Reaper becomes unresponsive when typing into search edit field using JAWS screen reader

[ptorpey]

This is an accessibility issue for people using a screen reader.

I am using Reaper and the latest version of Surge XT just downloaded today.

I am unable to type in the edit field to search for instruments using the JAWS sdreen reader, but using the NVDA screen reader works fine.

Here is how the problem occurs:

1. Open the FX dialog with Surge XT on a track by hitting “F”
2. Hit F6
3. Hit control+F. This brings up a list of instruments.
4. If I type a new instrument or search item into this edit or list view with JAWS, Reaper hangs and my whole system hangs. If I restart JAWS and try to alt+F4 out of Reaper, I am told that Reaper is not responding and asked if I want to close the program.
5. If I type a new instrument or search item in the edit / list field using NVDA, a new list populates with instruments that match the entered text.

I am using the latest version of Reaper and JAWS 2025.

--Pete

Bug Description:
A clear and concise description of what the bug is.

Surge XT Version
This information is found on the About screen, which you get to from the bottom right menu.

• Version:
• Plugin Type: [VST2, VST3, AU]
• Bitness: [32-bit or 64-bit]

Reproduction Steps:
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

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2. Click on '...'
3. Scroll down to '...'
4. See error

Expected Behavior:
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Screenshots:
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Computer Information (please complete the following!):

• OS: [e.g. Windows 10]
• Host: [e.g. Bitwig, Logic, Cubase, Reaper]
• Version: [e.g. 2.4]

Additional Information:
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[ptorpey]

[PT] I neglected to specify the version of Surge XT. I downloaded the file: surge-xt-win64-1.3.4-setup.exe

…

--Pete

[ptorpey]

Just to follow up on this, a JAWS developer figured out what was going on with this issue. The problem turned out not to be a JAWS problem but something wrong in the Surge code. Here is the comment from the JAWS developer on what was wrong and how to fix the issue in Surge: “Basically, the UIA ITextRangeProvider method Move indicates that movement is successful indefinitely, when we are walking backward through a range to find the start. i.e. range->Move(TextUnit_Character, -1, &unitsMoved); always returns success and unitsMoved=1 when it should either return S_FALSE or set unitsMoved to 0 once the start of the edit range is reached. I don’t know if it always does this or only on certain conditions such as when you initially start typing, but, we were caught in an infinite loop.” Hope that helps.

…

--Pete

[baconpaul]

Wow that sounds like a juce bug to me. We don’t interact directly with those apis in surge
Let me figure out how to get this report to them

since 134 we’ve upgraded to juce 8 so I do wonder if the nightly exhibits this behavior also

[ptorpey]

Would you like me to test one of the nightly builds? Would that be helpful? Just let me know. Thanks for passing this along to the Juice team. I have been told that JAWS will have a fix for this in the next beta and next publicly released version.

…

--Pete From: Paul ***@***.***> Sent: Tuesday, December 3, 2024 11:10 AM To: surge-synthesizer/surge ***@***.***> Cc: ptorpey ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [surge-synthesizer/surge] Reaper becomes unresponsive when typing into search edit field using JAWS screen reader (Issue #7881) Wow that sounds like a juce bug to me. We don’t interact directly with those apis in surge Let me figure out how to get this report to them since 134 we’ve upgraded to juce 8 so I do wonder if the nightly exhibits this behavior also — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#7881 (comment)> , or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADEPTJLLL5HNMOLKIZAN3LT2DXXWBAVCNFSM6AAAAABSYBYAL2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDKMJVGI3DANRYGM> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[baconpaul]

If you could that would be great.

https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/nightly_XT/

[ptorpey]

I downloaded the nightly release: surge-xt-win64-NIGHTLY-2024-12-03-3dc58a3-setup.exe and have some confusing results. When I load up the VSTi Surge XT version, hit F6, and then control+F, the search field locks up as before. When I do the same thing with the CLAPi version, hitting control+F brings up a search field with all of the FX on my system, not any instruments. There is a CLAP Surge XT FX item that I can also add which brings up the usual dialog for Surge FX’s. Perhaps the CLAPi version just opens the wrong database when using search. ???

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--Pete From: Paul ***@***.***> Sent: Tuesday, December 3, 2024 2:49 PM To: surge-synthesizer/surge ***@***.***> Cc: ptorpey ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [surge-synthesizer/surge] Reaper becomes unresponsive when typing into search edit field using JAWS screen reader (Issue #7881) If you could that would be great. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/nightly_XT/ — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#7881 (comment)> , or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADEPTJPGRB7UVWDYPZD2OL32DYRLVAVCNFSM6AAAAABSYBYAL2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDKMJVGYYTSMJUGM> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>