[ANN] PreFab UI Browser 1.0
[ANN] PreFab UI Browser 1.0
- Subject: [ANN] PreFab UI Browser 1.0
- From: Bill Cheeseman <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 11:11:40 -0500
PreFab UI Browser 1.0 is now available for download at
<
http://www.prefab.com/uibrowser/>.
Although we're promoting this mainly as an AppleScript utility, it has much
broader uses for developers. Starting with Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, Apple has
incorporated accessibility features for persons with disabilities into
almost all standard Carbon and Cocoa user interface widgets. However, if you
write custom widgets into your software, you have to add a few lines of code
to make them accessible to assistive devices (screen readers and the like).
By federal law (Section 508), the federal government and many state agencies
and educational institutions can only purchase software that is accessible.
PreFab UI Browser is an ideal tool to test your own applications for
accessibility. It is even more useful to developers of accessibility
software.
Be sure to give us feedback! We have lots of ideas for improvements and
additional features in the next version, and we want to add your ideas to
our list.
Here's the official press release:
PreFab UI Browser enhances Apple's GUI Scripting
North Andover, MA -- January 31, 2003 -- PreFab Software, Inc. is pleased to
announce UI Browser, a utility to help scripters write user interface
scripts using Apple's new "GUI Scripting" technology for AppleScript in Mac
OS X version 10.2.3 and higher. PreFab has unrivaled experience in scripting
the GUI, shipping PreFab Player since 1994. For this Mac OS X product,
PreFab joined forces with well-known AppleScript and Cocoa guru Bill
Cheeseman to bring you a utility that makes GUI Scripting easy.
A free trial of UI Browser 1.0 is available now at PreFab.com. Normally
priced at $39.95, PreFab is offering an introductory price of $24.95 through
April 19, 2003. Download the free 30-day trial version at
<
http://www.prefab.com/uibrowser/>.
GUI Scripting is a powerful and exciting new Apple technology enabling
scripters to automate most non-Classic Mac applications by manipulating
their menus, buttons, and other user interface elements. While currently
available only in a beta version, the final version of Apple's GUI Scripting
will be incorporated into a future release of Mac OS X. There, it will bring
to all users of Mac OS X the same universal application control that PreFab
Player brought to Mac OS 7, 8, and 9.
While GUI Scripting is powerful, many early adopters find that it is
difficult to locate and use the individual user interface elements that a
GUI script must target in order to control an application. In addition, many
applications use user interface elements that are located in a nonstandard
containment hierarchy. Although Apple's example scripts illustrate how to
use GUI Scripting itself to hunt down and test usable targets, this
technique is cumbersome, requiring custom scripts to explore every potential
target.
PreFab UI Browser makes GUI Scripting easy! Using a familiar browser
interface similar to the Finder's column view, UI Browser lets you navigate
up, down, and sideways in the user interface tree of any and all Mac OS X
applications that are accessible to GUI Scripting. You can see at a glance
what user interface elements are available in an application and where they
are situated in the UI element tree, no matter how deeply nested. You can
also set and reset any properties that are modifiable, perform actions, send
keystrokes, and observe notifications, right from UI Browser -- no scripting
required!
UI Browser is based on the same underlying accessibility technology that
powers GUI Scripting itself. It makes an ideal tool for exploring the
coverage and functionality of GUI Scripting.
--
Bill Cheeseman - email@hidden
PreFab Software, Inc.
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