Winboard Forum

Dear WinBoard team,
I am very happy with newly published WinBoard 4.4.0 for JAWS and there are a lot of improvements that are making it powerful for the JAWS screen reader users. For example, we can study some games of grandmasters or our own games for improving our chess knowledge via mentioned program.
Some of given games have commented to provide details on the certain positions for someone who studies the games or for himself.
If it is possible, I suggest you to add a feature that indicates the blind studier if any position is commented; and add another feature POPS UP A WINDOW CONTAINING THE COMMENT, if desired. For instance, when the user arrives, for example, "41. .... Nxb7", let the code tell that this move has a comment such as "Black moves 41 night to b7, capturing a white pawn. (has commented)", or anything like this. Of course it should be optional, according to person's preferences.
I am not a programmer, therefore I am unable to type any codes here for guidance. Any actions related to this post are very appreciated.
Best regards,
M. S. Yildirim

There exists a WinBoard command-line option /autoDisplayComment . It would make a text window pop up on every move that has a comment, and presumably JAWS would then read out the title and contents of that window. The default setting for that option in the WinBoard distribution is off, as it is a rather intrusive option for people that mostly study engine games (like myself). Usually engine games contain the score and search depth as a comment for every move, so that you would always trigger the comment popup when stepping through the game.

To switch on the option run WinBoard from the startup dialog, tick Additional Options, an type /autoDisplayComment=true in the corresponding text-edit (case sensitive!). WinBoard should then remember this setting for future runs as well. (If you have not switched off Save Settings On Exit.)

I now see that there is a focus problem there: after auto-popup of the comment window focus is intentionally switched back to the board window. Probably because sighted users like to be able to continue opperating the arrows to step through the game, and would see the comment popup anyway. For them focus would only be useful if they wanted to give input to the comment window, which would only happen when the want to edit the comment. Indeed, using the menu item Mode - Edit Comment to summon up the popup does leave focus on the popup.

For JAWS users the effect of switching the focus back to the board is that it does not notice the comment popup, and thus does not read the comment. I guess the best solution would be to suppress the focus switch in the JAWS version. Focus will then remain on the comment window after it pops up; the only way to get focus back on the board window by means of the keyboard is to close the comment window by hitting Escape. (Tabs are used to navigate between controls inside the comment window, as you can also edit the comment there.)

Hello again,
Unfortunately the 'autoDisplayComment' does nothing on WinBoard which is installed on my computer. Are there any dependent arguements that are preventing the 'autoDisplayComment' to run properly?
I did perform the procedure that you've told me as follows:

Opened the WinBoard Startup window from my Start Menu.

Checked the radio button labeled "Just view or edit game files".

Checked the "Additional options" checkbox.

Typed exactly "/autoDisplayComment=true" in the appropriate text box.

Pressed on the 'OK' button.

And the WinBoard started normally as usual. After the procedure, I've opened a game which has comments, WinBoard did not trigger the pop up window, even I reached a commented position. Any of your helpful reply is very appreciated.
Please accept my apologise for any inconvenience.
Best regards,
M. S. Yildirim

Can you post the game with the comments, to make sure the comments are of a format that is recognized by WinBoard? For me the /autoDisplayComment does work, but silently. I have not fond a way yet to switch focus to the comment window and keep it there; for some reason it always switches back immediately. Except when you pop it up through the Edit Comment menu, but then it starts by erasig the comment. (Which is probably not intended behavior anyway; it seems logical to initialize the text-edit box with a pre-existing comment.)

Hello there,
Here's the game which I've lastly studied. The comments are surrounded by { and } signs.
==========================================================================================================
[Event "Blindfold Exhibition"]
[Site "Paris, FRA"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Morphy"]
[Black "Boucher"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C62"]
[PlyCount "53"]

{
Mr. Morphy plays without seeing the Chess board or men, against M. Boucher, at Paris.
}
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Bg5 f6


8. Bh4 Nh6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Qc4+ Kh8 12. Nd4 Qd7 13. Rad1 Rf7 14.
f4 a5 15. f5 Rff8 16. Ne6 Rg8 17. a4 Ng4 18. Qe2 Ne5 19. Bg3 Qc8
{
To enable him to capture the Bishop, which is about to take the Kt., with the Q's Pawn.
}
20. Bxe5 dxe5 21. Rf3
{
The attack looks already irresistible, but the actual finish is charmingly accomplished.
}
21... Bd7
{
By this move Black may be said to lose a Piece. His best course--but that a bad one--was possibly to retreat his Bishop to K's square.
}
22. Rh3
{
Threatening mate in two moves.
}
22... h6 23. Qd2 Kh7
{
To avert the promised mate, by Rxh6+, etc.
}
24. Qxd7 Bd6 25. Rxh6+
{
The termination is very pretty--quite an elegant little problem.
}
25... Kxh6 26. Rd3
{
And Black has no possible means of escape; for, if he play Qe8, White simply captures the Queen for nothing; if Bc5+, then follows Kf1, etc.
}
26... Kh5 27. Qf7+
{And wins; the battle having lasted about seven hours.} 1-0
==========================================================================================================
If solving the problem needs you to spend a lot of time and effort, than please forgive me, and give up trying to do so; I will try the other ways (like opening the PGN games in Notepad) that I can reach both the comments and the notations.
Thanks.
Regards,
M. S. Yildir

Well, this is a comment format that WinBoard supports, and it is intended to work with the option /autoDisplayComment=true. If it doesn't, it should be considered a bug, and must be fixed, no matter what it takes.

For me in xboard 4.4.0 raises the comments automatically, but indeed the window won't focus, which will make it hard for blind people to actually close it and continue with the game, or browse the content of the comment.

Indeed, it must be a focus problem. I tried to put in an explicit focus switch to the comment window (in fact there was an explicit focus switch to the main window which I commented out). But this quick attempt did not help.

So I guess I must program the spealing of the comment explicitly, as part of saying the move. (If autoDisplayComment is on).

Either that, or just warn that there is a comment, and provide a new command in the JAWS menu (plus an accelerator keystroke for it) for speaking the comment.

Perhaps the Edit Comment menu should be handled differently, not automatically clearing an existing comment. (Which seems a bit strange way of editing something anyway!) That would make it easier to switch focus to the Comment window as well. The Comment window does contain an edit button, so there is no need to make the Display vs Edit distinction at pop-up time; it could always pop up in display mode, and wait for people to press edit before you can edit.