10.1 Pass-Through Scripts

When you create a pass-through script, you must make certain to pass the keystroke through to the application. It is important to remember that JAWS determines what script to process each time you press a keystroke. If the application keystroke is now attached to a script, then JAWS performs the script first. If you do not pass the keystroke through within the script, then the keystroke never activates the intended action and functionality of the keystroke is lost.

Creating the Script

You can use the built-in function, TypeKey, to pass the keystroke through to the active application once you have enhanced its functionality in your script. The TypeKey function requires a single parameter to complete its task. This parameter is a string of text and can be enclosed in quotation marks, stored in a string variable or a string constant. The keystroke can be anything from a single character such as the letter S to a keystroke that opens a menu such as ALT+F. You call the TypeKey function using the following syntax:

TypeKey ("Alt+F")

The above example shows the parameter being passed to the function as a quoted string of text. An alternative way of passing the parameter is to store the keystroke in a local variable you have declared in the script. The following code example declares a local variable, stores the keystroke and then uses the variable as a parameter for the TypeKey function:

Var
String sKeystroke
Let sKeystroke = "ALT+F"
TypeKey (sKeystroke)

You can also declare all of your keystrokes in a JAWS script header file. To declare a keystroke constant for ALT+F, type the following two statements in a JAWS script header file:

Const
KSFileMenu= "Alt+F"

In the above constant declaration, the “KS” indicates it is a constant containing a keystroke.

You can review a number of more commonly used keystroke constants by viewing the Common.jsm JAWS script message file within the Script Manager. You will find constant definitions for most of the more common keystrokes such as SPACEBAR, CTRL+PAGE UP and CTRL+PAGE DOWN in the file.

The following code example illustrates the use of a constant as the parameter for the TypeKey function:

TypeKey (KSFileMenu)

 

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