Accessibility/Comparisons:States

Accessibility States Comparison

This is a comparison between the states available in each architecture.

Mac comparison in process

Please note, the colors represent the level of compatibility UA has with the rest. This is an aid for the ongoing Mac Accessibility effort.

Please leave comments to the newsgroup. Thanks! --HakanW 12:27, 9 May 2006 (PDT)

Color legend

Color legend
UA seems compatible
UA probably compatible
Seems irrelevant?
Not yet done / Undecided (white).

Comparison Table

MSAA 1.3 State (STATE_SYSTEM_*)	Closest ATK State(s) (ATK_STATE_*)	Closest UA Attribute(s) (NSAccessibility*Attribute)	Description
BUSY	BUSY	TBD	Control cannot accept input at this time. Usually used on objects such as progress bars, sliders, or scroll bars to indicate they are in a state of transition.
CHECKED	CHECKED	[OK] Value attribute is "1"	Checkbox, radio button, or toggle button is checked.
COLLAPSED	!EXPANDED, COLLAPSED	[OK] Disclosing (for tables/outliners), ShowMenu action for popupsbuttons/menus.	Expandable objects that provide progressive disclosure, like a tree list or drop-down list is currently not expanded (i.e. the children are not showing or visible).
DEFAULT	Use a text attribute or add a custom state?	[OK] DefaultButton	Default button or menu item.
EXPANDED	EXPANDED	[OK] Expanded	The children items of expandable objects that provide progressive disclosure, like trees and drop-down lists are currently showing and visible.
FOCUSABLE	FOCUSABLE	[OK] Check if the focused attribute is settable	Object can accept keyboard focus, which means all events resulting from typing on the keyboard will normally be passed to it when it has focus.
FOCUSED	FOCUSED	[OK] Focused	Object currently has the keyboard focus.
HASPOPUP	Use ATK_RELATION_POPUP_FOR to point to the parent of the popup. Would ATK_STATE_MANAGES_DESCENDANTS apply?	[OK] The object supports the ShowMenu action	Object has a popup, but in ATK the popup children need to establish the relationship with the parent.
INVISIBLE	!VISIBLE	[MAYBE] Parent can tell if this object is in the VisibleChildren attr. We can also see if the NSView is visible.	The object is hidden, whether on-screen or off-screen.
LINKED	Implement AtkHyperlink and AtkHypertext	[OK] LinkedUIElements (objects associated with each other), TextLink role/attribute for text links, and WebKit has a Link extension role	The object links to another object.
MIXED	INDETERMINATE or add custom state	[OK] Checkbox's value attribute is set to "2"	A checkbox object is in a state other than checked or not checked, such as a tri-state checkbox might be.
MULTISELECTABLE	MULTISELECTABLE	[OK] There should be a property of the outliner/table view to see if it supports this.	Object allows more than one of its children to be selected at the same time.
OFFSCREEN	!SHOWING	[OK] Same as INVISIBLE above	An object is currently not visible and not on-screen.
PRESSED	PRESSED	[OK] Use non-UA API to check the value of a Toggle or OnOffButton	Object is currently pressed down.
PROTECTED	Use ATK_PASSWORD_TEXT as the role	[OK] See the SecureTextField role	Object is a password field.
READONLY	!EDITABLE & SENSITIVE	[OK] Object is a StaticText role, or TextField not focused, etc. Also, if the value attr is not settable...	Object is interactive (sensitive) but the contents currently cannot be edited (changed) by the user.
SELECTABLE	SELECTABLE	[OK] Has a settable Selected attr	Object is the child of an object that allows its children to be selected, and this child is one that can be selected.
SELECTED	SELECTED	[OK] Selected, and SelectedChildren attr	Object is the child of an object that allows its children to be selected, and this child is selected.
SIZEABLE	RESIZABLE	[OK] For windows, there's a GrowArea role for the part where you can resize it.	The size of the object can be changed (i.e. it is not fixed.)
TRAVERSED	Use a text attribute or add a custom state?	TBD	The link object was traversed (visited).
UNAVAILABLE	!ENABLED	[OK] Same as !enabled	Object is grayed out and not available at this time.
	DEFUNCT	TBD	User interface object corresponding to this object no longer exists. Important for ATs that may hold on to things in our DOM tree, if it has changed
	EDITABLE	[OK] For text: StaticText role vs Textfield/textarea roles. Also whether the "value" attribute is settable.	The contents of this object can change.
	ENABLED	[OK] Enabled	Object is not grayed out and can be interacted with if sensitive.
	EXPANDABLE	[OK] Use Disclosing attribute	The children items of this object that provide progressive disclosure, like trees and drop-down lists, can be showing and visible (expanded) versus hidden (collapsed).
	HAS_TOOLTIP	[OK] There's a Help attr. Otherwise some other Cocoa API should be able to help us probably.	Object has an associated tooltip.
	HORIZONTAL	[OK] Get from Orientation attribute of widget	Orientation of this object is horizontal.
	ICONIFIED	[OK] There's a WindowMiniaturized notification for when a window is minimized.	Object is minimized and represented only by an icon.
	INVALID	TBD	Object is in an invalid state. Important for XForms, for validating values entered.
	INVALID_ENTRY (proposed)	TBD	This object has indicated an error condition due to failure of input validation. For instance, a form control may acquire this state in response to invalid or malformed user input.
	MANAGES_DESCENDANTS	TBD	Indicates that "active-descendant-changed" event is sent when children become 'active' (i.e. are selected or navigated to onscreen). Typically used for trees and tables that have a large number of subcomponents and where the objects are created only when needed and otherwise remain virtual. The application should not manage the subcomponents directly.
	MODAL	TBD	Something must be done with this object before the user can interact with an object in a different window.
	MULTI_LINE	[OK] is a TextView role	Text object can contain multiple lines of text.
	REQUIRED	TBD	Explicit user interaction with this object is required by the user interface.
	SELECTABLE_TEXT (proposed)	[OK] SelectedText attr exists in textviews and textfields.	Object supports text selection. It should only be exposed on objects which implement the Text interface, in order to distinguish this state from STATE_SELECTABLE, which infers that the object is a selectable child of an object which implements Selection. While similar, text selection and subelement selection are distinct operations.
	SHOWING	[OK] same as visible?	Object is visible and on-screen.
	SINGLE_LINE	[OK] textfield role	Text object can only contain a single line of text.
	VERTICAL	[OK] Orientation attr	Orientation of this object is vertical.
	VISIBLE	[MAYBE] For widgets, we can check if the NSView is visible.	Object is not hidden but may be off-screen. STATE_VISIBLE is no guarantee that the object is actually unobscured on the screen, only that it is 'potentially' visible, barring obstruction, being scrolled or clipped out of the field of view, or having an ancestor container that has not yet made visible. A widget is potentially onscreen if it has both STATE_VISIBLE and STATE_SHOWING. The absence of STATE_VISIBLE and STATE_SHOWING is semantically equivalent to saying that an object is 'hidden'.

