on during development until you want to get into the more complicated stuff.
See http://www.iheni.com/quick-tip-testing-web-content-for-screen-readers-without-a-screen-reader/. This site has a lot of useful info too http://webaim.org/articles/.
You can enable the Braille Viewer in Start Menu > All Programs > JAWS 14.0 > Braille Viewer.
Braille Viewer will render visual text output of what would be sent to a braille display. It sometimes uses abbreviations or shorthand but is a close representation of the speech output.
Also take a look at Fangs Screen Reader Emulator for Firefox. It will render a text output of what a screen reader would announce on a page, in the correct read order, though it does not render dynamic content.
JAWS is supplied with a Braille Viewer in the 'Utilities' folder, which will render any text from the focus.

How do I skin an Adobe Flash Player Settings pop up and is it even possible?

I am trying to create a professional chat application using Flex. Unfortunately, the security window that pops up asking the user to allow or deny the application access to the web cam, (the Adobe Flash Player Settings Window) doesn't really look that great and I'd like to be able to skin it.
I'd really love to make this window look nicer. Is it even possible to skin this window?
No, there is no way to skin the security settings popup.
You'll just have to make do with the default.
Also, remember that if for any reason your Flash movie is smaller in size than the popup itself, it won't show up and just silently deny (safest for the user).
I learnt that the hard way : )

Image preview in Flex

I am working on an image management application. We have an Adobe AIR client talking to a WAMP server. The MySQL DB stores the images as blobs.
We have an image search feature. Upon searching, I am displaying the results as XMLList in a popup window and provided a download button. Downloads work fine. I also want to add a preview button to the popup.
Please let me know how can I code this. Without having the file on the client, I cannot preview. But when I use save() method, the os dialog opens up. Anything to be done on the PHP side?
Please help.
Regards
Jad.
Don't you mean to display an Image? Wouldn't the normal work? Of course, for performance issues, your PHP code must render smaller images (thumbnails).
Correct me if wrongly understood your question. :(

Resources