[nfbcs] Glink?

[Steve Jacobson]

Leslie,

As you are finding out, there are at least two distinct parts of this problem.  The first is to be certain that the screen reader is always tracking the cursor as 
we have discussed.  The second, which is more complex, is whether the software on the mainframe is conveying information through colors and/or 
highlighting.  That, of course, can be a problem with any software, except that in Windows applications, certain things commonly conveyed such as 
menus is done using Windows controls.  When connected to a mainframe, something that might look like a normal Windows pulldown menu is only seen 
by the screen reader as color changes since the whole mainframe screen looks to the screen reader like a single "control".  If you are using software like 
this, scripting may be your only solution as you have said, but figuring out which emulator is the most stable and provides the best interface with the screen 
reader is really important, but it seems you have already figured that out.  

Where some of my caution comes from is that years ago, I did run some scripts for the old IBM Screen Reader for DOS on an IBM mainframe, and some 
were extremely complicated.  They worked well and were really a pleasure to work with, but I found I often got off on a screen that either wasn't or 
couldn't be anticipated.  I eventually dumped all of the complicated scripts and took the approach of being able to query the screen for certain information 
such as messages in certain color combinations, etc.  If you are looking at getting a single piece of software working on a mainframe, then scripting for 
that software is definitely a good thing to pursue.  If, on the other hand, you are looking for a script that will produce automatic speech in a number of 
applications, that is much more of a challenge.

Good luck.  Please let us know if we can help in some way beyond the help we've tried to give.  In so many cases, the customer is really out there on their 
own, but we'll try to help.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Sat, 6 Apr 2013 13:41:03 -0400 (EDT), Leslie Fairall wrote:

>Hi Steve:

>I believe that scripting will need to be done. We are telnetting into the 
>mainframe. The Braille display is following some screens, but not others. 
>Right now, I'm working on the 508 side of things, so I'm trying to find a 
>workable solution.

>-- 
>Leslie Fairall
>mailto:fairall at shellworld.net

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