Clicking a ComboBox item when the drop-down is outside the original window

[alex1990]

I'm trying to write an automation script which clicks an item in a WinForms ComboBox. I am able to click the field and get the list to appear, but I cannot click the item in the list. I tried using the following code first

ControlClick("MyProgram", "", "[ID:462328]")
Sleep(1000)
ControlClick("MyProgram", "", "[TEXT:API_PERFORMANCE]")

This correctly opens the drop-down, but it does not click the desired value (list item "API_PERFORMANCE"). Using the Window Info tool on the item yields me a control with CLASS:Progman and TEXT:Program Manager. I did some poking around the internet, and found that, in older versions of WinForms, ComboBox lists and their items are created outside of the original program, on the desktop, so I tried the following code.

ControlClick("MyProgram", "", "[ID:462328]")
Sleep(1000)
ControlClick("[CLASS:Progman]", "", "[TEXT:API_PERFORMANCE]")

This still does not click anything. I am unsure how to proceed at this point. I used the Microsoft-provided inspect.exe tool to get the following information about the control.

expandcollapse popup

How found:  Mouse move (-1596,436)
    hwnd=0x0000000000070C34 64bit class="ComboLBox" style=0x54A08041 ex=0x88
Name:   "API_PERFORMANCE"
ControlType:    UIA_ListItemControlTypeId (0xC357)
LocalizedControlType:   "list item"
BoundingRectangle:  {l:-1642 t:431 r:-1531 b:444}
IsEnabled:  true
IsOffscreen:    false
IsKeyboardFocusable:    true
HasKeyboardFocus:   false
AccessKey:  ""
ProcessId:  6304
RuntimeId:  [2A.70C34.4.80000001.70C34.FFFFFFFC.3]
ProviderDescription:    "[pid:6304,providerId:0x0 Annotation:Microsoft: Annotation Proxy (unmanaged:uiautomationcore.dll); Main(parent link):Microsoft: MSAA Proxy (unmanaged:uiautomationcore.dll)]"
IsPassword: false
HelpText:   ""
IsDialog:   [Not supported]
LegacyIAccessible.ChildId:  3
LegacyIAccessible.DefaultAction:    "Double Click"
LegacyIAccessible.Description:  ""
LegacyIAccessible.Help: ""
LegacyIAccessible.KeyboardShortcut: ""
LegacyIAccessible.Name: "API_PERFORMANCE"
LegacyIAccessible.Role: list item (0x22)
LegacyIAccessible.State:    selected,focusable,selectable (0x300002)
LegacyIAccessible.Value:    ""
SelectionItem.IsSelected:   true
SelectionItem.SelectionContainer:   "" list
IsAnnotationPatternAvailable:   false
IsDragPatternAvailable: false
IsDockPatternAvailable: false
IsDropTargetPatternAvailable:   false
IsExpandCollapsePatternAvailable:   false
IsGridItemPatternAvailable: false
IsGridPatternAvailable: false
IsInvokePatternAvailable:   true
IsItemContainerPatternAvailable:    false
IsLegacyIAccessiblePatternAvailable:    true
IsMultipleViewPatternAvailable: false
IsObjectModelPatternAvailable:  false
IsRangeValuePatternAvailable:   false
IsScrollItemPatternAvailable:   true
IsScrollPatternAvailable:   false
IsSelectionItemPatternAvailable:    true
IsSelectionPatternAvailable:    false
IsSpreadsheetItemPatternAvailable:  false
IsSpreadsheetPatternAvailable:  false
IsStylesPatternAvailable:   false
IsSynchronizedInputPatternAvailable:    false
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:   "CSharp" list item
Previous:   "API" list item
Other Props:    Object has no additional properties
Children:   Container has no children
Ancestors:  "" list
    "Desktop 1" pane
    [ No Parent ]

Is there anything in there that I could use to locate this element and click it? Or is there something I'm missing here?

[Nine]

Look at ControlCommand () function (especially the part about ComboBox) .  The way you are trying to do it will never work.  Also there is a GUI Combo Box UDF that have additional functionalities that you could use.