Validation errors not announced in forms TextItems and ListGrid Cell

[aayushi_mali]

Hi SmartGWT Team,

I am working on accessibility improvements and had a question regarding validation error/alert behavior in different UI scenarios.

In a simple DynamicForm, when I use "setShowErrorText(true);", I am able to see the error message and also it is announced by the screen reader.

However, I am seeing different behavior in below cases:

1. Complex UI (main section + detail pane):
When a single Save button validates the entire screen, and the error occurs in a TextItem inside a detail pane:

• The error is shown visually
• But it is not announced by the screen reader
• Focus does not move to the invalid field

Example:
https://smartclient.com/smartgwt/sho...ep_match_value

2. ListGrid cell validation:
When a cell value is invalid, an error icon is shown beside the cell:

• The icon is not keyboard accessible
• Screen reader does not read/announce the error

Example:
https://smartclient.com/smartgwt/sho...ata_validation

Question:

Could you please guide if there is any recommended approach or best practice to ensure validation errors are properly announced and accessible in these scenarios using keyboard control and screen-reader mode?

Thank you for your help!

[Isomorphic]

We can check on this, but two things:

1. right now we are totally blocked on working on your complaints because you have not approved using booked hours for anything:

https://forums.smartclient.com/forum...rs-in-smartgwt

2. test standalone, not in the Showcase

The Showcase is a great reference for code but if you test accessibility in the Showcase itself, that is invalid. The Showcase does all kinds of special things regarding focus, modality and lifecycle in order to be a host for 100s of mini-apps.

As mentioned above, we are blocked from working on your issues right now due to your lack of response, but even in the quick looks we have taken, you are reporting problems that are actually specific to the Showcase, and don't happen outside of the Showcase.

[aayushi_mali]

We appreciate your time and guidance.

1. Regarding the support hours, we are currently in the process of identifying and documenting multiple accessibility issues across our application. Since we have limited support hours, we plan to first consolidate and prioritize the findings, and then proceed with booking time based on the importance and urgency of each issue. This will help us utilize the available hours more effectively.

2. For the Showcase references, we are not testing accessibility directly within the showcase, but we are only using them to point out similar UI patterns for clarity. The issues are observed in our own application with screen reader enabled, not just in the Showcase.

Please let me know if you need more details about our environment.

Thank you.

[Isomorphic]

1. if you don't want your issues worked on yet, you should not be posting them here with a paid support account. That triggers alerts to the team, triage, etc, and the way your support plan works is that if you post here, that's automatic authorization for up to 8 hours work on the issue, yet you seem to expect some other process.

So just choose which way you want to work and stick to it.

2. at least one of the issues you posted was specific to how the Showcase handles modality, and cannot be reproduced outside the Showcase. So again, watch out for that.