On a Danish and a English Windows operating system with a default installation of SAS Management Console and Jaws 7.10, Jaws is unable to "speak". The SAS Management Console works correctly but Jaws is unable to "speak".

This lack of "speaking" is related to SAS Management Console being a Java Application, more specifically, with the Java Access Bridge (JAB). For Java applications to interact with Windows-based assistive technologies such as the JAWS screen reader, Sun's Java Access Bridge (JAB) must be installed and configured. Because of the SAS Private JRE, installation and configuration requires extra steps.

Most of this information can be found in the is in SAS® 9.1.3 Intelligence Platform: Desktop Application Administration Guide (http://support.sas.com/documentation/configuration/bidaag.pdf) under the "Accessibility Features in the SAS Desktop Clients" section.

For Windows-based assistive technologies to interoperate with SAS Java-based desktop applications, you need to download the Java Access Bridge (JAB) from Sun Microsystems (http://www.sas.com/govedu/java.html).

The SAS Java-based applications that run on Windows are listed under "Clients in the Architecture of the SAS Intelligence Platform" chapter of the SAS® Intelligence Platform Overview (http://support.sas.com/documentation/configuration/biov.pdf).

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. To configure SAS Java applications to permit access to the Java Access Bridge, perform the following:

1. On the client machine, locate all copies of the file sas.java.ext.config.
2. In each instance of the file, edit the file in a plain text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad.
3. 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 will vary.
   
   
4. Save the changes and close the file.
5. You will also need to have the JAB's .jar files in the /jre/lib/ext directory. Go to the sasmc.ini and locate the JRE path. For example:
   CommandToExecute=C:\Program Files\java\jre1.5.0_11\bin\java.exe
6. Verify that the JAB files access-bridge.jar and jaccess-1_4.jar are in C:\Program Filesjavajre1.5.0_11libext. If not, copy them there. The JAB installation SHOULD put them there, but its always a good idea to verify.

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

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