States To Be Discussed / Possibly Unnecessary

ANIMATED	ANIMATED (proposed) or add custom state	Image + custom description?	Object's visual representation is changing or moving rapidly; it is dynamic not static. This state may be applied to an object during an animated 'effect' and be removed from the object once its visual representation becomes static. Note: Some applications, notably content viewers, may not be able to detect all kinds of animated content. Therefore the absence of this state should not be taken as definitive evidence that the object's visual representation is static; this state is advisory.
EXTSELECTABLE	add custom state	Needed?	Object can extend its selection.
FLOATING	add custom state		Object is not clipped to the boundary of the parent (i.e. it does not auto-move with the parent).
HOTTRACKED	add custom state	Really needed?	Object's appearance has changed for a mouseover.
MARQUEED	ANIMATED (proposed)	Same as animated	The object is constantly changing and fleeting across the screen.
MOVEABLE	add custom state		Object can be moved or dragged around the screen.
SELFVOICING	add custom state		Object is self-voiced by the application, so an AT should not speak this object.
	ARMED	What's the difference from pressed? There's an UA action "press" that will execute the action; does not actually push down the button until the user says "stop". :-)	The object is armed. Usually used on buttons that have been pressed but not yet released, and the mouse pointer is still over the button.
	STALE		Index associated with this object has changed since the user accessed the object. The information returned for this object may no longer be synchronized with the application state.
	TRANSIENT		Object is changing or moving rapidly. An assistive technology should not add a property change listener to an object with transient state, as that object will never generate any events. Transient objects are typically created to answer ATK accessibility method queries, but otherwise do not remain linked to the underlying object (for example, those objects underneath lists, tables, and trees, where only one actual UI component does shared rendering duty for all of the data objects underneath the actual list/table/tree elements).
	TRUNCATED		Object is truncated, such as a numerical value in a spreadsheet cell.
	SUPPORTS_TYPEAHEAD (proposed)		Object implements some form of ¨typeahead¨ or pre-selection behavior whereby entering the first character of one or more sub-elements causes those elements to scroll into view or become selected. Subsequent character input may narrow the selection further as long as one or more sub-elements match the string. This state is normally only useful and encountered on objects that implement Selection. In some cases the typeahead behavior may result in full or partial ¨completion¨ of the data in the input field, in which case these input events may trigger text-changed events from the source.
	OPAQUE		Object paints every pixel within its rectangular region. A non-opaque component paints only some of its pixels, allowing the pixels underneath it to "show through". A component that does not fully paint its pixels therefore provides a degree of transparency.
	SENSITIVE		Object can be interactive, although it may currently be read-only or not enabled (grayed out). STATE_SENSITIVE usually accompanies STATE_ENABLED for user-actionable controls, but may be found in the absence of STATE_ENABLED if the current visible state of the control is "disconnected" from the application state. In such cases, direct user interaction can often result in the object gaining STATE_SENSITIVE, for instance if a user makes an explicit selection using an object whose current state is ambiguous or undefined.