[BRLTTY] Queries on Navigation in Android

[Dave Mielke]

[quoted lines by Rob on 2015/08/24 at 14:52 -0500]

>When you press the go to next/previous line hot keys on your braille device, 
>does the accessibility focus move with you, or are you just scrolling through, 
>like Brltty in a regular terminal, without actually moving anything?

You're just moving around the screen. If you'd like the screen element where 
you are to become current, you need to press the first (leftmost) routing key. 
You don't need it to be current, though, in order to do things like tapping on 
it. For that, you can press other routing keys that'll act directly on it. For 
example, pressing the second routing key will directly tap on it even if it 
isn't the current element.

>Today I was in the Message Plus app, sending a text message. I was trying to 
>bring focus to the edit input area where you could type a message. I hit space 
>dot 4 to move down the line, and I saw: Type a Message, but the block style 
>cursor did not appear until I picked up the phone and actually swiped on the 
>screen to bring up the text box.

Did you try pressing the first routing key to bring the cursor there?

>Then, when I wanted to hit the send button, I tried doing so from the braille 
>device, but hitting the first routing key above the Send button only made a 
>beep sound. This button is supposed to bring accessibility focus to the 
>element, and the second is supposed to tap or click it. This did not happen. 

That should've worked. Have you done anything interesting like enable 
contracted braille or switch to the experimental two-dimensional layout?

>Or am I misunderstanding the functions of the keys?

You seem to be understanding them correctly.

Just to verify: Are you pressing the routing keys separately or in combination 
with some other key(s)? For these functions, they should be pressed by 
themselves.

>I was under the impression that you could control an Android device with your 
>braille device--at least for the most part--but this is not appearing to be 
>the case. In order to get anything done, I am having to pick up the phone and 
>actually move the screen. 

Your impression is correct. We need to figure out why, for you, it isn't 
working as expected.

>And Brltty is not always following me. For instance, when on the home screen, 
>Brltty stays stuck on something called Quick Notifications. It does not track 
>properly in list views either (such as the conversations list in Message 
>plus), and sometimes it stops responding altogether. 

This sounds like an old problem that brltty started to have with Android 5.0. 
How recent is the apk you installed, and where did you get it from?

>Perhaps it is the bluetooth protocol, 

No, that wouldn't be a possibility. How brlrtty communicates with your device 
wouldn't matter for this kind of thing, unless, of course, your braille device 
and phone are far enough apart that the Bluetooth signal between them simply 
isn't strong enough.

>or I am just using Brltty wrong.

From your descriptions, I'd say that you're trying to use it correctly.

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Dave Mielke           | 2213 Fox Crescent | The Bible is the very Word of God.
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