feat(matches): add inSectioningContent, hasChild, and isSummaryForDetails matches by straker · Pull Request #5262 · dequelabs/axe-core

straker · 2026-07-27T22:39:48Z

This should allow us to handle the variant matching in htmlElms needed for header, footer, figure, and summary.

{
  header: {
    variant: {
      sectioned: {
        matches: {
          inSectioningContent: true
        }
      }
    } 
  },

  figure: {
    variant: {
      figcaption: {
        matches: {
          hasChild: 'figcaption'
        }
      }
    } 
  },

  summary: {
    variant: {
      details: {
        matches: {
          isSummaryForDetails: true
        }
      }
    } 
  }
}

Resolved

WilcoFiers

Nice direction overall — expressing the header/footer, figure, and summary variants as matchers is the right shape, and hand-rolling the role lookup instead of calling getRole is the correct call given #5263.

Two correctness issues need resolving before this can be the foundation for the htmlElms work, plus a semantics question on the ancestor walk.

Critical

inSectioningContent applies conflict resolution unconditionally, so any focusable or globally-labelled element loses its explicit role. One test currently asserts the incorrect result.

Important

inSectioningContent and isSummaryForDetails ignore the matcher argument, so { inSectioningContent: false } can't be expressed — which is exactly what the header/footer banner variant needs.
hasDescendant counts a nested figure's caption for the outer figure.
The ancestor walk is self-inclusive, so sectioning elements match themselves.

Suggestions

JSDoc corrections, test independence from the standards data, and expanding the loop-avoidance comment to name #5263 as its removal condition.

Details inline.

Resolved

chutchins25

Nice work — replacing hasAncestor/hasDescendant/firstOfType with these three
matchers is the right shape, and switching inSectioningContent to getRole is the
correct fix for the conflict-resolution bug from the last round (it gets
<main role="none" aria-label> and the element-internals case right, where the
hand-rolled version didn't). Confirmed resolved on ef121b9e: the self-inclusive
walk, the JSDoc @params, the tests deriving their expectations from the standards
data, and the nested-figcaption problem (hasChild being direct-children-only
sidesteps it entirely).

Four things, two of them concrete bugs:

isSummaryForDetails got the fromPrimative fix on its return path but not its
early return, so the negated form still reports the wrong answer.
hasChild throws a TypeError on a SerialVirtualNode with no children — the
virtual-rule path this is being built for.
inSectioningContent's disconnected-tree guard is unreachable for a node whose own
parent is undefined, so it throws at depth ≥ 2 but silently returns false at
depth 1. Which answer is intended?
Dropping the hand-rolled role lookup reopens the <section> accname re-entrancy
path, and the comment that recorded why it was hand-rolled went with it. Nothing
misbehaves today, but it makes #5263 a prerequisite for the htmlElms work rather
than a cleanup — worth writing that down somewhere.

Details inline.

Co-authored-by: Chris Hutchins <[email protected]>

…matches

Resolved

…variant Replace the inline condition function in the figure figcaption variant with the serializable hasChild: 'figcaption' matcher from #5262 so the standards object stays function-free. Behavior is unchanged.

…the summary variant Replace the inline condition function in the summary variant with the serializable isSummaryForDetails matcher from #5262 so the standards object stays function-free. The matcher intentionally throws for a disconnected (parentless) node, so the virtual-rule test now gives the summary a non-details parent.

