Pane Control Type

Article
08/19/2021

This topic provides information about Microsoft UI Automation support for the Pane control type.

The Pane control type is for potentially scrollable regions that have disparate content. It is used to represent an object within a frame or document window. Users can navigate between pane controls and within the contents of the current pane. Pane controls represent a level of grouping lower than windows or documents, but above individual controls. The user navigates between panes by pressing TAB, F6, or CTRL+TAB, depending on the context.

The following sections define the required UI Automation tree structure, properties, control patterns, and events for the Pane control type. The UI Automation requirements apply to all pane controls where the UI framework/platform integrates UI Automation support for control types and control patterns.

This topic contains the following sections.

Typical Tree Structure
Relevant Properties
Required Control Patterns
Required Events
Pane Control Type Example
Related topics

Typical Tree Structure

The following table depicts a typical control and content view of the UI Automation tree that pertains to pane 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
Pane	Pane

A pane control always appears in the control and content views. Do not expose a layout object as a pane in either the control or content view if the object is used only for visual presentation.

Relevant Properties

The following table lists the UI Automation properties whose value or definition is especially relevant to pane controls. For more information about UI Automation properties, see Retrieving Properties from UI Automation Elements.

UI Automation Property	Value	Notes
UIA_AccessKeyPropertyId	See notes.	If a specific key combination gives focus to the pane, that information should be exposed through this property.
UIA_AutomationIdPropertyId	See notes.	The value of this property must be unique among all peer elements in the raw view of the UI Automation tree.
UIA_BoundingRectanglePropertyId	See notes.	The outermost rectangle that contains the whole control.
UIA_ClickablePointPropertyId	See notes.	This property exposes a clickable point of the pane control that causes the pane to become focused when it is clicked.
UIA_ControlTypePropertyId	Pane
UIA_HelpTextPropertyId	See notes.	The help text for pane controls should explain the purpose of the frame and how it relates to other frames. A description is necessary if the purpose and relationship of the frames is not clear from the value of the UIA_NamePropertyId property.
UIA_IsContentElementPropertyId	TRUE	The pane control is always included in the content view of the UI Automation tree.
UIA_IsControlElementPropertyId	TRUE	The pane control is always included in the control view of the UI Automation tree.
UIA_IsKeyboardFocusablePropertyId	See notes.	If the control can receive keyboard focus, it must support this property.
UIA_LabeledByPropertyId	See notes.	Pane controls typically do not have a static label. If there is a static text label, it should be exposed through this property.
UIA_LocalizedControlTypePropertyId	See notes.	Localized string corresponding to the Pane control type. The default value is "pane" for en-US or English (United States).
UIA_NamePropertyId	See notes.	The value for this property must always be a clear, concise and meaningful title.

Required Control Patterns

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

Control Pattern	Support	Notes
IDockProvider	Depends	Implement the Dock control pattern if the pane control can be docked.
IScrollProvider	Depends	Implement the Scroll control pattern if the pane control can be scrolled.
ITransformProvider	Depends	Implement the Transform control pattern if the pane control can be moved, resized, or rotated on the screen.
IWindowProvider	Never	If the element needs to implement the Window control pattern, the control should be based on the Window control type.

Required Events

The following table lists the UI Automation events that pane controls are required to support. For more information on events, see UI Automation Events Overview.

UI Automation Event	Notes
UIA_AsyncContentLoadedEventId
UIA_AutomationFocusChangedEventId
UIA_BoundingRectanglePropertyId property-changed event.
UIA_IsOffscreenPropertyId property-changed event.	If the control supports the IsOffscreen property, it must support this event.
UIA_ScrollHorizontallyScrollablePropertyId property-changed event.	If the control supports the Scroll control pattern, it must support this event.
UIA_ScrollHorizontalScrollPercentPropertyId property-changed event.	If the control supports the Scroll control pattern, it must support this event.
UIA_ScrollHorizontalViewSizePropertyId property-changed event.	If the control supports the Scroll control pattern, it must support this event.
UIA_ScrollVerticallyScrollablePropertyId property-changed event.	If the control supports the Scroll control pattern, it must support this event.
UIA_ScrollVerticalScrollPercentPropertyId property-changed event.	If the control supports the Scroll control pattern, it must support this event.
UIA_ScrollVerticalViewSizePropertyId property-changed event.	If the control supports the Scroll control pattern, it must support this event.
UIA_StructureChangedEventId