set XAML Properties at runtime from an other C# Application (AutomationProperties.AutomationId)

Question

given 2 applications:

• 1 WPF application, where not all controls have a AutomationId, and which I cannot change. In addition the application adds controls at runtime without setting the AutomationId.
• 1 console application which automates the above WPF application

I need that, because I want to access all elements within nearly the same amount of time. (searching for an automationelement right before using seems to differ a lot (from ms to s) in the time - depending on the amount of elements / and tree-tiers)

I would like to set AutomationIds of WPFs controls within the console application during WPFs runtime. Would be great to know, if you can think of any solution for this problem!

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What I have tried until now:

1.)Reflections

Type type = element.GetType();
FieldInfo fi = type.GetField("AutomationIdProperty");
fi.SetValue(element, "x"); //Error

Error message: "Object of type 'System.String' cannot be converted to type 'System.Windows.Automation.AutomationProperty'" But I would like to hand over a value, not a property type...

if I use the following instead, it throws no error, but changes nothing in the XAML

fi.SetValue(element, AutomationElement.AutomationIdProperty); 

2.)directly

AutomationElement element; // = my AutomationElement 
element.Current.AutomationId = "x"; //since AutomationId is Readonly - its not possible

3.) DependencyObjects and DependencyProperties seem also promising, but I couldn't come up with an solution so far. Does someone have experience with that??

Answer 1

IDK how it is possible but WPF Inspector is exactly able to do what I was looking for (now I need to know how they attach to the WPF application :) ).

____OLD ANSWER____ It seems impossible to change the XAML of other programs. If the developers are "too lazy" to set the AutomationId, I've come up with a alternative solution.

The automation app iterates over all controls in the beginning, giving them unique names which are stored in a dictionary, together with their references. In case a component gets added/deleted/changed in the hierarchy, the component and their descendants get deleted in the dictionary and the app re-iterates over this sub-tree again.