ARIA roles exposed via MSAA by browsers on Windows - Webkit Nightly 23/09/09, Opera 10.10, IE 8, Firefox (minefield) 3.6b1pre & Chrome 3.0

Summary

47 (of the 59) WAI-ARIA roles can be mapped to MSAA roles:

IE 8RC1 exposes 43 role values correctly
Firefox (Minefield) 3.6 exposes 47 role values correctly
Opera 10.10 beta exposes 21 role values correctly
Webkit Nightly 23/09/09 exposes 10 role values correctly
Chrome exposes 3.0 exposes 18 role values correctly

Software used for testing

Methodology

Use Inspect32 tool to verify the roles exposed via MSAA for each of the WAI-ARIA role attribute values.
For IE and Firefox each role can be checked by tabbing to the cell with the role attached. The first column of the results table contains cells with each of the 47 ARIA roles assigned, for example:
<td tabindex="0" role="alert">alert</td>
"Expected Roles" were derived from reading the various references and trying to patch together expectations based on them.

Inspect32 application showing the MSAA role value 'dialog' for an ARIA role value of 'alertdialog'.

Results

Notes:

If the role name is included in the result column for a browser without any annotation, it indicates the correct role is being exposed, otherwise:
- (Unsure) after a result means it is not clear if the exposed role is appropriate.
- X after a result means an incorrect or no role is exposed.
Some roles in Firefox are supported via BSTR roles, using inspect32 these are reported like this Role: "marquee" [ BUG? State/Role should not be a string ]. In other testing tools they are reported correctly.

WAI-ARIA Role values exposed via MSAA
ARIA Role	Expected MSAA Role	IE- reported Role	Firefox - Reported Role	Opera - Reported Role	Safari - Reported Role	Chrome - Reported Role
alert	alert	alert	alert	alert	grouping X	grouping X
alertdialog	dialog	dialog	dialog	alert X	grouping X	grouping X
application	application	pane	application	application	client X	grouping X
button	push button	push button	push button	push button	push button	push button
checkbox	check box	check box	check box	check box	check box	check box
columnheader	column header	column header	column header	column header	client X	column header
combobox	combo box	combo box	combo box	combo box	grouping X	grouping X
dialog	dialog	dialog	dialog	dialog	grouping X	grouping X
directory	list	list	directory	unknown object X	grouping X	grouping X
document	client, document	client	document	unknown object X	client X	grouping X
grid	table	table	table	table	table	table
gridcell	cell	cell	cell	cell	grouping X	cell
group	grouping	grouping	grouping	client X	grouping	grouping X
img	graphic	graphic	graphic	graphic	graphic	graphic
link	link	link	link	link	link	link
list	list	list	list	list	list	grouping X
listbox	list	list	list	list	client X	list
listitem	list item	list item	list item	list item	grouping X	grouping X
marquee	animation? marquee?	animation	marquee	client X	client X	grouping X
math	equation	grouping X	equation	client X	grouping X	grouping X
menu	pop up menu	pop up menu	pop up menu	pop up menu	client X	pop up menu
menubar	menu bar	menu bar	menu bar	menu bar	grouping X	grouping X
menuitem	menu item	menu item	menu item	menu item	grouping X	grouping X
menuitemcheckbox	menu item	menu item	menu item	menu item	client X	menu item
menuitemradio	menu item	menu item	menu item	menu item	client X	menu item
option	list item	list item	list item	list item	grouping X	grouping X
presentation	no object exposed	no object exposed	none	text	grouping X	grouping X
progressbar	progress bar	progress bar	progress bar	progress bar	client	progress bar
radio	radio button	radio button	radio button	radio button	radio button	radio button
radiogroup	grouping	grouping	grouping	grouping	client X	grouping
row	row	grouping X	row	list item X	row	row
region	pane/grouping	pane	grouping	unknown object X	client X	grouping
rowheader	row header	row header	row header	column header X	client X	row header
separator	seperator	seperator	seperator	menu item X	client X	grouping X
slider	slider	slider	slider	slider	slider	slider
spinbutton	spin box	spin box	spin box	progress bar X	client X	progress bar X
status	status bar	status bar	status bar	client X	client X	grouping X
tab	page tab	page tab	page tab	page tab	grouping X	grouping X
tablist	page tab list	page tab list	page tab list	grouping X	grouping X	grouping X
tabpanel	property page	pane	property page	client X	grouping X	grouping X
textbox	editable text	editable text	editable text	editable text	editable text	editable text
timer	clock or timer	grouping X	timer	client X	client X	grouping X
toolbar	tool bar	tool bar	tool bar	tool bar	client X	client X
tooltip	tool tip	tool tip	tool tip	client X	client X	goruping X
tree	outline	outline	outline	outline	grouping X	grouping X
treegrid	table or outline	grouping X	outline	outline	grouping X	grouping X
treeitem	outline item	outline item	outline item	list item (unsure)	grouping X	grouping X

References

Author: steve faulkner The Paciello Group
contact: sfaulkner@paciellogroup.com

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.