Unable to make Lexibar read a sentence by selecting the text. Worked before (3.9).

[beaudoinl-del]

We must try to keep SafeExamBrowser up to date in our school environment. This allows us to take advantage of the latest innovations and fix some bugs.

We tested version 3.10, and unlike 3.9, it is impossible to have our Haylem Lexibar text-to-speech software read a sentence. We allow Lexibar and Antidote to be used by our students when using Moodle.

When we write, Lexibar does its job and reads the text. But if we want to have a sentence read back to us by selecting it, Lexibar cannot read it.

After some research, it appears that additional security features in SafeExamBrowser are preventing Lexibar from accessing the Clipboard where the sentence to be read is stored. Artificial intelligence suggested some possible solutions, but they don't work.

We didn't have this problem with previous versions of SafeExamBrowser. Lexibar worked perfectly. Students often select a sentence or paragraph to have it read to them, so it's important that this works. We can't be the only ones reporting this issue.

IMPORTANT: We do allow access to Clipboard in the settings of our SEB configuration file.

We therefore cannot migrate to more recent versions of SafeExamBrowser.

We are therefore reporting the issue.

Linda Beaudoin
IT Technician
École secondaire des Pionniers
Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada
https://pionniers.csscdr.gouv.qc.ca/

Important

• Please always consult the documentation first before creating a bug report: https://safeexambrowser.org/windows/win_usermanual_en.html.
• Please always attach the log file(s) of the affected session(s)! They can be found under %LocalAppData%\SafeExamBrowser\Logs.

Describe the Bug
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Steps to Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

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

Expected Behavior
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Screenshots
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Version Information

• OS: [e.g. Windows 10 Professional, Version 1803]
• SEB-Version [e.g. SEB 3.0.1]

Additional Context
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[xavier-bw]

I was investigating a similar issue today. It's about other accessibility tools (the Sprinter / Skippy tools from the SprintPlus accessibility Suite), but I came to the same conclusion, SEB 3.9 worked, SEB 3.10 no longer works.

Sprinter is a text to speech tool: you select text, press the sprinter button, see the text copied in some Sprinter dialog where it marks the words as it reads them. Worked before, now clicking this button no longer works.

Skippy works differently: it's a word predictor. As you type you see lists of words appear that may be the word you're trying to type. This part still works. But it's the intention that you can then click a word in the list and it gets pasted in your edit field. That no longer works.

The ClipboardPolicy is set to 0. Somewhere last school year this suddenly became required, but I don't remember whether this was due to a SEB or a SprintPlus update... but now it's clearly no longer enough.

[dbuechel]

Please provide the log files of the affected session(s). Also, please try your use case with kiosk mode Disable Explorer Shell instead of the default Create New Desktop and verify whether that resolves the issue.

If not, please provide a testing setup with clear instructions on how to reproduce the issue. Please do also note that we cannot purchase software licenses just for testing resp. debugging issues with third-party applications, thus please verify beforehand whether the issue is reproducible with the demo or free edition of your used software.

[dbuechel]

Reading through the release notes for version 3.10.0, you may find that the following changes could interfere with your third-party application use case:

• Implemented basic window protection (Prevent unknown remote software from leaking test questions or taking the test for others #1071).
• Blocking of injected keyboard inputs (Blocking injtected keyboard inputs. #1005).

The first change can be controlled resp. disabled via the settings (see comment), the second change is currently hard-coded and would need a new configuration value in order to control it.

[xavier-bw]

I tried:

• The other kiosk mode
• Enabling the 'Allow screen capturing and recording' option

This didn't have an effect on Sprinter or Skippy, they are still not working.

I'll ask them if they can provide you with a copy of their software for testing... If they agree I'll create a reproducer.

[xavier-bw]

If you get access to the software, this is a reproducer. Skippy and Sprinter will be launched at startup. The webpage doesn't matter, you need a page with text you can select and an input field to reproduce these 2 issues, I've used the chatGPT URL.

• To reproduce the first issue, select a line of text on this page, and hit the purple play button of sprinter. What should happen is that the text gets copied to the small black window and words get highlighted as it's read out. In 3.9 this happens, in 3.10 nothing happens.

• To reproduce the second issue, go into the input box and type a character. Words will appear in the Skippy tool. When you click one of the words it should be pasted in the input box. In 3.9 this happens, in 3.10 nothing happens.

I've enabled the option to allow screen capturing as well as the Disable explorer shell kiosk mode.

Quit password is abc123.

sprinter_skippy_problems.seb.zip

[MarkBlondal]

I am experiencing the same issue with IntoWords(for dyslexic students).

The software/process is allowed and the software can run just fine, but if you mark some text and want to have it read it aloud it fails. I talked to the developers of IntoWords and according to them they rely solely on copy/paste for the text capture and text-to-speech.

But the program indicates that it isn't able to grab the text I am highlighting in the active SEB session.(It gives an error saying that I have to highlight text first.)
I can easily copy and paste text inside the session, but IntoWords isn't able to access it - And yes, I have allowed broad access for copy pasting in the settings. (Security -> Clipboard Policy - > Allow)

Some screenshots and a video of it failing: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17EveAh6vMSyv2AoYlteCXPoqUjnk4GAH?usp=sharing

Sorry, I completely forgot to include the fact that it works flawlessly in SEB 3.9.0.787 and only stops working in 3.10

[dbuechel]

@MarkBlondal Have you tried disabling the window protection introduced in version 3.10 (see #1284 (comment))?

[MarkBlondal]

Yes I read both threads but can't quite figure out how to negate the unintended limitation I'm experiencing?
The thread about blocking injected keyboard inputs doesn't mention a way to negate the change, or am I missing something?

[dbuechel]

@MarkBlondal As you've stated that your use case works flawlessly with version 3.9.0, there must be changes for version 3.10.0 which interfere with your use case ‒ thus, we must identify the changes first in order to then change or improve them. The two major changes with new restrictions for version 3.10.0 are linked in the comment above, hence we must identify whether it's the window protection or the blocking of injected keyboard inputs (or both).

Thus, if you disable the window protection and it still does not work, then we can exclude it as culprit resp. then it is likely the blocking of injected keyboard input ‒ although if you stated that your application only reads the clipboard, then it would be quite strange that the new restriction would cause this issue.

[dbuechel]

As stated in #1310: We'll take this up in our backlog and will provide a new configuration option for allowing the injection of keyboard input in a future release. Once the new configuration option is ready for testing, we'll report back here and all of you can retest their particular use cases.