What is the use of AccessibleContext in Java Swing?

Question

I've seen a lot of examples which use
getAccessibleContext().setAccessibleDescription(...)
to set some "magic" description.

What is the use of this description? Where can it be seen and how should it support accessibility?

Why setDescription(...) is not used?

Additionally, what is your opinion / experience with Java accessibility stuff?

Answer 1

I haven't actually used Swing's accessibility facilities in my applications (and I probably should), but I presume that it will aid in the use of screen readers and other technologies which to improve the accessibility of an application.

From the Accessibility and the Swing Set article:

If an application fully supports the Java Accessibility API, it can be compatible with, and friendly toward, screen readers, screen magnifiers, and other kinds of assistive technologies.

The linked article goes in to some depth about the accessibility features of Swing and the Accessibily API.