Introduction to Desktop Application Administration

Accessibility Features in the SAS Desktop Clients

For information about accessibility for any of the products mentioned in this book, see the documentation for that product.

For assistive technologies based on Windows, you need to download the Java Access Bridge (JAB) from Sun Microsystems at this URL: http://www.java.sun.com/products/accessbridge/. The SAS Java applications that run on Windows are listed under "Clients" in the "Architecture of the SAS Intelligence Platform" chapter of the SAS Intelligence Platform: Overview.

After downloading the JAB, you need to customize the standard installation procedure to facilitate access to it. This setup assumes that Java is already installed on the machine. A known risk is that SAS applications can be corrupted by JAR files that might be installed in the jre/lib/ext directory. To solve this problem, SAS has implemented a custom class loader to replace the system class loader. The custom class loader loads only approved extensions that SAS configures based on the JRE the vendor provides. A consequence of hiding the existing directory is that it disables installed accessibility-related applications. To configure SAS Java applications to permit access to the Java Access Bridge:

On the client machine, locate all copies of the file sas.java.ext.config.
In each instance of the file, edit the file in a plain text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad.
Add the following two lines to the bottom of the file:
```
access-bridge.jar 
jaccess-1_4.jar
```
Note: The filename of the jaccess*.jar file depends on the version of the JRE. Listed here is the filename for Version 1.4. If you are using a different version, your filename varies.
Save the changes and close the file.

Note: If your site runs desktop applications on remote hosts, assistive technologies, such as JAWS screen reader, might require additional licensing and configuration to be fully functional. This situation has been observed when applications are executed with Citrix software. [cautionend]

If you have questions or concerns about the accessibility of SAS products, send e-mail to accessibility@sas.com.

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