Accessibility options dialog box

Ebase offers a number of global options that apply to all forms run in the system. The accessibility dialog box is accessed from the tools menu (Tools -> System Preferences -> Accessibility) and is shown below.

Global browser options

1. Do not use Javascript

When this option is selected, the system will not include any Javascript in generated HTML pages. When this option is set, it is still possible to dynamically enable Javascript for browsers that support it by setting the $PRESENTATION_USE_JAVASCRIPT system variable e.g. for FPL:

set $PRESENTATION_USE_JAVASCRIPT = 'Y';

(See Support for clients without Javascript)

2. Do not popup new windows

When this option is selected, the system will not pop-up new windows in any of the following circumstances:

Pop-up field help
Save/restore feature windows
Upload window
Windows containing PDF documents resulting from script statements
Windows displayed with the FPL display command or API WebForm.displayUrl() method

Instead, these popup windows will be displayed in the existing form browser window. Where possible, Ebase adds a return button to enable the end-user to return to the form window. However, when the popup window contains a document of a type other than HTML e.g. a PDF document, this is not possible, and the end-user must then press the browser back button to return to the form.

If Javascript is not used, popup windows are always disabled.

When this option is set, it is still possible to dynamically enable popups for browsers that support Javascript by setting the $PRESENTATION_USE_POPUPS system variable e.g. for FPL:

set $PRESENTATION_USE_POPUPS = 'Y';

Edit global metadata

(See Web Accessibility - Metadata Support)

Setting accessibility presentation attributes dynamically

A number of system variables are supplied to enable accessibility attributes to be customized dynamically using script statements:

Attributes of the client browser (these are read-only):

$BROWSER_TYPE contains the user-agent string from the HTTP header.
$BROWSER_SUPPORTS_JAVASCRIPT normally contains 'Y' or 'N'. Contains '?'' if there is no browser client e.g. executing in batch mode.

Currently active presentation attributes (these are read/write):

$PRESENTATION_USE_JAVASCRIPT normally contains 'Y' or 'N'. Contains '?'' if there is no browser client e.g. executing in batch mode.
$PRESENTATION_USE_POPUPS normally contains 'Y' or 'N'. Contains '?'' if there is no browser client e.g. executing in batch mode.

System options from the global accessibility dialog box (these are read-only):

$SYSTEM_PREFERENCES_USE_JAVASCRIPT contains 'Y' or 'N'
$SYSTEM_PREFERENCES_USE_POPUPS contains 'Y' or 'N'

The presentation attributes can be changed as illustrated in the FPL examples below:

// enable Javascript (only possible if the browser supports Javascript)

set $PRESENTATION_USE_JAVASCRIPT = 'Y';

// allow popups

set $PRESENTATION_USE_POPUPS = 'N';

All accessibility presentation settings are remembered for the duration of the browser session with the application server. When another form is called, or the Ebase user chooses to execute another form, he/she will not need to reapply the same presentation changes.

Accessing accessibility settings from included content

The Ebase external form interface contains a number of methods that allow included Java Server Pages (JSPs) to access the current presentation settings. For example, this allows a JSP to react to an end user request for a black and white display or an increase in font sizes. (See Ebase External Interface for more information)