Refactor COM Registration Fixing Tool part 2: remove bugs, return Windows errors, improve UX

[XLTechie]

Link to issue number:

Fixes #10799
Fixes #12345
Fixes #12351
Replaces #12349

Summary of the issue:

• The COM Registration Fixing Tool still showed its completion dialog if it failed, or if the user said no to the UAC dialog (If the UAC is cancelled, the COM Reg Fixing Tool still claims to have completed successfully, though an error is logged #12345).
• The initial dialog didn't have a visual close button (red X), and was not responsive to the Escape or Alt+F4 keys (Run COM Registration fixing tool Dialog can't be closed by ALT+F4 or ESC #10799).
• It didn't report errors to the user as pointed out by @CyrilleB79 in Refactored the COM Registration Fixing Tool, to make it fail more gracefully, and improve its UX #12349, and
• Its initial warning dialog was not serving users well with its strong warning and presentation (COM Registration Fixing Tool shouldn't start with a warning dialog and off-putting language #12351).

User facing changes:

• Initial dialog given a more friendly message, with a more beginner-themed explanation.
• User may now press Escape/Alt+F4 to leave the dialog, as well as hitting Cancel.
• There is now a visual close control (red X).
• F1 context help is now available.
• Errors are reported to the user by error code.
• The tool no longer reports success if it fails.
• The tool no longer reports success if the process is cancelled by UAC.

Development details:

• Refactored this code to be in line with current coding standards, fix the above issues, and to give the tool a better over all UX.
• Catch the Windows error generated on UAC cancel, and log that the process was stopped at the UAC.
• Show other Windows errors to the user via a dialog, instead of just in the log.
• Switched from using YES and NO buttons, to Continue and CANCEL.
• Added a docstring. Linted and added more logging.
• In order to implement the Continue and Cancel paradigm, created gui.nvdaControls._ContinueCancelDialog.

Testing strategy:

• Tested all buttons by tabbing and pressing, and by keyboard shortcuts.
• Tested that all windows appear when and where they should.
• Confirmed that the "completed" message no longer appears on failure or cancellation.
• Simulated a Windows error to prove that a message would appear to show the error to the user.

Known issues with pull request:

1. Upon UAC cancel, or upon successful completion, focus is moved from desktop or where ever it was, to the NVDA systray icon. That seems a little strange to me, although it is not new behavior. gui.postPopup is supposed to fix this, but it doesn't.
2. Even after being deleted, the progress window's speech appears to hang around until after the completion window is cleared, although this speech seems to be cancelled or interrupted. Again, not new behavior. Log fragment showing this below:

IO - speech.speak (02:07:07.616) - MainThread (8368):
Speaking ['COM Registration Fixing Tool', 'dialog', 'The COM Registration Fixing Tool has completed successfully.', CancellableSpeech (still valid)]
IO - speech.speak (02:07:07.621) - MainThread (8368):
Speaking ['OK', 'button', CancellableSpeech (still valid)]
IO - inputCore.InputManager.executeGesture (02:07:09.326) - winInputHook (6992):
Input: kb(desktop):enter
IO - speech.speak (02:07:09.406) - MainThread (8368):
Speaking ['COM Registration Fixing Tool', 'dialog', "Please wait while NVDA attempts to fix your system's COM registrations...", CancellableSpeech (still valid)]
IO - speech.speak (02:07:09.411) - MainThread (8368):
Speaking ['COM Registration Fixing Tool', CancellableSpeech (still valid)]

Code Review Checklist:

• Pull Request description is up to date.
• Unit tests.
• System (end to end) tests.
• Manual tests.
• User Documentation.
• Change log entry.
• Context sensitive help for GUI changes.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Introduced a custom dialog with "Continue" and "Cancel" buttons for better user interaction.

• User Experience Improvements

  • Updated messaging in the COM Registration Fixing Tool for better clarity and guidance.
  • Enhanced error handling and logging for a more reliable user experience.
  • Users can now exit the initial window using the escape key or alt+f4.

[michaelDCurran]

What is the status of this pr now that pr #12560 has been merged? Has this one been replaced, or is there extra work in this pr?

