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Comparison of ARIA roles exposed via MSAA and UI Automation in IE8

Summary

• 43 out of 51 - Of the 51 WAI-ARIA role (excluding abstract roles) values that can be mapped to MSAA: Internet explorer 8.0.7100.0 maps 43 correctly.
• 32 out of 50 - Of the 50 WAI-ARIA role (excluding abstract roles) values that can be mapped to UI automation ControlType: Internet explorer 8.0.7100.0 maps 32 correctly.
• 59 out of 59 - Of the 59 WAI-ARIA role (excluding abstract roles) values that can be exposed via UI automation AriaRole property: Internet explorer 8.0.7100.0 maps 59 correctly.

Software used for testing

• Windows 7 Release candidate
• Internet Explorer 8
• Updated Inspect tool available in the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1: RC (ISO)

Methodology

• Use the Inspect tool to verify the roles exposed via MSAA and UI Automation for each of the WAI-ARIA role attribute values.
• Each role can be checked by tabbing to the cell with the role attached. The first column of the results table contains divs with each of the 59 ARIA roles assigned, for example:
  <td><div tabindex="0" role="alertdialog">alertdialog</div></td>
  

Results

Notes:

• If the role name is included in the result column for a browser without any annotation, it indciates the correct role is being exposed, otherwise:
  • X after a MSAA result means an incorrect or no role is exposed and there is an available suitable MSAA role. Refer to the Microsoft Object Roles documentation.
  • X after a UIA ControlType result means an incorrect or no role is exposed and there is an available suitable UIA role. Refer to the Microsoft Mapping ARIA Roles, States, and Properties to UI Automation documentation.
  • The role in brackets after an incorrect role is the suggested correct role.
  • N/A (not applicable) means the particular ARIA roles have been documented as not being mapped to MSAA or UIA. Refer to the Microsoft UnMapped ARIA Roles documentation.
    

References

• WAI-ARIA 1.0 User Agent Implementation Guide
• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0
• IE8 ARIA Role mapping table
• MSAA Object Roles
• UnMapped ARIA Roles
• Microsoft Aria Test Pages
• Mapping ARIA Roles, States, and Properties to UI Automation

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