Terminal: NVDA does not announce any information when a terminal gets added or deleted

[AccessibilityTestingTeam-TCS]

Environment Details:
VSCode Version : 1.24.0
OS Version : Win10
Mac OS Version:HighSierra10.13.5

Additional Details:
MAS Violated: MAS1.3.1
ScreenReader Version: NVDA2018.2

Repro Steps:

1. Launch VS Code while NVDA/VoiceOver is ON.
2. Go to View menu and Select Integrated Terminal.
3. Tab till Add Terminal button(+) or delete terminal and press enter

Actual:
NVDA does not announce any information when a new terminal gets added or deleted. When a new terminal opens, it also gets added to combobox and same happens when we delete any terminal. Issue also found with VoiceOver.

Expected:
NVDA should announce some information when any new terminal gets added or deleted and also the current terminal where user is working.

Recommendations:
Refer below link which is repository of bug fixes code snippets:
https://microsoft.sharepoint.com/teams/msenable/mas/pages/browse-fixes.aspx

User Impact:
User will not get the proper information about new terminals.

MAS Reference
https://microsoft.sharepoint.com/teams/msenable/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc={54f28d1f-a2d1-4dcd-84e1-5c9b87e8aba4}

Attachment for Reference:
A11y VSCode Terminal NVDA Add Delete Terminal.pptx

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

[vscodebot]

(Experimental duplicate detection)
Thanks for submitting this issue. Please also check if it is already covered by an existing one, like:

• [Accessibility]A11y_VSCode_ViewIntegratedTerminal_ScreenReader: NVDA does not read the shortcut command of Add Terminal and Split Terminal Properly. (#52283)
• [Accessibility]A11y_VSCode_ViewIntegratedTerminal_ScreenReader: NVDA does not read the state of tree view "expanded" when terminal combobox opens. (#52297)
• [Accessibility]A11y_VSCode_ViewProblems_ScreenReader: NVDA reads (Problems, Output, Debug Console, Terminal) tab items as button. (#52017)
• [Accessibility]A11y_VSCode_UserSnippets_ScreenReader: NVDA does not specify which files are New Snippets and which are Existing snippets. (#52038)
• [Accessibility]A11y_VSCode_ViewProblems_ScreenReader: NVDA reads Filter textbox and (Problems, Output, Debug Console, Terminal) tabs twice. (#51992)

[isidorn]

This feel like the terminal service could simply do aria.alert whenever a new terminal is opened. Similar to how we do in debug lang. Feels like low hanging fruit, assigning to july

[alexr00]

It doesn't look like this is as simple as adding aria.alert whenever a terminal is opened or closed. The alert gets interrupted by whatever has focus next. On terminal start, this is the text in the terminal. On terminal stop this is whatever document is open or the main canvas.

[Tyriar]

@AccessibilityTestingTeam-TCS what is the ideal behavior given the number of announcements that can follow? Would it be best to say "Terminal created, terminal focused, c colon backslash blah blah"?

[Tyriar]

The answer to this is that we don't need to announce added or deleted terminals but rather announce the focused terminal only. If the active terminal dies we don't need to announce it, just announce the other terminal or editor that's focused afterwards.

[Tyriar]

@alexr00 do you have enough info to do this for October?

[alexr00]

@Tyriar, the current behavior is that the screen reader starts reading the contents of the next item to be focused. Instead, if the terminal has focus and then dies we should announce what gained focus and not the contents of the thing that gained focus?

[Tyriar]

@alexr00 example scenario as I understand it:

1. Toggle+focus terminal, "Terminal 1, ~/dev >"
2. Hide terminal, "somefile, blah" (whatever the editor announces)
3. Toggle+focus terminal, "Terminal 1" (~/dev > was already covered in 1)
4. Kill terminal, "somefile, blah" (whatever the editor announces)

[alexr00]

I see. So the change here is to announce "Terminal " every time the terminal gains focus. The cwd is already read after the terminal is focused, though not immediately.

[alexr00]

@Tyriar, what about when the terminal is split? Just announce the terminal number again?

[Tyriar]

@alexr00 yes, yes 😃