Combo box must have relation controls

Community Accessibility
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Gtk inspector flags this accessibility issue in a Gtk.DropDown. How do I fix it?

combo box must have relation controls

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2

Hi,

I saw that too. Looking at the Gtk code, the new GtkDropDown has a “controls” relation to its popdown list widget, while such relation is not implemented on GtkComboBox side, probably because it’s a deprecated widget and maintainers didn’t want to spend time on it.

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I don’t follow. What do you mean by this?

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It means a “relation controls” has to be implemented for GtkComboBox. Probably on Gtk side.

But as said GtkComboBox is deprecated, users should use GtkDropDown instead, which have better accessibility support.

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Actually that warning is flagged on a GtkDropDown not a GtkComboBox. Despite combo box being mentioned in the message, I’m not sure it has anything to do with the deprecated GtkComboBox widget.

In fact, I suspect it is because Gtk.Dropdown uses the GTK_ACCESSIBLE_ROLE_COMBO_BOX. Therefore, the combo box reference in the message has something to do with the widget’s accessible role rather than the deprecated GtkComboBox widget.

6

Ah, yes, you’re right… there is a double mistake on my side:

  • both the GtkDropDown and the GtkComboBox use the COMBO_BOX role
  • and the GtkDropDown doesn’t implement a relation controls by default (no idea at what I was looking in the code, maybe some menu button)

That leaves me puzzled too… I don’t understand what’s expected here by the a11y warning.
Does it expect the combo to advertise a control on the popover, like the others menu-like widgets? Or something else?

7

Looks like it’s really about the popup, according to ARIA: ARIA: combobox role - ARIA | MDN

So something is missing on Gtk side. I don’t see how we could do that on application side.

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