[humanser] question about screen reader and agency-record software

Sat Jul 9 00:47:09 UTC 2011

Dear All,

The program is activated through remote access through the web.
Because the agency does not have a screen reader, I bring in my own
laptop and access the network. I can check my agency e-mail account,
and all the areas on the network but when I launch Allscripts
Window-eyes does not work at all.

I presented the situation to my supervisor and the suggestion that
someone been mentioned about using a Word document to fill out the
forms and then have it put into Allscripts. My supervisor supported
the idea.

I was not ready to give up on Window-eyes and e-mailed tech support at
GW-Micro. I never thought about doing so thinking that there is no
hope of having it function with Allscripts. Because someone had
mentioned that JAWS has a $200 upgrade to make it work, then and only
then did I think to e-mail GW-Micro and ask about it.

Tech support got back to me rather quickly and said that it can work.
He e-mailed me a link and it is below including the contents of that
page. I don't understand the instructions that well. I do not know
what the instructions mean by server and client or accessing
Window-eyes locally and remotely. I did see a Citrix option under the
advance section and activated it as well as the Virtual Citrix speech
synthesizer. Doing so completely shut off speech.

I am guessing that it is possible to use Window-eyes with Citrix but I
don't fully understand the directions.

If anyone wants to take a look at the link I have it below:

Thanks,
Osmond
http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1042
GW Micro - Support - Knowledge Base - GWKB1042
GWKB1042 : Window-Eyes and Remote Access
Product: Window-Eyes
Category: Guide
Author: Steve Clower
Date Added: 02/17/2006
Last Modified: 03/18/2011

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Window-Eyes and Remote Access
This guide describes how to configure Window-Eyes to work with various
types of remote access software. Though the steps outlined below apply
to Window-Eyes 4.5 and greater, the procedures dealing directly with
Window-Eyes assume you are running at least Window-Eyes 7.5. if you
are not, the concepts described below still apply, but the methods
used to configure Window-Eyes may differ. Take note that the version
of Window-Eyes you intend to use for remote access must also support
the host operating system. See the "System Requirements" section in
your Window-Eyes manual for more details.

Citrix Xenworks

The Basics
Publishing Window-Eyes on a Citrix Xenworks server enables end users
to hear other server-based applications, just as if both applications
were running locally on the desktop.

Server-based deployment of applications has three key benefits:

Providing users with secure access to enterprise resources from
anywhere at any time
Maximizing IT efficiency with centralized administration
Ensuring a consistent set of applications and versions for all users,
regardless of location, device or connection

For example, a company's IT department can install all the
mission-critical applications (such as word processors, email, and
order entry systems) on a centralized group of servers. Employees then
access the applications on those servers from their own client devices
(desktops, laptops, etc.). When the IT department updates a critical
application, all users automatically connect to the updated version,
without the need to install the new application on each individual
workstation.

For more information about Citrix Xenworks Presentation Server, visit
www.citrix.com.

Server-Side Configuration

Installing Citrix Xenworks Presentation Server
* Please refer to the Xenworks documentation for the installation and
configuration procedures for installing Xenworks. * Xenworkse, XPs, or
XPa Future Release 3 or greater must be installed on the server before
you install Window-Eyes and any other applications.

Installing Window-Eyes
The steps for installing Window-Eyes on a server running Xenworks are
identical to those outlined in the installation section of the
Window-Eyes user manual.

Enabling Window-Eyes Video Support
There are two ways to enable Window-Eyes video support for Citrix
Xenworks sessions:

>From the Advanced Options pull down menu in the Window-Eyes program
group in the Start menu of the server machine, select the Video
Support Maintenance. Select the button labeled "Enable Citrix ICA
Video Support" and follow any prompts that may appear.  Log on to the
Xenworks server remotely and run Window-Eyes. Window-Eyes will install
Citrix ICA Video Support, and will prompt to restart the machine.

Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer
The Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer option provides the user with the
best possible option for remote speech synthesis. Without the
Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer, the only supported methods of speech
during a Xenworks session are serial and software synthesizers. The
Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer allows the user to utilize any
non-serial synthesizer that is installed on the local machine (the
Triple Talk PCI, Triple Talk USB, DECtalk PC, and DoubleTalk PC are
just a few examples), and is especially useful for maintaining a high
rate of responsiveness when using SAPI or software speech. The
Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer option uses a local copy of
Window-Eyes for speech output, rather than relying on the synthesizer
itself. The local copy of Window-Eyes (which must be running on the
client device – the same place where the Citrix ICA Client was
launched) will serve as a host between the local synthesizer and the
remote copy of Window-Eyes. The Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer option
is also the easiest to set up by following these instructions:

Run Window-Eyes on the client device.
Run Window-Eyes through a remote session.
>From the remote session, select the Virtual (Citrix MetaFrame)
synthesizer from the Synthesizer area located in the Devices node of
the Window-Eyes control panel.

At this point, the remote copy of Window-Eyes will begin transferring
speech to the local copy of Window-Eyes. Commands for modifying voice
rate, pitch, and tone (as well as the selection of other synthesizers
where applicable) will still be executed in the remote session. For
information about installing the Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer,
please refer to the section below titled "Window-Eyes Virtual Server
Installation."

Serial Synthesizers
If the Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer is not an option, Window-Eyes
users have the alternative choice of using any supported serial
synthesizer during their Xenworks sessions. To use a serial
synthesizer, follow the steps below for serial port mapping.

Serial Port Mapping
If a Window-Eyes user will be using a serial synthesizer during the
Citrix Xenworks session, the appropriate serial ports must be
configured correctly prior to launching Window-Eyes to create and
maintain a talking environment. After a serial port is mapped for a
specific client, the mapping will remain in effect through all future
connections from that client. Other clients will not be affected by
serial port mapping. To map a serial port, use the following steps:

Enable serial ports through the Citrix ICA Client application (Citrix
Program Neighborhood->Tools/Serial Devices/Add). Please refer to the
Citrix ICA Client documentation for more information about setting up
serial devices.
Using the Citrix ICA Client, log on to the appropriate Citrix Xenworks
server using the credentials of the user who will utilize the mapped
serial port.
Go to the Start menu, and choose Run.
Type CMD and press ENTER.
At a command prompt, type the following and press ENTER: net use ComX:
\\Client\ComY: (where X is the number of the serial port located on
the server and Y is the number of the serial port located on the
client device.)
The following confirmation will display: The command completed successfully.

Software Synthesizers
If the Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer is not an option, Window-Eyes
users can still use a software synthesizer. Audio support will need to
be enabled on either the server-side or client-side. For more
information about the pros and cons of using software speech, please
refer to the "Remote Access Caveats" section below.

Running Window-Eyes Automatically
To enable automatic startup of Window-Eyes after a Citrix Xenworks
session is initiated, use the following steps:

Log on as the user for whom Window-Eyes is to load automatically.
Launch Window-Eyes, and access the Window-Eyes control panel with
CTRL-BACKSLASH.
Ensure that "Show Advanced Options" is checked underneath the Help menu.
Navigate to the General/Startup Options node of the Window-Eyes settings tree.
TAB to the "After logging in, run Window-Eyes using" radio button group.
Arrow down to Always.
Press Control-S to save your settings.

When using this configuration, the logon screen will not be spoken
automatically. Pass-through authentication is one solution to this
issue. For more information about pass-through authentication, review
the Citrix Xenworks documentation.

Client-Side Configuration

Citrix ICA Client
The Citrix ICA Client software does not require any additional setup
to support Window-Eyes (aside from what is required to connect to a
Citrix Xenworks server).

Citrix Xenworks Web Access
If the client is accessing a Citrix Xenworks server through the Web
interface, the client will need to download and install the Citrix ICA
Client software. This package, as well as any documentation pertaining
to the installation of the Citrix ICA Client software, should be
available through the Web interface, depending upon the configuration
of the Citrix Xenworks server.

Although the Citrix ICA Java Client software will perform the same as
the Citrix ICA Win32 Client software (in terms of running Window-Eyes
remotely), it will not support the Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer. To
use the Citrix ICA Java Client software, the client will need to use
either a serial synthesizer (please refer to the above section titled
"Serial Port Mapping" for more information) or software speech.

Alternative Citrix ICA Clients
Citrix ICA Clients for alternative operating systems (Windows CE,
UNIX, Macintosh, and so on) will support running Window-Eyes remotely.
It is important to note, however, that the Window-Eyes Virtual
Synthesizer option is available only with the Citrix ICA Win32 Client
software.

