JAWS Scripts For MicroSIP
Doug Lee
Last Revised April, 2020

This document describes the scripts for MicroSIP and provides tips for using this application with JAWS. This document can be opened from within MicroSIP via a double press of JAWSKey+F1 (or Insert+F1).

The development of these scripts was funded initially in 2013 by Level Access (formerly SSB BART Group), a company dedicated for over 20 years to making applications and technology accessible to persons with disabilities.

Table of Contents

• Script Features In Brief
• System Requirements For JAWS Users
• Script Installation Instructions
• Tips, Tricks, and Methods
• Revision History

Script Features In Brief

These scripts provide automatic announcement of incoming calls and a keystroke (Alt+Windows+M) for handling them. These features work regardless of what application is in focus when a call arrives. In addition, these scripts provide the following features beyond those available in MicroSIP itself on Windows when MicroSIP is in focus:

• Improved Tab, Shift+Tab, Ctrl+Tab, and Ctrl+Shift+Tab behavior.
• Ctrl+` and Ctrl+Shift+` switch among top-level MicroSIP windows even when not in Alt+Tab order.
• Top-level dialogs such as Account receive focus on Alt+Tab though they otherwise would require the JAWS Task List or the above Ctrl+` command to find.
• Ctrl+F4 closes the active call tab in a call window (by clicking a red Close button on the tab control that JAWS normally doesn't see).
• Some account dialog fields are better named.
• Status bar changes speak automatically so connection status updates will be spoken.
• Space on the "Display Password" link in the Account dialog works (and these scripts also put that link in tab order).
• Ctrl+Shift+W launches the home page for these scripts in the default browser. This can be useful when checking for updates. Information regarding the user's script revision, JAWS version, and MicroSIP version is sent to the script author's web site by this command as well, so the author can keep track of what configurations to support with the scripts.
• If typed twice quickly, Insert+F1 launches the manual for these scripts in the default browser.

Finally, these scripts add dashes to phone numbers when there is no caller ID name available for an incoming call, so the numbers are easier to understand via speech and read in Braille.

System Requirements For JAWS Users

There are no known system requirements for these scripts beyond those for MicroSIP itself. However, JAWS versions older than 15.0 have not been carefully tested with these scripts. JAWS versions older than 14.0 will not work with these scripts. The scripts were written against MicroSIP versions 3.3.5 and 3.3.8.

Script Installation Instructions

To install these scripts on a new system:

1. Load JAWS if this has not already been done. This will require administrative privileges on the computer.
2. Run JAWS as the user for whom the scripts are to be installed. This and the following steps must be performed for each user of the computer who will be using JAWS with these scripts.
3. Download and run, or run directly, the installer for these scripts; and follow the on-screen directions. Be sure to install the scripts in the currently running JAWS version if a JAWS version list is presented.
4. To verify successful installation, type Ins+Q from within MicroSIP. Part of the JAWS spoken response should be a revision number. If you do not hear a revision number, the scripts are not correctly loaded.

Tips, Tricks, and Methods

When a call comes in, these scripts will announce the caller's name or number depending on what is available. To ignore the call, do nothing; nothing will steal focus from your current application. To answer the call or stop it from ringing, or to check more carefully who is calling, type Alt+Windows+M to pop up a JAWS listbox containing the same information that appears in the MicroSIP popup window. You may then navigate this box with arrows or by typing the first letter of a line, such as "a" for Answer. Pressing Enter on an action line such as "Answer" will activate that feature in MicroSIP. Pressing Enter on any other line or pressing Esc on any line will close the list without causing any MicroSIP action.

To get to the configuration pages for MicroSIP (Account and Settings), press the Applications key on the MicroSIP system tray icon.

To open MicroSIP when it has been minimized to the system tray, press Space, not Enter, on the icon.

If you use arrows to navigate among tabs in a tab control, you must press Space to switch to a tab. Arrows merely move focus among tabs in the tab control without changing which tab is active.

If you Alt+Tab out of a MicroSIP window, such as a call window, and you can't find it again in the Alt+Tab order, switch to any available MicroSIP window and then use the scripted Ctrl+` and Ctrl+Shift+` commands to find the window you want.

Revision History

Here is the revision history of these scripts, most recent revision first:

Revision 70, released April 21, 2020

• The messages for these scripts are now distributed in XML rather than jsm files so that translators can create translations with no need for script source recompilation. See the Script Translation Procedure document for details on how to translate these scripts, including how to update the XML message file.
• Handling of the Windows Menu or Application key may be improved.
• The script release notes, formerly kept in a separate document, are now part of this one.
• Screen readers respond better to activation of Table of Contents links in this document.

Revision 66, released April 9, 2019

• JAWS 14.0 or later is required; JAWS 13.0 is no longer supported due to incompatibilities with modern script code.
• Attempted a fix to a reported problem with answering calls with Alt+Windows+M under MicroSIP 3.19. This fix needs testing by someone who uses MicroSIP 3.19.
• Installer updated to handle JAWS 2018 and 2019 and to improve handling of the default script chain.
• The installer is built with an older version of the Nullsoft Installer System (NSIS) that seems not to upset antivirus/antimalware packages.
• Many under-the-hood updates to field naming and installer code to align with current coding methods.
• Source code to the scripts is no longer included. See my Script Distribution Policy document for details. As one side effect, this will cause installation to run much faster.

Revision 52, released September 12, 2017

• The minimum supported JAWS version is now 13.0. JAWS 11.0 and 12.0 are no longer supported.
• The installer works with JAWS 2018 and should work when installing into non-English JAWS versions where it didn't before. (This does not mean the scripts would work with non-English versions of MicroSIP however.)
• If the installer fails to find any JAWS installations, a log should appear before the installer exits.
• The installer guards against installing when creating a script chain would wipe out a jsb file without a corresponding jss file.
• A crash on Ctrl+Shift+` is fixed.
• If spurious indeterminate checkbox indicators appeared in Braille for buttons, this should no longer happen.

Revision 39, released December 3, 2015

• This revision ends support for JAWS versions older than the latest update to JAWS 11.0.
• The uninstaller no longer unhooks SkypeWatch.jsb from default.jss and instead, as it should, unhooks MSIP_default.jsb.
• The installer handles JAWS 17 properly.
• The installer should correctly handle default.jss files that begin with a byte order mark (BOM).
• Constant and message names no longer all start with a MSIP_ prefix, as this was not necessary.
• The installer will no longer attempt to install into a JAWS version older than 11.0.

Revision 31, released November 1, 2013

• This installer should work under JAWS 14 and later.
• This revision fixes a few installer problems. After installing this update, which will run the uninstaller for previous versions of these scripts, it may be necessary to reinstall Skype scripts if you were using those and also used SkypeWatch. (Update written on December 3, 2015: This update actually failed to fix the SkypeWatch interferance problem, but this fact was never reported for the two years during which this script revision remained current.)

Revision 30, released January 18, 2013

• Initial release version.