UI Automation Support for the SplitButton Control Type

Note

This documentation is intended for .NET Framework developers who want to use the managed UI Automation classes defined in the System.Windows.Automation namespace. For the latest information about UI Automation, see Windows Automation API: UI Automation.

This topic provides information about UI Automation support for the SplitButton 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.

The split button control enables the ability to perform an action on a control and expand the control to see a list of other possible actions that can be performed.

The following sections define the required UI Automation tree structure, properties, control patterns, and events for the SplitButton control type. The UI Automation requirements apply to all split button 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
• SplitButton Control 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 split button controls and describes what can be contained in each view. For more information about the UI Automation tree, see UI Automation Tree Overview.

Control View	Content View
SplitButton Image (0 or 1) Text (0 or 1) Button (1 or 2) Menu (0 or 1; appears as child of button that supports ExpandCollapse pattern) MenuItem (1 to many)	SplitButton MenuItem (1 to many)

Required UI Automation Properties

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

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.
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.
IsKeyboardFocusableProperty	See notes.	If the control can receive keyboard focus, it must support this property.
NameProperty	"Back"	The split button control's name is displayed on the button.
LabeledByProperty	Null	Split button controls do not have a static text label.
ControlTypeProperty	SplitButton	This value is the same for all UI frameworks.
LocalizedControlTypeProperty	"split button"	Localized string corresponding to the SplitButton control type.
HelpTextProperty	See notes.	The help text can indicate the result of activating the split button, which is typically the same type of information presented through a tooltip.
IsContentElementProperty	True	The split button control contains information for the end user.
IsControlElementProperty	True	The split button control is visible to the end user.

Required UI Automation Control Patterns

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

Control Pattern	Support	Notes
IInvokeProvider	Required	Split buttons always have a default action associated with Invoke.
IExpandCollapseProvider	Required	Split buttons always have the ability to expand a list of options.

Required UI Automation Events

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

UI Automation Event	Support	Notes
InvokedEvent	Required	None
BoundingRectangleProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
IsOffscreenProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
IsEnabledProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
ExpandCollapseStateProperty property-changed event.	Required	None
AutomationFocusChangedEvent	Required	None
StructureChangedEvent	Required	None

SplitButton Control Example

The following image illustrates a SplitButton control type in a data grid control.

The Control View and the Content View of the UI Automation tree that pertains to the data grid and split button controls is displayed below. The control patterns for each automation element are shown in parentheses.

UI Automation Tree - Control View	UI Automation Tree - Content View
SplitButton "Name" (Invoke, ExpandCollapse) Button "More options" (Invoke) Menu MenuItem …	SplitButton "Name" (Invoke, ExpandCollapse) Button "More options" (Invoke) Menu MenuItem …

See Also

Reference

SplitButton

Concepts

UI Automation Control Types Overview

UI Automation Overview