[XLTechie]

@michaelDCurran, to answer your old question: There is extra work in this PR. #12560 did the back-end. This one does the front-end (UX), and picks up errors that are not currently being handled or shown to the user. However I have been unavailable for several months, and this has fallen enough behind master that it can no longer merge/rebase as-is. I am working to bring it up to a compilable state, and then finish anything left to go on it. I think it will be tested and good to go for 2022.3.

[LeonarddeR]

@XLTechie any chance you can continue this any time soon?

[AppVeyorBot]

• PASS: Translation comments check.
• FAIL: Unit tests. See test results for more information.
• FAIL: Lint check. See test results for more information.
• FAIL: System tests (tags: installer NVDA). See test results for more information.
• Build (for testing PR): https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/h0ga1sxagrfdb9jr/artifacts/output/nvda_snapshot_pr12355-29445,054795cb.exe
• CI timing (mins):
  INIT 0.0,
  INSTALL_START 0.8,
  INSTALL_END 0.9,
  BUILD_START 0.0,
  BUILD_END 23.8,
  TESTSETUP_START 0.0,
  TESTSETUP_END 0.2,
  TEST_START 0.0,
  TEST_END 0.7,
  FINISH_END 0.1

See test results for failed build of commit 054795cbe5

[CyrilleB79]

Ping @XLTechie:
Do you plan to push forward this PR soon?

More specifically, I was about to implement a fix for #12345 when I remembered of your PR.

[CyrilleB79]

For issues with compile setup, feel free to ask on nvda-devel mailing list where such issues are usually discussed and addressed.

[AppVeyorBot]

• FAIL: Translation comments check. Translation comments missing or unexpectedly included. See build log for more information.
• PASS: Unit tests.
• FAIL: Lint check. See test results for more information.
• PASS: System tests (tags: installer NVDA).
• Build (for testing PR): https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/kxhhr2g7x6tp2gsj/artifacts/output/nvda_snapshot_pr12355-31588,b7653daa.exe
• CI timing (mins):
  INIT 0.0,
  INSTALL_START 1.1,
  INSTALL_END 0.9,
  BUILD_START 0.0,
  BUILD_END 30.0,
  TESTSETUP_START 0.0,
  TESTSETUP_END 0.4,
  TEST_START 0.0,
  TEST_END 2.4,
  FINISH_END 0.2

See test results for failed build of commit b7653daab8

[seanbudd]

@XLTechie - do you plan to finish this work? Otherwise I think it should be closed

[XLTechie]

@seanbudd yes. I put it aside because I kept running into wx issues with text formatting being very strange. I'll look at it again, and if I can't make it work as-is, I'll split it into separate PRs addressing the major portions, so the important bits can get merged. Sorry for letting it lay for so long--time flies.

[seanbudd]

No problem - draft PRs are totally fine - we just want to make sure theyre not fully abandoned

[XLTechie]

@SaschaCowley I have addressed your latest review. I'm not sure I like the user guide reordered as you requested, but I do agree with your reason for wanting to do it. In the end, all of the same information is there, which ever order it is presented in, so I'm fine with whatever.

[SaschaCowley]

@XLTechie I agree it really doesn't read very well now. Perhaps we could rewrite it to be a little less technical and more to the point of what users are likely to care about? What do you think of something like this?

Installing and uninstalling programs on a computer can sometimes cause problems with the Windows registry that result in NVDA behaving abnormally.
This can happen, for example, after installing and uninstalling Adobe Reader, Math Player and other programs.
It can also happen after Windows updates, or during other events that access the registry.
THE COM Registration Fixing Tool attempts to fix these issues by repairing accessibility entries in the registry.

The types of issues this tool can fix include:

* NVDA reporting "unknown" or "pane" when navigating in browsers such as Firefox or Edge, mail programs such as Thunderbird, Windows Explorer, the task bar, and other programs.
* NVDA failing to switch between focus mode and browse mode when you expect it to.
* NVDA being very slow when navigating in browsers while using browse mode.

Because this tool corrects entries in the Windows registry, it requires administrative access to work, just like when installing a program.
If you have UAC (User Access Control) enabled, as most users do, you will need to follow whatever prompts are presented by UAC to run the tool successfully.

[XLTechie]

@SaschaCowley How about this? Not quite what you wrote, but closer. @Qchristensen you might want to get in on this user guide discussion.

[Qchristensen]

Updated user guide and dialog intro text reads well. Great work everyone