SftTree/NET 3.0 includes built-in Windows UI Automation (UIA) support. Users who rely on Narrator, NVDA, JAWS or any other UIA-compatible assistive technology can read and navigate the control without the hosting application doing any work. There is no opt-in and no code change required.
What the screen reader sees:
| Element | Exposed as |
|---|---|
| Control type | Data grid, announced as a tree grid. Row, column and cell navigation is available through the screen reader's table commands. A split tree control is a single data grid, so the user experiences the same structure regardless of the splitter. |
| Rows | Each item is a row that carries its level in the tree, its position among its sibling items, its expand / collapse state and its selection state. The rows of an expanded item are nested within it, so the hierarchy of the tree is preserved. |
| Column headers / column footers / row headers | Exposed as header items with their text as the name. The sort indicator of a column header is part of its name and status ("sorted ascending"). |
| Cells | Each cell is addressable through the grid. Cells containing a check box or radio button are announced as check box or radio button cells with their state, and can be toggled or selected. In the cell selection styles, cells receive the keyboard focus and are selected individually. |
Screen readers can also expand and collapse items, select items or cells, scroll the item area, click column headers and bring items into view. These actions work like the equivalent mouse and keyboard actions, so the control's events, such as ItemClick, ItemExpanded and CheckBoxClicked, occur as usual.
Changes are reported to screen readers automatically: focus and selection changes, expanding and collapsing items, items added and removed, changes to the text and check box state of displayed cells, and scrolling. The provider is created the first time a UI Automation client asks for it, so there is no overhead for applications whose users never run assistive technology.
What the application controls:
Dark mode and Windows High Contrast are independent accessibility settings. See Dark Mode and High Contrast.
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