International Business Machines Corporation

Graham R Alderson

Peter R MacFarlane

Tohru Mori

A computer program for facilitating operation of a screen reader with legacy programs whose user interface definitions do not conform to the design guidelines expected by the screen reader program. A graphical user interface is analyzed to identify a logical sequence of user interface elements within the interface. The sequence of user interface elements within a definition of the user interface is compared with the identified logical sequence to identify any required reordering of the elements to conform to the identified logical sequence. One or more lists or tables are generated for each separable user interface component to (1) specify the required sequence for reordering incorrectly-sequenced user interface controls within the definition and to (2) identify a new static text control which is dynamically generated for use with an edit control which does not have a required static text control.

Apparatus for interoperation between legacy software and screen reader programs

A method for facilitating operation of a screen reader with legacy programs whose user interface definitions do not conform to the design guidelines expected by the screen reader program. A graphical user interface is analyzed to identify a logical sequence of user interface elements within the interface. A sequence of user interface elements within a definition of the user interface is compared with the identified logical sequence to identify any required reordering of the elements to conform to the identified logical sequence. The required reordering of the elements is performed to conform to the identified logical sequence. The comparing step includes comparing the sequence of user interface elements within the definition of the user interface with a set of predefined rules for user interface definitions, and, responsive to identifying non-conformance with a rule requiring a specific user interface control, an instance of the required user interface control is generated.

Method for interoperation between legacy software and screen reader programs

User-selection of a data value within a range of data values is permitted via a graphical user interface of a computer. A user command is received to move a presently displayed value forward or backward within the range. An acceleration table is accessed based on the length of time the user has issued the command to obtain an index value which is then used to access a second table to obtain a delta value corresponding to the index value. The presently displayed value is then changed based on this delta value.

Method and apparatus for presenting a data range for user selection of a

A data processing system adapted to perform a plurality of interleaved data processing functions (2, 4, 6), characterised in that each data processing function (2, 4, 6) stores self-diagnostic trace data in a memory (16) shared between the data processing functions (2,4,6) and the data processing system performs a trace function (8) which reads the trace data from the shared memory (16) and correlates the trace data into a single output. The disclosed system provides a trace facility in which a single correlated trace output is produced from the trace messages produced by all the different data processing functions (2, 4, 6). A single correlated output enables errors involving the interaction of two or more data processing functions (2, 4, 6) to be more easily identified.

System for dynamically generating, correlating and reading

A data processing network in which a plurality of workstations such as personal computers (PC) (12) are connected to a host processor (11) and contain PC programs at particular levels for controlling tasks on the personal computers. The personal computers send a signal to the host when they are about to conduct a task indicating which data files they have and at what level. The host has an object library containing a copy of each disk file for each version of PC program. The host determines if the personal computer has the latest level data file for the version of program at that personal computer and, if it does not, sends a copy of the latest level data file to the personal computer to replace the down-level data file. Preferably, the host checks if the personal computer has all the data files it needs for the particular task and, if it does not and if it should because of the version of PC program stored at the PC, the host can load a copy of the missing file to the personal computer. The host does not have to contain a record of all the levels of all the programs of all the personal computers connected to it. However, by updating the object library in the host, this arrangement ensures that all personal computers connected to it are automatically brought to the latest authorized level of data files as are required by the personal computer.

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Eastleigh, United Kingdom

Graham R Alderson