[Blindmath] [program-java] Announcing JWin - a program for installing the Java Access Bridge on Windows

[Steve Jacobson]

Dick,

Your experience with Java might be very useful to those of us who are trying to influence the direction that 
accessibility takes, and your comments about the limitations of SWT are interesting as they may explain why SWT has 
not caught on.  My comments here are based more on experience than real Java programming knowledge so take 
them with a grane of salt.

There are apparently limitations to what you can do with Java through the Windows Access Bridge which Jamal's 
program installs.  I say this because many Java programs don't work through it at all.  Historically, accessibility with the 
Windows Access Bridge has always been somewhat painful.  Some programs would work with specific versions of 
JFW and the Access Bridge, but they would not necessarily work with the most recent version of each.  As I 
understand it, a 64-bit version of the Windows Access Bridge was not available until a few months ago and the 32-bit 
version would not work on 64-bit machines.  Add to this the fact that support for the Windows Access Bridge is a little 
hit or miss.  Window=-Eyes, which has been my screen reader, as not supported it, at least partly because of the 
general instability.  JFW supports it, but its support has not always been that solid.  At least for now, I hope that you 
stick with SWT unless there are better options that universally work under Windows without the Windows Access 
Bridge, or unless the situation with the Access Bridge changes.  My understanding is that Oracle is somewhat active in 
the development of the Windows Access Bridge to make its products more accessible, and that could result in a 
platform that is more stable and may make that route an easier one to follow.  I am not certain, but I believe that IBM 
has been quite involved in the development of SWT and some of that work has been done at their Austin site.  If you 
have any contacts there, perhaps you could make known your frustrations with SWT as that seems to have been the 
most stable accessible solution.

Again, let me thank you for your work on these products.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson
  
On Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:30:47 -0600, Richard Baldwin wrote:

>It would definitely make me happy if this would eliminate the need to
>program using the SWT for accessibility.

>Besides being unfamiliar territory, using the SWT effectively eliminates
>the use of many very good existing Java libraries that have been developed
>over the past ten or so years.

>As near as I can tell, even though it is possible to incorporate a Java
>Frame object into an SWT GUI, there are no provisions for similarly
>incorporating a JFrame object. If that is not the case, I would like to
>hear how to incorporate a JFrame object from someone who knows how..

>Dick Baldwin

>On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 9:03 PM, Jamal Mazrui <empower at smart.net> wrote:

>> Now available at
>>
>> http://EmpowermentZone.com/**JWin_setup.exe<http://EmpowermentZone.com/JWin_setup.exe>
>>
>> or for a developer distribution
>>
>> http://EmpowermentZone.com/**JWin_setup.zip<http://EmpowermentZone.com/JWin_setup.zip>
>>
>> I hope that JWin helps to open up more Java applications on Windows by
>> making it easy to add accessibility support.  More info about the program
>> is below, including a link to the full documentation.
>>
>> Jamal
>>
>> ----------
>>
>> JWin is a free, open source program for detecting and installing the Java
>> Runtime Environment (JRE) on Windows, together with the Java Access Bridge
>> (JAB), which is needed for full accessibility of Java-based applications to
>> assistive technologies used by persons with disabilities.
>>
>> After confirming user intent, the program will create a directory
>> containing JAB reference material, a log file, and an uninstallation
>> program to later remove the JAB, if desired.  It looks for locations of the
>> JRE and offers to install the JAB into them.  Three possible directories
>> are identified:  (1) the directory of a 32-bit JRE; (2) the directory of a
>> 64-bit JRE; and (3) the directory referenced by the JAVA_HOME environment
>> variable.
>>
>> The program will open a log file when complete, detailing the actions
>> taken.  The JAB may be installed into any JRE location on the computer by
>> first setting the JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to the relevant
>> directory before running the executable.
>>
>> If no JRE is found by the program, it will offer to go to the web page for
>> installing Java.
>>
>> Full documentation for this program is also available online at
>>
>> http://EmpowermentZone.com/**JWin.htm<http://EmpowermentZone.com/JWin.htm>
>>
>>
>>


>-- 
>Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
>Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
>http://www.DickBaldwin.com

>Professor of Computer Information Technology
>Austin Community College
>(512) 223-4758
>mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
>http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
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