Windows 10/11 Start menu search: NVDA does not announce search results with details when tabbing through results

[josephsl]

Hi,

This is a 2022 update to #10329

Background:

From time to time Microsoft makes server side changes to Windows Search experience, including Start meu search box in Windows 10 and 11. With a new layout implemented in 2020 or so, NVDA does not announce search results with details, more prominent when tabbing through results in Windows 11.

Steps to reproduce:

Method 1: scroll through search results

1. Press Windows key to open Start menu.
2. Type something.
3. When the first search result is dislayed, press down arrow to review results.

Method 2: tab through search results

1. Open Start menu.
2. Type something.
3. Wen the first result is displayed, press Tab to move through results.

Actual behavior:

• Method 1: NVDA does not announce search details such as category (app, web, etc.) when pressing down arrow to review results.
• Method 2: NVDA is silent when moving to search categories.

Expected behavior:

NVDA announces results with details.

System configuration

NVDA installed/portable/running from source:

Installed

NVDA version:

alpha-25094,307c8902

Windows version:

Windows 11 Version 21H2 (build 22000)

Name and version of other software in use when reproducing the issue:

None

Other information about your system:

While the version shown is for the stable Windows 11 release, the computer is used to test virtual machines, including older and newer Windows releases

Other questions

Does the issue still occur after restarting your computer?

Yes

Have you tried any other versions of NVDA? If so, please report their behaviors.

2019.2 and later (the latest version installed on a virtual machine running Windows 10 Version 1803, the first release with this problem)

If NVDA add-ons are disabled, is your problem still occurring?

Yes

Does the issue still occur after you run the COM Registration Fixing Tool in NVDA's tools menu?

Not applicable

Solution

In SearchUI app module (specifically, when choosing suggestion list item in overlay classes chooser), in addition to checking for object parent, also check if obj.parent.parent is indeed a results list. A more useful solution would be window class names, but the same class name is used in places other than results list, which can confuse NVDA and users as to what to do.

A prototype of this fix will be part of Windows App Essentials add-on development snapshot for March 28, 2022 (prototype testing in progress), and eventually will be proposed as a pull request in mid-April at the earliest.

Thanks.