  Window-Eyes Virtual Channel Installation
The Window-Eyes Virtual Channel option provides the user with the best
possible option for remote speech synthesis. Without the Window-Eyes
Virtual Channel, the only supported methods of speech during a Citrix
Xenworks session are serial and software synthesizers. The Window-Eyes
Virtual Channel allows the user to utilize any non-serial synthesizer
that is installed on the local machine (the Triple Talk PCI, Triple
Talk USB, DECtalk PC, and DoubleTalk PC are just a few examples), and
is especially useful for maintaining a high rate of responsiveness
when using SAPI or software speech. The Window-Eyes Virtual Channel
option uses a local copy of Window-Eyes for speech output, rather than
relying on the synthesizer itself. The local copy of Window-Eyes
(which must be running on the client's workstation – the same place
where the Citrix Xenworks client was launched) will serve as a host
between the local synthesizer and the remote copy of Window-Eyes. The
Window-Eyes Virtual Channel also works with your Braille display if
you are running Window-Eyes 7.5 or greater. When enabled, Window-Eyes
will send data from the remote connection to a locally connected
Braille display, providing complete Braille output. To enable this
support, set the "Virtualization" setting found under the "Braille
Displays" area of the Window-Eyes control panel to the type of
connection you want to use.

To enable the virtual channel support for your synthesizer and Braille
display, use the following procedure:

>From the Advanced Options pull down in the Window-Eyes program group
in the start menu of the client machine, run the Virtual Channel
Maintenance utility.
TAB to the "Enable Citrix Virtual Channel Support For Window-Eyes"
button, and press ENTER.

To uninstall the Window-Eyes Virtual Channel, use the following steps:

>From the Advanced Options pull down in the Window-Eyes program group
in the start menu of the client machine, run the Virtual Channel
Maintenance utility.
TAB to the "Disable Citrix Virtual Channel Support For Window-Eyes"
button, and press ENTER.

Running Window-Eyes Remotely

Important Hot Keys
Citrix ICA Client hot keys can be defined by modifying the options
located in Citrix Program Neighborhood/Tools/ICA Settings/Hot Keys.
These hot keys are required for accessing the remote desktop operating
system Start menu, ALT-TAB list, task list, and so on. For more
information about defining Citrix ICA Client hot keys, please refer to
the Citrix ICA Client documentation.

Window-Eyes hot keys can be modified under the Hot Keys area of the
Window-Eyes control panel.

Desktop Versus Stand Alone Application
Window-Eyes can be accessed by logging on to a published desktop, or
by using Window-Eyes as a published application (depending on the
configuration of the Citrix Xenworks server -- Note that shared
applications must be running under the same session ID). During a
remote desktop session, Window-Eyes will interact with any other
application launched in the same desktop area. As a published
application (not accessed through a remote desktop session),
Window-Eyes will only interact with other published applications
launched in the same client's unique session. For example, if
Window-Eyes and Microsoft Internet Explorer are both shared
applications, and the client runs both applications during a unique
session, Window-Eyes will be able to read and interact with the
Microsoft Internet Explorer window. Running Window-Eyes as a published
application will not read any local application that is run on the
client device. Running Window-Eyes remotely through Citrix Xenworks
will only allow speech access to other remote applications run under
the same unique session. Your local copy of Window-Eyes, however, can
be used to interact with your local applications.

It is important to note that, while running Window-Eyes as a remote
application, and as a local application, you will have two instances
of Window-Eyes on the taskbar at one time. You will be able to tell
the difference by examining the names of the applications.

Interacting with Other Applications
After a user initiates a Citrix Xenworks session and is running
Window-Eyes successfully, the interaction between Window-Eyes and any
installed application will work identically to running Window-Eyes on
a stand alone machine with that same application. For example,
Window-Eyes keystrokes, hot keys, and reading options for Microsoft
Internet Explorer will work the same whether Window-Eyes is running
locally or through a remote Citrix Xenworks session.

Multiple Window-Eyes sessions
Multiple users can run Window-Eyes under their own unique sessions
with no conflicts with other instances of Window-Eyes running remotely
in Citrix Xenworks sessions.

Running Window-Eyes Locally on Server
Window-Eyes can be run on the Citrix Xenworks desktop with no
conflicts with other instances of Window-Eyes running remotely in
Citrix Xenworks sessions.

