[Feature Request] Make DefaultActionContext public

[jasonmohyla]

[Feature Request] Make DefaultActionContext public

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been marked as ready for team triage; we will triage it in our weekly review and update the issue. Thank you for contributing to Accessibility Insights!

[RobGallo]

@jasonmohyla ,
When you say, "I have a POC using Axe to find the login controls and enter text (username and password so users don't know them)...", You're saying you are getting the UIA elements from axe-windows and setting focus to them and performing operations on them?

If my understanding as described above is correct, you would probably be better off just adding some UI Automation code to your app which does what you want directly rather than going through the trouble of using axe-windows. It's pretty easy in UIA to get the windows element and search for decendent elements using the IUAutomationElement7 interface.

[DaveTryon]

Hi, @jasonmohyla! Axe.Windows has 2 interfaces--the publicly supported one documented here, and the unsupported one that we use for Accessibility Insights for Windows (also owned by our team). This unsupported interface may change at any time and in any way, depending on product needs. There are absolutely no guarantees for build-to-build compatibility, and we actively try to steer people away from it--that's why the DefaultActionContext class isn't public, and why we want to keep it that way.

If you're willing to live with that risk, then the workaround is trivial. Everything used by the DefaultActionContext is already public, so you can just make your own copy of the class in your code (MIT license allows this), then use your class instead of ours. I've written a tiny sample that does this: ActionContextDemo.zip

The "safe" option--as in very unlikely to change under you--is to call into UIA directly, as @RobGallo already suggested. Axe.Windows ultimately gets its data from UIA, and you're free (again, MIT license) to copy the code that you need. If your code just needs a list of elements, then Axe.Windows is adding a lot of stuff that you aren't actually using.

Thanks for your interest in Axe.Windows! I'm going to close this as out of scope, but best of luck!

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been marked as being beyond the support scope of Accessibility Insights. It will now be closed automatically for house-keeping purposes.

[jasonmohyla]

Thank you for the sample. Based off Rob’s earlier email I want to use the system calls directly but do to timing, the short term I will use Axe as s stopgap. After reviewing your sample, that might be used instead of forking the Axe code locally. I figured the request was going to be denied, but figured it did not hurt to ask. Best regards, Sr. Technical Lead - Software Jason Mohyla Business Digital Organization - Aftersales Support and Solutions (AA/BDO31) Robert Bosch LLC | 15000 Haggerty Road | Plymouth, MI 48170 | USA | www.bosch.us<http://www.bosch.us/> Tel. [phone] | Fax [phone] | ***@***.******@***.***> ​ From: Dave Tryon ***@***.***> Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2023 6:22 PM To: microsoft/axe-windows ***@***.***> Cc: Mohyla Jason (AA/BDO31) ***@***.***>; Mention ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [microsoft/axe-windows] [Feature Request] Make DefaultActionContext public (Issue #959) Hi, @jasonmohyla<https://github.com/jasonmohyla>! Axe.Windows has 2 interfaces--the publicly supported one documented here<https://github.com/microsoft/axe-windows/blob/main/docs/AutomationReference.md>, and the unsupported one that we use for Accessibility Insights for Windows (also owned by our team). This unsupported interface may change at any time and in any way, depending on product needs. There are absolutely no guarantees for build-to-build compatibility, and we actively try to steer people away from it--that's why the DefaultActionContext class isn't public, and why we want to keep it that way. If you're willing to live with that risk, then the workaround is trivial. Everything used by the DefaultActionContext is already public, so you can just make your own copy of the class in your code (MIT license allows this), then use your class instead of ours. I've written a tiny sample that does this: ActionContextDemo.zip<https://github.com/microsoft/axe-windows/files/12480468/ActionContextDemo.zip> The "safe" option--as in very unlikely to change under you--is to call into UIA directly, as @RobGallo<https://github.com/RobGallo> already suggested. Axe.Windows ultimately gets its data from UIA, and you're free (again, MIT license) to copy the code that you need. If your code just needs a list of elements, then Axe.Windows is adding a lot of stuff that you aren't actually using. Thanks for your interest in Axe.Windows! I'm going to close this as out of scope, but best of luck! — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#959 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AKWK7MRN4OOTQVQLGYWMVWDXX64IFANCNFSM6AAAAAA3LQOHP4>. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>