[Kde-accessibility] Some AT-SPI questions

[Gary Cramblitt]

On Friday 16 December 2005 03:01, Bill Haneman wrote:
> I must disagree strongly.  AT-SPI is THE client interface for our
> accessibility infrastructure.
>
> I do not recommend using cspi, especially if you are not writing pure
> C/GObject based applications.
>
> >Most Gnome assistive technologies currently use libcspi for accessing
> > AT-SPI, and our plan is to provide a similar KDE-style library later. On
> > the application side, all applications currently use either atk or the
> > Java Accessibility bridge. This has the advantage that it is easy to
> > switch the underlying RPC mechanism as long the API is the same.
> >
> >Our plan is too move AT-SPI onto DBUS once the DBUS code is in the
> > repository for the KDE4 development version. This will probably also be
> > the time when we start to work on the KDE equivalent to libcspi, but it
> > might take a while to write all the necessary bridges to the CORBA
> > version.
>
> The correct way to proceed here is to move the Bonobo/ORBit2 back-end to
> use DBUS as the communications/wire protocol, or to provide an IDL
> compiler which generates the equivalent client stubs for AT-SPI which
> the AT-SPI client can link to.
>
> The agreed-upon plan going forward anticipates that multiple back-ends
> for AT-SPI are to be developed, but the client interface will continue
> to be AT-SPI.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Bill
>
> >I don't know how much time I will find to work on this, so if you wish to
> > help us with this, then you are highly welcome to do so. Please contact
> > Harald Fernengel if you have more questions regarding AT-SPI in KDE4.
> >
> >Olaf

Thanks Bill.

It would be nice if someone fully knowledgeable about the KDE plan could 
update the accessibility.kde.org website and explain all this so we 
developers can have a better understanding.  I'm sure the following exposes 
my ignorance, but as they say, there are no stupid questions..  

I *think* it breaks down to 3 possible scenarios:

1.  How can KDE developers write KDE 3 AT clients today (using ATK bridge)?

2.  How can they develop AT clients with KDE4 libraries in conjunction with 
Gnome libraries?

3.  How will KDE devs develop AT clients when the AT-SPI DBUS version is in 
place and how do we get there?

The IDL compiler approach strikes me as the most plausible way forward for #3.  
I say this because very few people in the KDE community understand 
Bonobo/ORBit2  enough to do the port.  Is anyone working on such a compiler?  
How difficult would it be to do that and how would one get started if one 
were inclined to work on it?

If anyone wants to write this up (whatever format you like), I'd be happy to 
post it on the website.

-- 
Gary Cramblitt (aka PhantomsDad)
KDE Text-to-Speech Maintainer
http://accessibility.kde.org/developer/kttsd/index.php