Remote Access Caveats
At the time of this documentation, support for SAPI speech
synthesizers in a remote Citrix Xenworks session is somewhat lacking.
Although the voice quality can remain tolerable, the responsiveness
(even over high bandwidth network connections) can lag behind up to
two seconds behind a given key press. For a solution to this problem,
review the Window-Eyes Virtual Synthesizer option listed in the
Server-Side Configuration section.

Window-Eyes users are often comfortable with the Windows hot keys
(such as CTRL-ESC, ALT-TAB, etc.) that allow them easy access to
commonly used areas in the operating system. Pressing these keys
during a remote session will most likely cause the intended action to
execute locally rather than in the Citrix Xenworks session. It is
important to note the Important Hot Keys section of the Running
Window-Eyes Remotely section listed above.

At the time of this documentation, the Citrix Xenworks Management
Console application (available only to the Administrator of the Citrix
Xenworks server) is written in Java. Window-Eyes, currently, does not
support the Java language interface, and therefore does not provide
access to the Citrix Xenworks Management Console.

If a user runs Window-Eyes on a client device while at the same time
running the Citrix ICA Client software, Window-Eyes will remain
loaded, but in a suspended state. This will eliminate any hot key
conflicts between the local copy of Window-Eyes and remote copy of
Window-Eyes. To communicate with the local copy of Window-Eyes, or
other local applications, the user will need to ALT-TAB out of the
Citrix ICA Client to switch activation from the Citrix ICA Client to
the local desktop. Window-Eyes will no longer be suspended once
activation has left the Citrix ICA Client. Closing the Citrix ICA
Client will also result in the local desktop regaining activation. It
is possible, even after pressing ALT-TAB to move activation to the
local desktop, for the remote copy of Window-Eyes to send information
to the local copy of Window-Eyes through the Window-Eyes Virtual
Synthesizer feature. This may cause some speech to bleed through.

Microsoft Terminal Services and Remote Desktop

On 7/7/11, David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com> wrote:
> While it might be text, there are different ways, or methods the
> software can use to put it on the screen, and not all of these ways
> are compatible with screen reading software -- as you can
> see.  Another option to ask about is to see if the software has a
> web-based module, which people might use remotely, but might give you
> access.
>
> Dave
>
> At 08:07 PM 7/7/2011, you wrote:
>>Thanks for the responses.
>>
>>I have not yet met with my supervisor regarding the issue. I will do
>>so and present some of the ideas that have been put forth when I meet
>>with her on Friday.
>>
>>The strange thing about this particular software is that once I run
>>it, Window-eyes is totally inactive. I am wondering why this might be.
>>If it is used for case notes and client records it should be plain
>>text?
>>Thanks,
>>Osmond
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>On 7/7/11, David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com> wrote:
>> > By the way, screen as in screen reader is s c r e e n not s c r e n e.
>> >
>> > Dave
>> >
>> > At 11:37 AM 7/7/2011, you wrote:
>> >>Dear All,
>> >>
>> >>I am not too sure where to direct this question but I imagine there
>> >>might be someone here who has come across this issue.
>> >>
>> >>I just began a social work internship and found out that the agency
>> >>uses a program for client records. This is where staff can view such
>> >>things as intakes.
>> >>
>> >>Apparently, once the program is launched, Window-eyes cannot read a
>> >>thing. There is a pull-down menu, and I have enough sight to know that
>> >>there are items listed but I cannot read any of it. Thinking I might
>> >>have some luck with JAWS, I downloaded the demo for version 12 and
>> >>JAWS also does not read while in the program. Windows narrator also
>> >>has the same problem.
>> >>
>> >>Are there other screne readers on the market?
>> >>
>> >>One of my biggest concerns with working in the human services is being
>> >>able to read and fill out intakes, charts, and records. If the
>> >>information is hand written, I cannot read it. If it is electronic, I
>> >>have a chance. It appears with this program, Window-eyes and JAWS do
>> >>not work. So, how do we as blind individuals in the human services
>> >>handle the paperwork, assessment, client records part of the job?
>> >>
>> >>Thanks,
>> >>Osmond
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> humanser mailing list
> humanser at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/humanser_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> humanser:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/humanser_nfbnet.org/osmond81%40gmail.com
>