Automatic vs. Manual QAccessible::updateAccessibility() for Dynamic Widget Visibility

Trade-off: Rely on Qt's built-in accessibility updates or explicitly manage them for dynamic workflows

Qt's standard widgets automatically expose roles and states through QAccessible::queryAccessibleInterface, requiring minimal code. However, when widgets are shown, hidden, or rebuilt at runtime, the framework's decision to fire QAccessibleEvent::Show or Hide depends on the widget's visibility state and the platform accessibility plugin. This leads to inconsistent screen-reader announcements across Windows (UIA), macOS (VoiceOver), and Linux (AT-SPI/ATK).

A custom QAccessibleInterface implementation can expose application-specific attributes and relationships, but it shifts responsibility to the developer: the accessibility object lifecycle must be kept in sync manually, and QAccessible::updateAccessibility() must be called after each structural change. The documentation recommends this call, yet it is not guaranteed to be invoked automatically by layout changes in all Qt versions (5.15 vs 6.x).

Specific questions

1. For a workflow that frequently toggles widget visibility, is it more reliable to install a custom accessible factory that explicitly calls updateAccessibility() on every show/hide, or to depend on Qt's built-in behavior and accept platform-dependent gaps?
2. What profiling approach best quantifies the overhead of a custom QAccessibleInterface versus the risk of missed announcements with the default factory?