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [commit-and-tag-version](https://github.com/absolute-version/commit-and-tag-version) for commit guidelines. ## [4.13.0](v4.12.1...v4.13.0) (2026-08-05) ### Features - **aria-actions:** add aria-actions to allowed ARIA attributes ([#5200](#5200)) ([029655d](029655d)), closes [#4584](#4584) [#5199](#5199), references [#5215](#5215) [#5215](#5215) - **aria-allowed-attr:** flag deprecated ARIA attributes as needs-review ([#5246](#5246)) ([518f3cc](518f3cc)), closes [#3341](#3341) - **aria-prohibited-attr:** allow many elements to be named and disallow label and body from being named ([#5259](#5259)) ([d8b1ea5](d8b1ea5)) - **aria-roles:** add sectionheader and sectionfooter roles ([#5238](#5238)) ([c36c109](c36c109)), closes [#4734](#4734), references [#4734](#4734) - **aria/get-aria-value:** new function to get aria values of a node ([#5109](#5109)) ([a7d8f3e](a7d8f3e)), references [#5042](#5042) - **aria/has-attr-value:** new function to check if node has aria value ([#5136](#5136)) ([61f2624](61f2624)), references [#5109](#5109) - **aria:** support role=image as equivalent to role=img ([#5248](#5248)) ([5aa8aaf](5aa8aaf)), closes [#4656](#4656), references [#5272](#5272) - **checks/aria:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5172](#5172)) ([9b7f754](9b7f754)) - **checks/label:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5170](#5170)) ([21c5f8b](21c5f8b)) - **checks/navigation:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5167](#5167)) ([2c3a98f](2c3a98f)) - **commons/aria:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5171](#5171)) ([31f09e7](31f09e7)) - **commons/dom:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5163](#5163)) ([f0a12cf](f0a12cf)) - **commons/forms:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5165](#5165)) ([27a4686](27a4686)) - **commons/matches/fromPrimative:** deprecate in favor of correct spelling ([#5270](#5270)) ([31cfb2e](31cfb2e)) - **commons/text:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5169](#5169)) ([e841a33](e841a33)) - **commons/text:** support form-associated labels via element internals ([#5182](#5182)) ([57cfe0a](57cfe0a)), closes [#5045](#5045), references [#5170](#5170) [#5039](#5039) [#5151](#5151) [#5039](#5039) - **dom/getResolvedRefs:** new function to get the resolved virtual nodes of idrefs ([#5151](#5151)) ([489cdea](489cdea)), references [#5109](#5109) - **element-internals:** enable ElementInternals by default ([#5284](#5284)) ([2740d42](2740d42)), closes [#5277](#5277) - **i18n:** Add Swedish locale ([#5190](#5190)) ([dcd13f2](dcd13f2)), references [#5189](#5189) - **matches:** add inSectioningContent, hasChild, and isSummaryForDetails matches ([#5262](#5262)) ([c47cdcd](c47cdcd)) - **rules:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5168](#5168)) ([065baf7](065baf7)) - **standards/ariaAttrs:** add caseInsensitive property for attributes ([#5224](#5224)) ([bcd791c](bcd791c)) ### Bug Fixes - **aria-allowed-role:** allow roles on a non-details summary ([#5242](#5242)) ([3bd9875](3bd9875)), closes [#3911](#3911), references [#3443](#3443) [#3911](#3911) - **aria-allowed-role:** restrict figure roles with child figcaption ([#5240](#5240)) ([178a635](178a635)), closes [#3443](#3443) - **aria-prohibited-attr:** visible aria-labelledby requires review only ([#5285](#5285)) ([fd6fa9f](fd6fa9f)) - **axe.d.ts:** make enabled property of RuleMetadata optional ([#5129](#5129)) ([90fce18](90fce18)) - **color-contrast:** fix various stacking context bugs ([#5214](#5214)) ([d5e5b04](d5e5b04)), references [#8](#8) [#5213](#5213) - **gather-internals:** handle non-HTMLElement nodes ([#5161](#5161)) ([06e84c3](06e84c3)) - **get-selector:** escape control characters in attribute selectors ([#5273](#5273)) ([4b60ac5](4b60ac5)), closes [#5204](#5204) [#5204](#5204) - **image-alt:** allow whitespace alt on presentational images ([#5218](#5218)) ([c5dd0ef](c5dd0ef)), closes [#5216](#5216) - **landmark-unique:** exclude section/form with non-landmark roles from landmark match ([#5085](#5085)) ([c5fd013](c5fd013)), closes [#4722](#4722) [#5064](#5064) - name the image role in role-img-alt and svg-img-alt metadata ([#5279](#5279)) ([995a269](995a269)), closes [#5272](#5272), references [#5248](#5248) [#5248](#5248) - **standards:** update aria-errormessage and aria-details to be idrefs ([#5157](#5157)) ([fb94f8a](fb94f8a)) This PR was opened by a robot 🤖 🎉

feat(matches): add hasAncestor, hasDescendant, and firstOfType matches

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straker requested a review from a team as a code owner July 27, 2026 22:39

WilcoFiers mentioned this pull request Jul 28, 2026

feat(matches): replace hasAccessibleName matcher with a re-entrancy-safe hasNameFromAuthor #5263

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WilcoFiers previously requested changes Jul 28, 2026

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straker added 2 commits July 29, 2026 13:53

Merge branch 'develop' into matches

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move to summaryForDetails

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straker changed the title ~~feat(matches): add hasAncestor, hasDescendant, and firstOfType matches~~ feat(matches): add hasAncestor, hasDescendant, and summaryForDetails matches Jul 29, 2026

straker added 4 commits July 29, 2026 14:15

name is isSummaryForDetails

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alpha order

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fix typo

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change hasAncestor to inSectioningContent

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straker changed the title ~~feat(matches): add hasAncestor, hasDescendant, and summaryForDetails matches~~ feat(matches): add inSectioningContent, hasDescendant, and summaryForDetails matches Jul 30, 2026

forgot test

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WilcoFiers previously requested changes Jul 30, 2026

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straker added 2 commits July 30, 2026 09:22

suggetsions

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add test

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straker changed the title ~~feat(matches): add inSectioningContent, hasDescendant, and summaryForDetails matches~~ feat(matches): add inSectioningContent, hasChild, and summaryForDetails matches Jul 30, 2026

comment

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straker changed the title ~~feat(matches): add inSectioningContent, hasChild, and summaryForDetails matches~~ feat(matches): add inSectioningContent, hasChild, and isSummaryForDetails matches Jul 30, 2026

straker added 2 commits July 30, 2026 09:37

find and replce fail

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undo

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chutchins25 reviewed Jul 30, 2026

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Comment thread lib/commons/matches/is-summary-for-details.js

Comment thread lib/commons/matches/has-child.js

Comment thread lib/commons/matches/in-sectioning-content.js Outdated

Comment thread lib/commons/matches/in-sectioning-content.js Outdated

straker and others added 3 commits July 30, 2026 10:01

Update lib/commons/matches/is-summary-for-details.js

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Co-authored-by: Chris Hutchins <[email protected]>

throw more

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Merge branch 'matches' of https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core into …

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…matches

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Comment thread lib/commons/matches/is-summary-for-details.js Outdated

Comment thread lib/standards/html-elms.js Outdated

Comment thread lib/standards/html-elms.js

straker added 2 commits August 3, 2026 10:28

Merge branch 'develop' into matches

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suggestions

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straker force-pushed the matches branch from 42d4753 to 5a86146 Compare August 3, 2026 16:29

WilcoFiers approved these changes Aug 3, 2026

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straker merged commit c47cdcd into develop Aug 3, 2026
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straker deleted the matches branch August 3, 2026 16:37

attest-team-ci mentioned this pull request Aug 5, 2026

chore(release): v4.13.0 #5288

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feat(matches): add inSectioningContent, hasChild, and isSummaryForDetails matches - #5262

feat(matches): add inSectioningContent, hasChild, and isSummaryForDetails matches#5262
straker merged 18 commits into
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straker commented Jul 27, 2026 •

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straker commented Jul 27, 2026 •

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