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Oracle Forms Accessibility Information

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/.

To make the best use of our accessibility features, Oracle recommends the following software configuration:

This help topic includes the following information that pertains to Oracle Forms accessibility:

Using a Screen Reader and Java Access Bridge with Oracle Forms

In order for assistive technologies, like screen readers, to work with Java-based applications and applets, the Windows-based computer must also have Sun's Java Access Bridge installed, as described below.

Please refer to the Oracle Developer Suite Installation Guide found in the root directory on the Oracle Developer Suite CD, in \doc\dl\core\install\toc.htm for information about installing Oracle Developer Suite. Please refer to the Preface in the documentation found on the Oracle Developer Suite CD, in \doc\dl\core\install\pref.htm for additional information about accessibility.

Please refer to the following information to set up a screen reader and Java Access Bridge.

  1. Install the screen reader, if it is not already installed.
    Refer to the documentation for your screen reader for more information about installation.
  2. Install Oracle Forms.
    Refer to the Oracle Developer Suite Installation Guide for more information.
  3. Download Java Access Bridge 1.2. The file you will download is accessbridge-1_2.zip. It is available from http://java.sun.com/products/accessbridge/.
    Refer to the Java Access Bridge documentation available from this web site for more information about installation and the Java Access Bridge.
  4. After downloading the file, extract the contents to a folder; for example, accessbridge_home.
  5. Install Java Access Bridge by running Install.exe from the accessbridge_home\installer folder.
  6. Confirm that you want to install the Java Access Bridge into each of the Java virtual machines displayed in the dialog. Click OK when you see the Installation Completed message.
  7. Confirm that two jar files: access-bridge.jar and jaccess.jar were added to the folder DevSuiteHome\jdk\jre\lib\ext during the install. If necessary, copy them from accessbridge_home\installer\installerFiles to
  8. DevSuiteHome\jdk\jre\lib\ext.
  9. Confirm that two DLL files: JavaAccessBridge.dll and WindowsAccessBridge.dll were added to the folder DevSuiteHome\jdk\jre\lib\ext. If necessary, copy them from accessbridge_home\installer\installerFiles to DevSuiteHome\jdk\jre\lib\ext.
  10. Add the files listed above, JavaAccessBridge.dll and WindowsAccessBridge.dll, to the Windows\System32 directory, as they must be in the system path in order to work with Oracle Forms.
  11. Confirm that the PATH environment variable has been updated to include the directory where the DLL files were installed, DevSuiteHome\jdk\jre\lib\ext.
  12. Confirm that the file DevSuiteHome\jdk\jre\lib\accessibility.properties includes the following line:

    assistive_technologies=com.sun.java.accessibility.AccessBridge

    If necessary, copy the file accessibility.properties from accessbridge_home\installer\installerFiles to DevSuiteHome\jdk\jre\lib.

  13. Copy the appropriate accessibility files to your Oracle JInitiator directory:

Configuring Oracle Components to Use Java Access Bridge

You can configure Oracle components to use the Access Bridge after you complete the installation. To do so, you need to set the system variable ORACLE_OEM_CLASSPATH to point to the installed Java Access Bridge files.

Configuring for Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003

To configure Oracle components to use Access Bridge on Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003, follow these steps:

  1. Select Start | Settings | Control Panel | System to display the Windows System Control Panel.
  2. Select the Advanced tab.
  3. Click the Environment Variables button.
  4. Click the New button under the System Variables list. The New System Variable dialog appears.
  5. In the Variable Name field, enter ORACLE_OEM_CLASSPATH.
  6. In the Variable Value field, enter the full path to jaccess.jar and access-bridge.jar.
  7. Use a semicolon to separate the two paths. Do not use quotes or spaces. For example, if JRE 1.4.2 is installed in the default location, the setting would be: C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\Db_1\jre\1.4.2\lib\ext\jaccess.jar;C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\Db_1\jre\1.4.2\lib\ext\access-bridge.jar
  8. Click OK.
  9. Start your screen reader.
  10. Start Oracle Forms by running frmbld.exe from DevSuiteHome\forms\bin.

Running Oracle Forms with Accessibility Enhancements

For more information about installing environment/registry variables and scripts for accessibility enhancements, see Oracle Forms Release Notes.

Workaround for Reading Accessibility PL/SQL Error Messages

Although compilation errors are displayed in the PL/SQL Compilation Message window, keyboard accessibility is limited. If the error message does not fit in the window, the workaround is to save the file and then run the command-line generator. This will generate an error file (.err), which you can then read in a text editor of your choice.

To generate and view an error file:

  1. Save the .fmb file in Oracle Oracle Forms.
  2. In an MS-DOS prompt, type frmcmp and the location of the .fmb file. For example:

    frmcmp module=d:temp/module1.fmb userid=[username/password@database]

    If there are errors, a .err file containing the error message(s) will be generated. The .err file will be located in the same directory as the .fmb file and will have the same root name as the .fmb file.
  3. Open the .err file in a text editor.

List of Colors in the Default Color Palette

For a list of default colors available in Oracle Oracle Forms, see Default Color Palette Colors.

Changing the Look-and-Feel for the Property Inspector and Navigator

You can change the Look-and-Feel for the Property Inspector and Navigator to the Forms 6i look-and-feel to enable color accessibility by setting the registry variable SET FORMS_CLAF to value 1 under ORACLE_HOME.

JAWS Scripts

Scripts that enable Oracle Forms to work with JAWS and Windows XP are installed in ORACLE_HOME\forms\ScreenReader\ .

Enabling the Debugger to work with JAWS

Setting this variable to TRUE will create the debugger windows externally from the main Forms MDI interface.