Java JavaTM Access Bridge
for the Microsoft Windows Operating System

Version 1.0.4


Setup Information
Contents

Setting Up the Java Access Bridge

The Java Access Bridge should only be installed by hand as a last resort. The recommended way to install the Java Access Bridge is to use the Java Access Bridge installer, which will locate the Java VMs installed on your system that support the Java Access Bridge, and then install the Java Access Bridge into those Java VMs that you identify. The Java Access Bridge installer can be found in the directory

  c:\AccessBridge-1.0.4\installer\Install.exe

The instructions below describe what the Java Access Bridge installer does, allowing you to make those modifications by hand if necessary.  Please note: the Java Access Bridge package includes four editions of the Java Accessibility Utilities file 'jaccess.jar', which differs for JDK 1.1, Java 2 SDK 1.2, Java 2 SDK 1.3, and Java 2 SDK 1.4. These files are named jaccess-1_1.jarjaccess-1_2.jar, jaccess-1_3.jar, and jaccess-1_4.jar.
 

Using JDK 1.1 Environments
Version 1.0.2 of the Java Access Bridge is required for JDK 1.1 environments. See the compatibility table for complete information.

Using Java 2 Environments (Including SDK v1.2.2, v1.3.x and v1.4.x)

To begin the installation, locate your Java 2 platform extensions directory, which is the jre\lib\ext subdirectory under the directory in which your JDK is installed. A typical location is

  c:\j2sdk1.4.2\jre\lib\ext

Copy the following files into that directory:
  jaccess-1_2.jar for Java 2 platform edition 1.2.x,  or
  jaccess-1_3.jar for Java 2 platform edition 1.3.x,  or
  jaccess-1_4.jar for Java 2 platform edition 1.4.x;   and
  access-bridge.jar

You will also need to add the AccessBridge-1.0.4 directory to your path, so that the DLLs that are part of the Java Access Bridge can be found and instantiated.

  set PATH=c:\AccessBridge-1.0.4;%PATH%

The Java Virtual Machine consults a number of property files as it starts up.  You will need to modify the c:\j2sdk1.4.2\jre\lib\accessibility.properties file in order to enable accessibility.  The Java Accessibility Utilities examples documentation explains how this all works. Add the following line to the accessibility.properties file:

  assistive_technologies=com.sun.java.accessibility.AccessBridge

This line tells the Java VM to load the AccessBridge assistive technology, which it finds in the standard extensions directory. In addition, if you are using screen magnification technologies such as ZoomText from Ai Squared, you must also indicate the presence of screen magnification by adding the following line to the accessibility.properties file:

  screen_magnifier_present=true
 

Compatibility Information
In the Java Foundation Classes 1.1 with Swing 1.1, the name of the packages containing both the Swing classes and the Java Accessibility API classes changed (from com.sun.java.swing and com.sun.java.accessibility to javax.swing and javax.accessibility respectively).  Java applications and applets built with earlier versions of Swing and/or the Java Accessibility API will not work with the Java Accessibility Utilities version 1.1 and later, nor will they work with the Java Access Bridge.  The compatibility table details the versions of the Java platform, Java Foundation Classes, Java Accessibility Utilities, Java Plugin, and Java Access Bridge that work with each other.
 
Working From a Browser
The Java Plugin, at http://java.sun.com/products/plugin, provides a browser plug-in that contains the Sun Java VM.  This VM includes the ability to replace the EventQueue in order to load assistive technologies (or, in the case of the JDK 1.2 version  of the Java Plugin; load assistive technologies directly). The Java Plugin (version 1.2.2 and later) includes the Java Foundation Classes (and thereby Swing and the Java Accessibility API).  The Java Plugin is typically installed on your c:\ drive within your Program Files directory.  It may be a separate, or second Java VM.  The Java 2 platform extensions directory is typically at:

  c:\Program Files\j2sdk1.4.2\jre\lib\ext

which is where you must put the accessbridge.jar and jaccess.jar files.  The parent lib directory is where the accessibility.properties file is located, which must be likewise modified as above.
 


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