How are elements located when IsControlElement=false and IsContentElement=false in pywinauto?
01:39 05 Dec 2025

While using pywinauto for automated testing, I encountered a situation where I needed to retrieve the title (name) of a child control for evaluation. I can see the element's information in inspect.exe, but it's not present in pywinauto's control tree. I noticed that the element's attributes are IsControlElement=false and IsContentElement=false. How can I retrieve the text value of this child control?The information for these two elements is as follows:

How found:  Selected from tree...
Name:   "Excavation steps"
ControlType:    UIA_TextControlTypeId (0xC364)
LocalizedControlType:   "文本"
BoundingRectangle:  {l:730 t:179 r:778 b:194}
IsEnabled:  true
IsOffscreen:    false
IsKeyboardFocusable:    false
HasKeyboardFocus:   false
AcceleratorKey: ""
AccessKey:  ""
ProcessId:  14208
RuntimeId:  [7.3780.2FD41A2]
AutomationId:   "txtAddRow"
FrameworkId:    "WPF"
ClassName:  "TextBlock"
IsControlElement:   false
IsContentElement:   false
ProviderDescription:    "[pid:14208,providerId:0x0 Main(parent link):Unidentified Provider (managed:MS.Internal.Automation.ElementProxy, PresentationCore, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35)]"
LiveSettingProperty:    Off (0)
IsPassword: false
ItemStatus: ""
ItemType:   ""
IsRequiredForForm:  false
HelpText:   ""
ClickablePoint: {x:754 y:186}
Orientation:    0
PositionInSet:  4294967295
SizeOfSet:  4294967295
IsDialog:   false
HeadingLevel:   HeadingLevel_None (0x138B2)
LegacyIAccessible.ChildId:  0
LegacyIAccessible.DefaultAction:    ""
LegacyIAccessible.Description:  ""
LegacyIAccessible.Help: ""
LegacyIAccessible.KeyboardShortcut: ""
LegacyIAccessible.Name: "Excavation steps"
LegacyIAccessible.Role: 文字 (0x29)
LegacyIAccessible.State:    正常 (0x0)
LegacyIAccessible.Value:    ""
IsAnnotationPatternAvailable:   false
IsDragPatternAvailable: false
IsDockPatternAvailable: false
IsDropTargetPatternAvailable:   false
IsExpandCollapsePatternAvailable:   false
IsGridItemPatternAvailable: false
IsGridPatternAvailable: false
IsInvokePatternAvailable:   false
IsItemContainerPatternAvailable:    false
IsLegacyIAccessiblePatternAvailable:    true
IsMultipleViewPatternAvailable: false
IsObjectModelPatternAvailable:  false
IsRangeValuePatternAvailable:   false
IsScrollItemPatternAvailable:   false
IsScrollPatternAvailable:   false
IsSelectionItemPatternAvailable:    false
IsSelectionPatternAvailable:    false
IsSpreadsheetItemPatternAvailable:  false
IsSpreadsheetPatternAvailable:  false
IsStylesPatternAvailable:   false
IsSynchronizedInputPatternAvailable:    true
IsTableItemPatternAvailable:    false
IsTablePatternAvailable:    false
IsTextChildPatternAvailable:    false
IsTextEditPatternAvailable: false
IsTextPatternAvailable: false
IsTextPattern2Available:    false
IsTogglePatternAvailable:   false
IsTransformPatternAvailable:    false
IsTransform2PatternAvailable:   false
IsValuePatternAvailable:    false
IsVirtualizedItemPatternAvailable:  false
IsWindowPatternAvailable:   false
IsCustomNavigationPatternAvailable: false
IsSelectionPattern2Available:   false
FirstChild: [null]
LastChild:  [null]
Next:   [null]
Previous:   "" 图像
Other Props:    Object has no additional properties
Children:   Container has no children
Ancestors:  "" 编辑
    "" 自定义
    "app v2.0.15.10-a" 窗口
    "桌面 1" 窗格
    [ No Parent ]
How found:  Selected from tree...
Name:   ""
ControlType:    UIA_EditControlTypeId (0xC354)
LocalizedControlType:   "编辑"
BoundingRectangle:  {l:730 t:159 r:778 b:194}
IsEnabled:  true
IsOffscreen:    false
IsKeyboardFocusable:    true
HasKeyboardFocus:   false
AcceleratorKey: ""
AccessKey:  ""
ProcessId:  14208
RuntimeId:  [7.3780.2425624]
AutomationId:   ""
FrameworkId:    "WPF"
ClassName:  "TextBox"
IsControlElement:   true
IsContentElement:   true
ProviderDescription:    "[pid:14208,providerId:0x0 Main(parent link):Unidentified Provider (managed:MS.Internal.Automation.ElementProxy, PresentationCore, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35)]"
LiveSettingProperty:    Off (0)
IsPassword: false
ItemStatus: ""
ItemType:   ""
IsRequiredForForm:  false
HelpText:   ""
ClickablePoint: {x:754 y:176}
Orientation:    0
PositionInSet:  4294967295
SizeOfSet:  4294967295
IsDialog:   false
HeadingLevel:   HeadingLevel_None (0x138B2)
LegacyIAccessible.ChildId:  0
LegacyIAccessible.DefaultAction:    ""
LegacyIAccessible.Description:  ""
LegacyIAccessible.Help: ""
LegacyIAccessible.KeyboardShortcut: ""
LegacyIAccessible.Name: ""
LegacyIAccessible.Role: 可编辑文本 (0x2A)
LegacyIAccessible.State:    可设定焦点 (0x100000)
LegacyIAccessible.Value:    ""
Value.IsReadOnly:   false
Value.Value:    ""
IsAnnotationPatternAvailable:   false
IsDragPatternAvailable: false
IsDockPatternAvailable: false
IsDropTargetPatternAvailable:   false
IsExpandCollapsePatternAvailable:   false
IsGridItemPatternAvailable: false
IsGridPatternAvailable: false
IsInvokePatternAvailable:   false
IsItemContainerPatternAvailable:    false
IsLegacyIAccessiblePatternAvailable:    true
IsMultipleViewPatternAvailable: false
IsObjectModelPatternAvailable:  false
IsRangeValuePatternAvailable:   false
IsScrollItemPatternAvailable:   false
IsScrollPatternAvailable:   false
IsSelectionItemPatternAvailable:    false
IsSelectionPatternAvailable:    false
IsSpreadsheetItemPatternAvailable:  false
IsSpreadsheetPatternAvailable:  false
IsStylesPatternAvailable:   false
IsSynchronizedInputPatternAvailable:    true
IsTableItemPatternAvailable:    false
IsTablePatternAvailable:    false
IsTextChildPatternAvailable:    false
IsTextEditPatternAvailable: false
IsTextPatternAvailable: true
IsTextPattern2Available:    false
IsTogglePatternAvailable:   false
IsTransformPatternAvailable:    false
IsTransform2PatternAvailable:   false
IsValuePatternAvailable:    true
IsVirtualizedItemPatternAvailable:  false
IsWindowPatternAvailable:   false
IsCustomNavigationPatternAvailable: false
IsSelectionPattern2Available:   false
FirstChild: "" 图像
LastChild:  "Excavation steps" 文本
Next:   [null]
Previous:   [null]
Other Props:    Object has no additional properties
Children:   "" 图像
    "Excavation steps" 文本
Ancestors:  "" 自定义
    "app v2.0.15.10-a" 窗口
    "桌面 1" 窗格
    [ No Parent ]
python pywinauto inspect