Accessibility tools for developers released

Two open-source accessibility testing tools have been released for developers. The two new tools include the User Interface Accessibility Checker (AccChecker) and UI Automation Verify (UIA Verify) both on Codeplex. These tools enable developers to test accessibility implementations and functionality in applications using Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) or Microsoft User Interface Automation (UIA).

AccChecker comes in three modes – a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool for the initial investigations of UIs, a set of simple APIs for easily creating automatic test cases, and a command-line tool for batch processing. Using the GUI tool, a tester can easily scan a UI and review the list of errors and warnings. Then, using the per-issue documentation, the tester can determine why each particular issue has occurred, what the implications may be on users with disabilities, and how to fix the issue. Once all issues have been fixed, the tester can use the APIs to create regression tests. Finally, if the APIs cannot be used for any reason, the tester can use the command-line mode of the tool to create tests in a batch file.

UIA Verify is a test automation framework that features the User Interface Automation Test Library (UIA Test Library) and Visual UI Automation Verify (Visual UIA Verify), the graphical user interface tool.

For more information about Accessibility, see Microsoft Accessibility.