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A sneaky list and link bug.

for

From: Ryan Hemphill
Date: Dec 20, 2011 6:00PM


Hey guys,

I have a doozy here.

We are building an application that loads up content via an XML/XSLT format
into an iframe. The first time that we load up the content into the
iframe, we end up with a major problem in JAWS 12/13.

During loading, a table of contents is populated on the page complete with
links in a list. The bug created is that the content of the links are in
many cases lost, causing the href to be read instead of the contents of the
link. In our case, that is especially bad because it reads*"javascript://"
*

Here is the typical structure..

<ul>
<li>
<span> 1.2a</span>
<a href="javascript"> Chapter 2: Building an Economy </a>
</li>
...
</ul>


We also noticed that we were having the contents of the span tag ignored
altogether.

What I suspect is happening is that the populating content isn't being read
correctly by JAWS because it ends up screwing up the virtual buffer,
perhaps because it's loading up on the fly. As a result, the content
itself is being corrupted both in the span tag and in the link, resulting
in a real disaster.

Now here's where the bug gets really strange - this only happens the FIRST
TIME. All subsequent loads of content are fine, even if they have the same
kinds of list/link format loaded up by the same fashion.

Does anyone have the slightest idea what is going on here? Has anyone ever
run into something like this before? I am open to hearing all
speculations, please don't hold back even if you think it's particularly
crazy. I eat crazy for breakfast. ;)

Ryan
--



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