[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]
The State property, retrieved by calling the IAccessible::get_accState method, describes an object's status at a moment in time. In most cases, the retrieved value is a bitmask containing one or more of the object state constant flag values, but the server can provide a string if none of the predefined flags suffice. Use the GetStateText method to retrieve these strings. The oleacc.dll dynamic-link library supports these object state constants, which are defined in the oleacc.h header file.
Servers can combine the predefined flags with an "alert level" that indicates the importance of the other flags. These are STATE_SYSTEM_ALERT_LOW, STATE_SYSTEM_ALERT_MEDIUM, and STATE_SYSTEM_ALERT_HIGH. A client can use these alert levels to gauge the information's urgency.