UI Automation Support for the Tab Control Type

This topic provides information about UI Automation support for the Tab 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 UI Automation. control patterns.

A tab control is analogous to the dividers in a notebook or the labels in a file cabinet. By using a tab control, an application can define multiple pages for the same area of a window or dialog box.

The following sections define the required UI Automation tree structure, properties, control patterns, and events for the Tab control type. The UI Automation requirements apply to all tab 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
• Required UI Automation Events
• 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 tab controls and describes what can be contained in each view. For more information on the UI Automation tree, see UI Automation Tree Overview.

Control View	Content View
Tab TabItem (1 or more) Pane (0 or 1) ScrollBar (0 or 1) Button (0 or 2)	Tab TabItem (1 or more)

Tab controls have child UI Automation elements based on the Tab Item control type.

Required UI Automation Properties

The following table lists the UI Automation properties whose value or definition is especially relevant to the Tab control type. For more information on UI Automation properties, see UI Automation Properties for Clients.

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UI Automation 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.
IsKeyboardFocusableProperty	See notes.	If the control can receive keyboard focus, it must support this property.
NameProperty	See notes.	The tab control rarely requires a Name property.
ClickablePointProperty	No	The tab control does not have a clickable point.
LabeledByProperty	See notes.	Tab controls typically have a static text label that is exposed through this property.
ControlTypeProperty	Tab	This value is the same for all UI frameworks.
LocalizedControlTypeProperty	"tab"	Localized string corresponding to the Tab control type.
IsKeyboardFocusableProperty	True	The Tab control type must be able to receive keyboard focus. Typically, a UI Automation client calls SetFocus on a tab control and one of its items will forward the keyboard focus to the tab control. It is possible for some tab containers to take focus without setting focus to one of its items.
IsContentElementProperty	True	The tab control is always included in the content view of the UI Automation tree.
IsControlElementProperty	True	The tab control is always included in the control view of the UI Automation tree.
OrientationProperty	See notes.	The tab control must always indicate whether it is positioned horizontally or vertically.

Required UI Automation Control Patterns

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

Control Pattern/Pattern Property	Support/Value	Notes
ISelectionProvider	Yes	All tab controls must support the Selection pattern.
IsSelectionRequired	True	Tab controls always require that a selection be made.
CanSelectMultiple	False	Tab controls are always single-selection containers.
IScrollProvider	Depends	The Scroll pattern must be supported in the tab control has widgets that allow for a set of tab items to be scrolled through.

Required UI Automation Events

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

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UI Automation Event	Support	Notes
BoundingRectangleProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
IsOffscreenProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
IsEnabledProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
HorizontallyScrollableProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None
HorizontalScrollPercentProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None
HorizontallyScrollableProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None
HorizontalViewSizeProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None
VerticalScrollPercentProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None
VerticalViewSizeProperty property-changed event.	Depends	None
AutomationFocusChangedEvent	Required	None
StructureChangedEvent	Required	None

See Also

Reference

Tab

Concepts

UI Automation Control Types Overview
UI Automation Overview