Windows UIAutomation creating PropertyCondition

Question

I am porting some UI automation from the System.Windows.Automation API to the native UIAutomationClient API, and have run into what feels like a simple problem, but cannot find the solution.

I need to find UI elements using code along these lines:

IUIAutomationElement namedElement = currentWindow.FindFirst(UIAutomationClient.TreeScope.TreeScope_Descendants, nameCondition);

Here, the nameCondition object should a IUIAutomationCondition to compare the name of the element to a string.

Using the old System.Windows.Automation I would write this as:

PropertyCondition nameCondition = new PropertyCondition(AutomationElement.NameProperty, "name");

However, I cannot work out how to use the UIAutomation API to create a PropertyCondition. The only examples I have seen seem to suggest something along these lines:

IUIAutomationCondition nameCondition = cuiAutomation.CreatePropertyCondition(propertyIdName, "name");   

Here, propertyIdName should be an int representing the NameProperty. However, I cannot work out how to get the correct int here. I assume it must be somewhere in the UIAutomation API as a constant, but cannot find it.

Answer 1

I discovered the following useful page which lists the values of these property IDs: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee684017(v=vs.85).aspx

For example: UIA_AutomationIdPropertyId = 30011

Using this page, I define int constants in my code for the property IDs that I need to use. I don't think that this can be the right answer, but at least it enables me to make progress.

Answer 2

Not a complete answer, but I found the values in UIAutomationClient.UIA_PropertyIds. Unfortunately, trying to access them directly from your code still results in an error, but you can easily "Go to Definition" on them to grab the id values.

Answer 3

I have been working quite a while with the IUIAutomation wrapper available as a nuget package for my .net core project. there are some classes that house those infos like PropertyIds, or ControlTypeIds. The nuget in question is Interop.UIAutomationClient. Personally I do not try to go the route of noting down the actual ID, instead I try to use its reference in the code. An example could look something like this:

IUIAutomationCondition cond1 = CurrentWindow.CreatePropertyCondition(UIA_PropertyIds.UIA_ControlTypePropertyId, UIA_ControlTypeIds.UIA_EditControlTypeId);
IUIAutomationCondition cond2 = CurrentWindow.CreatePropertyCondition(UIA_PropertyIds.UIA_NamePropertyId, "File name:");

UIA_ControlTypeIds and UIA_PropertyIds would be the classes referencing the Ids for the different Controltypes and Properties. I am sure there are more of those classes available in the nuget, but personally there was no immediate need to dig in further.