GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 374537
[blocked] Thunderbird 3.0 checkbox table cells in subscribe dialog do not provide checked/unchecked state
Last modified: 2011-05-16 05:46:13 UTC
This is a tracking bug for https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=360510. The subscribe dialog contains a tree table with a row for each mail folder to subscribe to. The right-hand table cell contains a checkbox indicating whether the mail folder is subscribed to. The problem is the AccessibleState for the checkbox does not indicate whether the box is checked or unchecked. This means an assistive technology like Orca cannot present the state of the checkbox, that is, whether the folder is subscribed to or not.
*** Bug 372780 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
The tracking bug for this bug has been marked as fixed (actually, it was marked as a dup of https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=365866, which was marked as fixed :-)). Lynn, can you please verify that it fixes the problem we saw with this bug?
I checked with both at-poke and by printing the table row cells when Thunderbird.onFocus was called. It appears the Thunderbird bug is not fixed in a way that is useful for Orca. 1. The state for both checked and uncheck table cells was the same. These are the cells in the first and second column for a folder that is subscribed to (checkbox in the second cell is checked): Thunderbird.py: onFocus: name='ACS', role='table cell', index=1, col=0, FOCUSABLE FOCUSED SELECTABLE SELECTED SHOWING VISIBLE Thunderbird.py: onFocus: name='', role='table cell', index=2, col=1, FOCUSABLE FOCUSED SELECTABLE SELECTED SHOWING VISIBLE ----- These are the cells in the first and second column for a folder that is not subscribed to (checkbox in the second cell is not checked): Thunderbird.py: onFocus: name='ARCHIVE', role='table cell', index=3, col=0, FOCUSABLE FOCUSED SELECTABLE SELECTED SHOWING VISIBLE Thunderbird.py: onFocus: name='', role='table cell', index=4, col=1, FOCUSABLE FOCUSED SELECTABLE SELECTED SHOWING VISIBLE ----- 2. The checkbox table cell has the role 'table cell' which doesn't indicate that the table cell is a checkbox, so I'm not sure how Orca would know to speak the state appropriate to a checkbox (checked vs. unchecked).
> 2. The checkbox table cell has the role 'table cell' which doesn't indicate > that the table cell is a checkbox, so I'm not sure how Orca would know to speak > the state appropriate to a checkbox (checked vs. unchecked). Compound roles (e.g., a table cell that is a checkbox) are screwy things to deal with. In this case, the typical way to handle checkboxes that are also table cells is to give them a "toggle" action. Another way, which we also see from time to time, is to make the checkbox and the label children of the table cell. In reading the Mozilla bug, it looks like they may have gone down the action route, but maybe used a different action name than "toggle". For more investigation, you might try seeing if there are any actions associated with the table cell and what the names of those actions are.
Thanks for the reminder about using actions to infer roles. at-poke shows the action name as 'activate'. What's the best way to tell the Thunderbird maintainers that the table cell state is the same, whether the checkbox is checked or not? File another bug report against Thunderbird and add a note in http://live.gnome.org/Orca/MozillaBugs?
(In reply to comment #5) > Thanks for the reminder about using actions to infer roles. at-poke shows the > action name as 'activate'. What's the best way to tell the Thunderbird > maintainers that the table cell state is the same, whether the checkbox is > checked or not? File another bug report against Thunderbird and add a note in > http://live.gnome.org/Orca/MozillaBugs? > You might try asking a question as a reply to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=365866 -- that would keep the information for the bug all in one spot (probably no need to reopen the bug unless it really turns out that the bug was not fixed). Alternatively, you might try to hunt down David Bolter davidb on irc.mozilla.org. BTW, when I look at the bug comments in Mozilla, and the ultimate patch, I don't see the discussion of where getting the actual state was done. I might be missing it, but it seems as though all they've done is provide an action to change the state.
Removing target milestone from [blocked] bugs. We have little control over them, so we're better off letting priority and severity be our guide for poking the related components.
(In reply to comment #7) > Removing target milestone from [blocked] bugs. We have little control over > them, so we're better off letting priority and severity be our guide for poking > the related components. > The bug blocking this has been marked as fixed, so I'm removing [blocked] from this one. Mike, can you verify the fix?
For some reason I'm unable to find this checkbox at all.
I thought it was just me. <smile> Where is this checkbox?
Select Subscribe from the File menu. The dialog displays a tree table with the title "Select the folders to subscribe to:". The first column in the tree table contains the mail folders that you can subscribe to. The second column contains a checkbox indicating whether you want to subscribe to the folder or not. The problem is that Orca was not speaking the state of the checkboxes (checked or not checked).
Created attachment 92474 [details] screenshot for Lynn Do I have to select something first? Or do I have to have a particular account type? If I choose subscribe from within the tree of folders for my mail accounts I get the attached. The account combo box is empty and nothing appears in the list. If I choose it from within the tree of folders for news and blogs, I get the blogs I'm subscribed to, but there are no checkboxes there.
I believe subscribing is restricted to IMAP mail servers. Using POP, all messages are stored on your computer, so there are no folders on the server to subscribe to.
Aha! Thanks Lynn. I've got checkboxes now. And no events. If the blocking bug is fixed, they either fixed something else or broke something. I'll investigate further unless someone else wants it. :-)
Lynn or Joanie, can you please check on whether the Thunderbird team has fixed this problem?
This is not fixed.
Given that Mozilla is freezing Gecko soon and Lynn is on vacation, I'm reassigning this to Joanie. Thanks Joanie!
I just reopened Lynn's original bug with all the details of why it's not fixed. It's sorta a "How is this not fixed, let me count the ways" comment. But hopefully they'll get something in place that we can work with in time for the freeze.
Surkov says this is fixed in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=503727
The bug has since been reopened. Re-blocking. I'm also lowering the severity. As far as I'm aware, this bug is limited to one particular set of checkboxes in thunderbird, and that particular set of checkboxes is only encountered when and if an IMAP user is attempting to subscribe to folders. (Doesn't mean the bug doesn't suck; merely that I wouldn't call this loss of functionality "major".) If you're impacted by this bug, please feel free to comment on it so that the Mozilla guys prioritize it: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=360510
Targeting for FUTURE because we have no control over other people's bugs.
This should be fixed upstream, if you can still reproduce with nightly builds please reopen