[nfbcs] Learning Eclipse with a Screenreader

[Tony Malykh]

Hi Timothy,


I am using Eclipse with PyDev for python development, but I believe many 
keyboard shortcuts will be the same regardless whether you program in 
Java or Python. Navigating between different views might be confusing in 
the beginning, but there are not too many shortcuts to learn to jump 
between them.


I use eclipse with NVDA. I tried it with Jaws, and it indeed doesn't 
want to announce the indentation, I don't know why.


Here are the keyboard shortcuts that I use:

Alt+Shift+W P - jump to package explorer (tree view that shows all the 
files of your project, and sometimes other projects in current workspace)

Alt+Shift+Q C - Jump to console - that's where you can view the output 
of your program if you are debugging with F11. I couldn't find where 
does the output go if you run your program without debugging with 
Control+F11

Also Alt+Shift+Q  and Alt+Shift+W open popup menus where you can select 
to jump to other views.

Control + F7  - jump to previous view. This way you can return back to 
the editor.

Control+E - switch between tabs in the editor.


As for debugging, you need to make sure that Eclipse has correct 
configuration for JDK/JRE or Python installation. Assuming you've got 
this sorted out, here are my shortcuts that I use for debugging:

Control+Shift+B - set breakpoint. You won't get any notification that 
the breakpoint was set, nor will Jaws/NVDA announce the presence of the 
breakpoint, but next time you debug your program, it'll stop on that line.

F6, F5 - step over, step into

To inspect the value of a variable, there are two ways.

Alt+Shift+Q V - to jump to variables view, where you can see the values 
of all local variables

or alternatively

1. Select a variable

2. Click context menu, and select watch

3. It'll take you to expressions view, where you can configure which 
variables you want to see

4. You can seitch between this view and editor using Control+F7, but I 
couldn't find a good shortcut to jump to expressions view from anywhere. 
You can still jump to it through the menu Window>Show View>Expressions.


Hope this help.

Tony




On 2/7/2018 9:55 AM, Timothy Breitenfeldt via nfbcs wrote:
> Hi, I am looking for an new IDE for programming. I have used ED Sharp
> for the past couple years, but I am curious to try eclipse again. My
> computer science program encourages students to use eclipse, so I did
> take a look at it, but found it to be complicated and hard to
> understand how to use with a screenreader. I set it down and just
> continued using ED sharp, which is easier to use even if it does lack
> a lot of the nice features that eclipse can provide.
>
> note: I am primarily programming in Java and a little python right now.
>
> I started playing with eclipse again, testing it with Jaws and NVDA, I
> think I have a hang of the basics, but I do have some questions.
> Something I noticed was that for some reason Jaws isn't reading
> indentations even with "read indentations" on. NVDA does read the
> indentations though, does anyone no why, or no how to fix this? I can
> use NVDA, but I prefer to use Jaws, and I really want my screenreader
> to be reading indentations.
> Also, I found that ctrl+shift+l will give me a list of the shortcut
> keys, so I learned that f11 will compile, and I believe it is ctrl+f11
> to run, but how do I easily get to the output window?
> Also, I could not figure out how to debug at all, can anyone give me
> tips on this?
>
> Any resources or tips for using eclipse with jaws or NVDA would be very helpful.
>
> Thanks,
>
> TJ Breitenfeldt
>
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