White/UI Automation doesn't recognize the container (pane control) in tab - ui-automation

Question

I'm automating the windows application. I tried to access the pane element(which has text box, combo box controls) under tab control, but it's not accessible. White returns null.
I tried other techniques like UI automation TreeWalker (Rawview, Control view, content view), but nothing helps.
refer images in below links:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68446125/Tab.png
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68446125/General%20Pane.png
As in picture 1, tab control is retrieved properly by White/UI Automation, but the child element General* Pane is not returned and it's controls are not accessible (Refer pic 2 highlighted), the first accessible child element is "General* tab Item".
Strange thing is, these controls are accessible in Inspect.exe (in windows SDK). I tried following methods to retrieve controls, but General* Pane is never accessible through White/UI Automation.
var tab = Window.Get<Tab>(SearchCriteria.ByControlType(ControlType.Tab).AndByClassName("TwoPageControl")); // Tab control is retrieved properly
var pane = tab.GetElement(SearchCriteria.ByControlType(ControlType.Pane).AndByText("General*")); // this line returns NULL
var pane1 = revWindow.GetElement(SearchCriteria.ByControlType(ControlType.Pane).AndByText("General*")); // this line returns NULL
var pane2 = revWindow.Get<Panel>(SearchCriteria.ByControlType(ControlType.Pane).AndByText("General*"));// throws exception "Failed to get ControlType=pane,Name=General*,ControlType=pane"
Tried windows UI automation code as well, but no luck.
System.Windows.Automation.Condition cd1 = new AndCondition(
new PropertyCondition(AutomationElement.ControlTypeProperty, ControlType.Tab),
new PropertyCondition(AutomationElement.ClassNameProperty, "TwoPageControl"));
AutomationElement a = window.FindFirst(TreeScope.Descendants, cd1); // Tab control is returned properly here
TreeWalker rawViewWalker = TreeWalker.RawViewWalker;
AutomationElement cc = rawViewWalker.GetFirstChild(a); // General * Pane is not returned, instead General* Tab item is returned, though it's not the first child.
var cd = rawViewWalker.GetNextSibling(cc); // this returns next pane element available, not General * Pane.
Please help me how to access General * Pane and it's children under tab control. Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

I had exactly the same problem with my application. I use Inspect and open source UIAVerify where Pane element was visible as children of tab element. But when i compile Verify as a .Net 4.5 project, Pane element was not seen as part of tab. It only appears when I pointed it directly. I also search for my Pane element in Descendants of main window but there was nothing. I think it has something to do with dynamically creation of that pane content (i mean there is different content when you choose different tabItem).
I think you can't get access to that element from tree point of view.
My solution was to use AutomationElement.FromPoint Method.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.automation.automationelement.frompoint(v=vs.110).aspx
I also think this shoud help if you have conntact with people developing program.
Some controls on a page are not visible for MS UI Automation

Answer 2

You can break up the TabControl to just the TabPanel, but without its ContentPresenter. You create your own ContentPresenter which used the content of the selected TabItem.
This way, White will be able to discover the controls in the ContentPresenter.
This is a workaround and it is a shame you have to change your WPF code just because "something goes wrong with UIA". But this is the best I could do.
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TabControl x:Name="uiTab" Grid.Row="1">
<TabControl.Template>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="TabControl">
<TabPanel IsItemsHost="True" VerticalAlignment="Stretch"/>
</ControlTemplate>
</TabControl.Template>
<TabItem Header="first">
<Button>FIRST</Button>
</TabItem>
<TabItem Header="second">
<Button>SECOND</Button>
</TabItem>
</TabControl>
<ContentPresenter Content="{Binding SelectedItem.Content, ElementName=uiTab}"/>
</Grid>