Re: [g-a-devel] Finding if AT client is active

[Peter Korn <Peter Korn Sun COM>]

Hi Ashu,

> Is it possible to find out programmatically if an AT client is
> currently running on the system (by the same user?) (something similar
> to SystemParametersInfo(SPI_GETSCREENREADER) on Windows)?
>
> There's a lot of initialization and processing that can be saved in my
> program if there is no AT client to use that information.

We considered this (having a "screen reader present" flag).  A problem with 
this is that one tends to make assumptions about what a screen reader needs 
(vs. a screen magnifier, an on-screen keyboard, voice recognition system, 
etc.), and crafting your program toward it, and winding up having made a bad 
assumption.

I assume you know about the flag to determine that "Assistive Technology 
Support" should be enabled by applications (Gconf flag 
/desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility).  Ideally that should be enough: if 
turned off, don't do your initialization/processing.  Otherwise do so, whether 
or not an AT is running (or any specific AT is running), because the user 
explicitly asked for AT support to be turned on.


Regards,

Peter Korn
Sun Accessibility team