Closed Bug 344273 Opened 18 years ago Closed 18 years ago

accExplorer reports "Error: unexpected VARIANT" for the accessible role of the document's parent

Categories

(Firefox :: Disability Access, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Disability Access
Platform:
x86
Windows XP
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED FIXED

People

(Reporter: bugzilla, Unassigned)

References

Details

(Keywords: access) 

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 (CK-IBM) Firefox/1.5.0.4
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 (CK-IBM) Firefox/1.5.0.4

This error message can be found when viewing any HTML or XUL page in a firefox browser.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open a simple page in firefox, such as <BODY>Hi</BODY>
2. Open accExplorer (from MSAA SDK) and use 'Choose From List' to select the Firefox window
3. Expand the child whose role text is 'application' and whose name matches the browser window title bar text.
4. Expand the NAMELESS whose role text is 'pane'
5. Expand its child, whose role text is 'property page'

Actual Results:  
The child of the node with role text of 'property page' has an accessible name matching the page title, but the Role text states "Error: unexpected VARIANT"

Expected Results:  
Provide role text matching the role of the node.  Potentially 'window'?

There is a possibility that this accessible role text error is impacting JAWS behavior of XUL pages loaded in the browser.  This error message was discovered when viewing a XUL page whose top-level element was a tabbox.  The text of the tabs of the tabbox are not read by jaws when the page is loaded via a chrome: URL, even though that text is exposed by MSAA as verified by the inspect32 tool.  The text was read correctly when the same XUL page was loaded in xulrunner.  This error message was not found in the xulrunner tree.
Blocks: fox2access
Keywords: access
I cannot recreate this reported problem at the latest and greatest Firefox Bon Echo nightly build of 20060713.
In Firefox Bon Echo nightly build of 20060713, the error has changed, but I still see it.  In the tree hierarchy (left pane), the role text is "Not initialized!".  I see this as "Page Title[Not Initialized! - Visible]".  In the detail pane at right, the role text will display whatever the role text of the last item viewed in detail was.  This gives the impression that the value is valid, however is just a bug with accExplorer in dealing with an uninitialized role text.
Talked with Tom, he was using Minefield instead of Bon Echo, dup the problem w/ the latest and greatest bon ehco.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
This should have been fixed by the checkin for bug 341747. Please check trunk builds tomorrow afternoon when they get updated
This was fixed by the checkin to bug 371747.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 18 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Blocks: keya11y
No longer blocks: fox2access
I tested with the following:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1b1) Gecko/20060720 BonEcho/2.0b1
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9a1) Gecko/20060720 Minefield/3.0a1

I am still presented with the message "Error: unexpected VARIANT".  The change I notice is that Minefield no longer says uninitialized, but has changed to match the Bon Echo error condition - the originally reported error.
This bug is still present in version 3.6 and is recking havoc on accessibility programs like ShowNumbers Plus! and JAWS.
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