UI Automation Support for the Data Item Control Type

This topic provides information about Microsoft UI Automation support for the Data Item control type. In UI Automation a control type is a set of conditions that a control must meet in order to use the ControlTypeProperty property. The conditions include specific guidelines for UI Automation tree structure, UI Automation property values and control patterns.

An entry in a Contacts list is an example of a data item control. A data item control contains information that is of interest to an end user. It is more complicated than the simple list item because it contains richer information.

The following sections define the required UI Automation tree structure, properties, control patterns, and events for the Data Item control type. The UI Automation requirements apply to all data item controls, whether Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Win32, or Windows Forms.

This topic contains the following sections.

• Required UI Automation Tree Structure
• Required UI Automation Properties
• Required UI Automation Control Patterns
• Working with Data Items in Large Lists
• Required UI Automation Events
• Data Item Control Type Example
• Related Topics

Required UI Automation Tree Structure

The following table depicts the control view and the content view of the UI Automation tree that pertains to data item controls and describes what can be contained in each view. For more information about the UI Automation tree, see UI Automation Tree Overview.

UI Automation Tree - Control View	UI Automation Tree - Content View
DataItem Varies	DataItem Varies

Required UI Automation Properties

The following table lists the properties whose value or definition is especially relevant to data item controls. For more information about UI Automation properties, see UI Automation Properties for Clients.

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Property	Value	Notes
AutomationIdProperty	See notes.	The value of this property needs to be unique across all controls in an application.
BoundingRectangleProperty	See notes.	The outermost rectangle that contains the whole control.
ClickablePointProperty	See notes.	Supported if there is a bounding rectangle. If not every point within the bounding rectangle is clickable, and you perform specialized hit testing, then override and provide a clickable point.
ControlTypeProperty	DataItem	This value is the same for all UI frameworks.
IsContentElementProperty	True	The data item control must always be content.
IsControlElementProperty	True	The data item control must always be a control.
IsKeyboardFocusableProperty	See notes.	If the control can receive keyboard focus, it must support this property.
ItemStatusProperty	See notes.	If the control contains status that is being updated dynamically then this property must be supported so that an assistive technology can receive updates when the status of the element changes.
ItemTypeProperty	See notes.	This is the string value that conveys to the end user the underlying object that the item represents. Examples are "Media File" or "Contact".
LabeledByProperty	Null	Data item controls do not have a static text label.
LocalizedControlTypeProperty	"item"	Localized string corresponding to the Data Item control type.
NameProperty	See notes.	The data item control always contains a primary text element that relates to what the user would associate as the most semantic identifier for the item.

Required UI Automation Control Patterns

The following table lists the Microsoft UI Automation control patterns required to be supported by all data item controls. For more information about control patterns, see UI Automation Control Patterns Overview.

Control Pattern/Pattern Property	Support/Value	Notes
IExpandCollapseProvider	Depends	If the data item can be expanded or collapsed to show and hide information, the Expand Collapse pattern must be supported.
IGridItemProvider	Depends	Data items will support the Grid Item pattern when a collection of data items is available within a container that can be spatially navigated item-to-item.
IScrollItemProvider	Depends	All data items support the ability to be scrolled into view with the Scroll Item pattern when their data container has more items than can fit on the screen.
ISelectionItemProvider	Yes	All data items must support the Selection Item pattern to indicate when the item is selected.
ITableItemProvider	Depends	If the data item is contained within a Data Grid control type then it will support this pattern.
IToggleProvider	Depends	If the data item contains a state that can be cycled through.
IValueProvider	Depends	If the data item's primary text is editable then the Value pattern must be supported.

Working with Data Items in Large Lists

Large lists are often data virtualized within UI frameworks to assist in performance. Due to this, a UI Automation client cannot use the UI Automation query feature to scrape the contents of the full tree in the same way that it can in other item containers. A client should scroll the item into view prior to accessing the full set of information from the data item.

When calling SetFocus on the UI Automation element for the data item, the Microsoft Windows Explorer case will return successfully and cause focus to be set to the Edit within the data item subtree.

Required UI Automation Events

The following table lists the UI Automation events required to be supported by all button controls. For more information about events, see UI Automation Events Overview.

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UI Automation Event	Support	Notes
AutomationFocusChangedEvent	Required	None
BoundingRectangleProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
IsEnabledProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
IsOffscreenProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
NameProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
StructureChangedEvent	Required	None
InvokedEvent	Depends	None
ExpandCollapseStateProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None
ElementAddedToSelectionEvent	Required	None
ElementRemovedFromSelectionEvent	Required	None
ElementSelectedEvent	Required	None
ToggleStateProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None
ValueProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None

Data Item Control Type Example

The following image illustrates a Data Item control type in a List View control.

The Control View and the Content View of the UI Automation tree that pertains to the Data Item control is displayed below. The control patterns for each automation element are shown in parentheses.

UI Automation Tree - Control View	UI Automation Tree - Content View
Data Item (Sort, Table, Selection, Grid) Edit "Accounts Receivable" (SelectionItem, Invoke) Image Text "11.0 KB" (GridItem, TableItem)	Data Item (Sort, Table, Selection, Grid) Edit "Accounts Receivable" (SelectionItem, Invoke) Image Text "11.0 KB" (GridItem, TableItem)

See Also

Reference

DataItem

Concepts

UI Automation Control Types Overview
UI Automation Overview