Speak Typed Characters Only in Edit Controls does not report numbers typed in Notepad's Go To Line edit control (Windows 11, NVDA 2025.1 Beta 8)

[Qchristensen]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Open Notepad
2. Press NVDA+2 to set NVDA's speak typed characters to "only in edit controls"
3. Press control+g to open the Go to line edit box
4. Type a number

Actual behavior:

NVDA does not report numbers typed in this edit control

Expected behavior:

NVDA should report typing in this edit control.

NVDA logs, crash dumps and other attachments:

System configuration

NVDA installed/portable/running from source:

NVDA version:

NVDA 2025.1 Beta 8 installed

Windows version:

Windows 11 (64-bit) Version: 24H2, Build: 26100.4202

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

Windows Notepad 11.2503.16.0

Other information about your system:

Other questions

Does the issue still occur after restarting your computer?

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

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

No add-ons installed

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

[Qchristensen]

Comment from Mastodon: "Microsoft have set the IsDialog property to true on that edit control"

[jcsteh]

This occurs because Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom and in yet another demonstration of just how many ways and places a single company can screw up implementing their own APIs, have set the IsDialog UIA property to true on this control. Either they need to fix that or NVDA needs to ignore that property in this instance.

[amirsol81]

I can duplicate it with the same Windows and Notepad builds.

[josephsl]

Hi,

And Narrator correctly recognizes this as an edit field and announces the entered value...

Several possibilities:

1. Inform Microsoft to not extend UIA is dialog property to controls underneath a dialog (best solution).
2. Let NVDA reclassify this control (automation Id: LineNumberBox) as an edit field in the Notepad app module (not recommended; explained below).

The reason for not recommending the second solution despite its appeal is because of Windows as a Service - Windows and its apps can change without notice, meaning a solution put in place inside NVDA can break if an app changes in the future; this is one of the reasons why Windows App Essentials add-on was needed - to react to changes like this quickly, including when something breaks in an existing solution (at the cost of making me nervous whenever I install Insider Preview builds and update apps). I do agree with Jamie's overall assessment - having been a Windows Insider from its beginnings and as an NVDA code contributor, I feel frustrated whenever Microsoft sends contradictory messaging with their own code such as the case here.

Thnks.

[jcsteh]

And Narrator correctly recognizes this as an edit field and announces the entered value...

Yeah, I'm guessing Narrator only looks at the IsDialog property on specific control types? Which is IMO why dialog should have been a control type in the first place, as I argued with them over 15 years ago and several times since, long before IsDialog existed. 🤦‍♂️

[josephsl]

Hi,

If a PR is to be written, I think it should target 2025.2 unless NV Access says this should be resolved in 2025.1 beta; the reason for pushing to 2025.2 is that the PR should add a changelog (and I'm working on a PR as we speak; I'm updating Notepad app module copyright header as part of the work just like I've been doing with PR's touchin old files).

Thanks.

[amirsol81]

@josephsl @jcsteh I'd appreciate it if you could also take a look at another Notepad-related issue affecting the misidentification of misspelled words, #16819 which is, IMO, much more serious than this one.