Using Scripts with JAWS 2019 Public Beta.

Hi to all

This is an announcement I post each year and is designed to hopefully avoid a question which often arises. The question is: Can I use one of your script-based products with the new JAWS public beta? I'm going to address that issue now.

In theory, technically, most third party scripts and our products should work with JAWS 2019. But just because something may work does not mean you should try to use it. I'm going to explain here a little about beta testing and how it is impacted by installing additional script files.

When a beta of this nature is distributed, VFO quite obviously are looking for bug reports from you as to any problems you might be having with JAWS in specific applications or environments. They will probably be expecting you to run it as they intended it to be when they posted it. So, when you report a problem, one of their Tech Support Specialists or those people working in development can try to duplicate the problem and, if they can, fix it. That is how beta testing works. You provide them with a step by step guide as to what the problem is, what your expectations are, and how someone else can reproduce it including the keystrokes used to do so.

Now, if you install a set of JAWS scripts which potentially overwrite those which VFO provide, they cannot possibly reproduce the problem as they may not have access to those scripts.

Let me give you a very basic example.

JAWS 2019 public beta will be shipped with scripts for Skype8. This is public knowledge and was reported in the latest FSCast from VFO.

In the middle of this public beta cycle, we will also be sending out with our Leasey product scripts for Skype8 with some excellent access to this application. If you were to install these into JAWS 2019 public beta, what you would be doing is overwriting the support VFO are providing as part of its public beta program. If a problem subsequently arises with Skype, that might not be as a result of the JAWS public beta. It may be completely unrelated to it. So you would be submitting a false bug report to VFO.

To extend this a little further, if in my example you opened up a Skype text chat message, you might press Control+1 to read the most recent one. Now as of this writing, VFO do not have in their scripts the ability to read text chat messages in the same way that we do. So if you reported a problem stating that the keystroke was not reading the most recent chat message, that would be a false report because it does not relate to the public beta.

I know people want to dive right in and use the latest and greatest technology which is out there and be part of the beta program. But they also want all the enhancements our products give at the same time. You cannot have your cake and eat it I'm afraid, and I can say now that if someone reports a problem with one of our products at this stage relating to use with JAWS 2019, we will ignore it.

At the moment for example, we are developing the next release of our Leasey product, and JAWS 2018 is used as the benchmark for testing. When the official date for the release of JAWS 2019 draws near, we will begin looking at that. If we did not adopt that approach, we would be dealing with a constantly moving target.

So, in general terms, which script files could you use with the new public beta?

If you launch an application with the upcoming public beta, and you press Insert+Q, it will tell you if specific script files are loaded for it. If it says that the default scripts are loaded, then it is safe to assume that there are no scripts designed by VFO for that application. So potentially then you could install scripts for it. A number of audio-related packages would be good examples where you could install third party scripts because VFO do not have anything there relating to them. I'm talking here about scripts such as those used for Sound Forge, Reaper, Lime, GoldWave, Samplitude, etc. I also do not see a difficulty in installing the StationPlaylist suite of scripts that we produce with JAWS 2019 public beta.

But my general advice would be that if you really want to assist VFO, and report problems relating to JAWS 2019 as a whole, you should check with the script developer that it is not going to impact upon JAWS functionality. In my view, the whole point of beta testing isn't so that you can get your hands on the product ahead of time to enjoy using it. Yes it's about using functionality day-to-day, but it's also about letting VFO know if there are problems. The more they know about, the more likely it is something is going to happen to put it right.

When I use a new private or public beta of JAWS, I do so with very few modifications, or only those which can be done through the official settings VFO provide. In that way, I know as a tester that I am gaining the same experience everybody else should be getting, so my bug reports are as accurate as I can make them without anything muddying the waters. But from our part, here are the script packages we provide which could be installed into JAWS 2019 without in any way compromising default functionality.
StationPlaylist scripts.
GoldWave scripts.
OpenTween scripts.
Zoom Conferencing scripts.
Reaper scripts for Osara.
J-Dictate for use with Dragon.

Under no circumstances should J-Say or Leasey be installed into the new public beta.

To conclude, my golden rules and advice would be:
1. Enjoy using the new JAWS 2019 public beta.
2. Report bugs which you find to VFO. Be as detailed as you can .
3. Do not use the JAWS migrate settings functionality which appears on startup. If you have some of our script packages installed into JAWS 2018, some or all of those settings will be brought across to JAWS 2019 and you are in danger of doing what I have just advised against.
4. Check with script developers first as to whether they think what they are providing would compromise default functionality.

Thank you for reading.