Core: UIAutomationClient.dll not found

[ms0713]

Issue Title

UIAutomationClient.dll is not found in Reference Assemblies folder for .Net Core 3.0 Preview

General

I want to use System.Windows.Automation in my .Net Core 3.0 console application. When I try to reference UIAutomationClient.dll, i did not find the same in Reference Assemblies folder for .Net Core 3.0. Rather UIAutomationClient.xml is available on following folder
Reference Assemblies/Microsoft/Framework/.NETFramework/v4.X

.Net Framework folders have this UIAutomationClient.dll. i.e. 4.8, 4.7.2 etc..

Am I looking at the wrong place or I need to do something different in .Net Core 3.0 application?

Project Type : .Net Core 3.0 Console Application
Required Namespace : System.Windows.Automation
Required Dll for Reference : UIAutomationClient.dll
Using VS 2019 version 16.3 Preview2
.Net Core SDK version 3.0 Preview8

[leecow]

@vatsan-madhavan - Any plans to bring automation to Core?

[vatsan-madhavan]

PS C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App.Ref\3.0.0-preview8-27908-02\ref\netcoreapp3.0> dir ui*.*                                                                                                                    

    Directory: C:\Program Files
    (x86)\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App.Ref\3.0.0-preview8-27908-02\ref\netcoreapp3.0


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a----          7/6/2019   9:06 PM          35704 UIAutomationClient.dll
-a----         6/14/2019  12:26 PM         184761 UIAutomationClient.xml
-a----          7/6/2019   9:06 PM          15224 UIAutomationClientSideProviders.dll
-a----         6/14/2019  12:25 PM            587 UIAutomationClientSideProviders.xml
-a----          7/6/2019   9:06 PM          21880 UIAutomationProvider.dll
-a----         6/14/2019  12:26 PM          63392 UIAutomationProvider.xml
-a----          7/6/2019   9:06 PM          28024 UIAutomationTypes.dll
-a----         6/14/2019  12:26 PM         105496 UIAutomationTypes.xml

PS C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App\3.0.0-preview8-27908-02> dir ui*.*                 

    Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App\3.0.0-preview8-27908-02


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a----          7/8/2019   2:44 PM         367992 UIAutomationClient.dll
-a----          7/8/2019   2:44 PM         783736 UIAutomationClientSideProviders.dll
-a----          7/8/2019   2:44 PM          46968 UIAutomationProvider.dll
-a----          7/8/2019   2:44 PM         268664 UIAutomationTypes.dll

It's all there.

[vatsan-madhavan]

@ms0713, Are you using a WindowsDesktop SDK project (Use dotnet new wpf to see an example of one)?

[leecow]

Closing due to thread going stale. Please reopen if you're still having troubles.

[ms0713]

PS C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App.Ref\3.0.0-preview8-27908-02\ref\netcoreapp3.0> dir ui*.*                                                                                                                    

    Directory: C:\Program Files
    (x86)\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App.Ref\3.0.0-preview8-27908-02\ref\netcoreapp3.0


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a----          7/6/2019   9:06 PM          35704 UIAutomationClient.dll
-a----         6/14/2019  12:26 PM         184761 UIAutomationClient.xml
-a----          7/6/2019   9:06 PM          15224 UIAutomationClientSideProviders.dll
-a----         6/14/2019  12:25 PM            587 UIAutomationClientSideProviders.xml
-a----          7/6/2019   9:06 PM          21880 UIAutomationProvider.dll
-a----         6/14/2019  12:26 PM          63392 UIAutomationProvider.xml
-a----          7/6/2019   9:06 PM          28024 UIAutomationTypes.dll
-a----         6/14/2019  12:26 PM         105496 UIAutomationTypes.xml

PS C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App\3.0.0-preview8-27908-02> dir ui*.*                 

    Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App\3.0.0-preview8-27908-02


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a----          7/8/2019   2:44 PM         367992 UIAutomationClient.dll
-a----          7/8/2019   2:44 PM         783736 UIAutomationClientSideProviders.dll
-a----          7/8/2019   2:44 PM          46968 UIAutomationProvider.dll
-a----          7/8/2019   2:44 PM         268664 UIAutomationTypes.dll

It's all there.

You cant refer it in .Net Core Console Application. Thats limitation.

[ms0713]

@ms0713, Are you using a WindowsDesktop SDK project (Use dotnet new wpf to see an example of one)?

This is working. Thanks!

[godrose]

@vatsan-madhavan
I installed the latest rc1. Have the same issue. Can't manually reference the assembly due to the following error:

Below is a portion of .csproj file:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
    <AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>false</AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>
    <GenerateAssemblyInfo>false</GenerateAssemblyInfo>
 <Configurations>EndToEndWithFake;EndToEndWithReal;IntegrationWithFake;IntegrationWithReal</Configurations>
    <UseWpf>true</UseWpf>
  </PropertyGroup>

[vatsan-madhavan]

Can't manually reference the assembly

@godrose What do you mean by that, exactly?

Did you use Visual Studio's _Reference Manager_ dialog to browse to the location of UIAutomation.dll reference assembly (for e.g., something like C:\Program Files\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App.Ref\3.0.0-rc2-19460-02\ref\netcoreapp3.0\UIAutomation.dll) and try to add that as a reference in your .NET Core WPF project - like this ?

If my guess is correct, then you can't do that.

All WPF assemblies are already implicitly referenced automatically when using Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop - you don't have to do anything. This includes UIAutomation.dll.

One caveat - there is currently a bug in .NET Core 3.0 that excludes theme assemblies from being referenced automatically - see https://github.com/dotnet/wpf/issues/765. We plan to fix it in .NET Core 3.1.

[godrose]

Thanks for the quick response. The only way I could make this work was
copying the dll manually. I see this as a regression .

On Wed, 18 Sep 2019 at 23:42 Vatsan Madhavan [e-mail]
wrote:

Can't manually reference the assembly

@godrose https://github.com/godrose What do you mean by that, exactly?

Did you use Visual Studio's Reference Manager dialog to browse to the
location of UIAutomation.dll reference assembly (for e.g., something like C:Program
FilesdotnetpacksMicrosoft.WindowsDesktop.App.Ref3.0.0-rc2-19460-02refnetcoreapp3.0UIAutomation.dll)
and try to add that as a reference in your .NET Core WPF project - like
this ?

[image: image]
https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/20246435/65184214-e7d45280-da19-11e9-90f4-56c0d84f8a1a.png

If my guess is correct, then you can't do that.

All WPF assemblies are already implicitly referenced automatically when
using Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop - you don't have to do anything.
This includes UIAutomation.dll.

One caveat - there is currently a bug in .NET Core 3.0 that excludes theme
assemblies from being referenced automatically - see dotnet/wpf#765
https://github.com/dotnet/wpf/issues/765. We plan to fix it in .NET
Core 3.1.

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Best Regards,
Gena

[vatsan-madhavan]

Thanks for the quick response. The only way I could make this work was copying the dll manually. I see this as a regression .

Would you explain your scenario better, possibly with a self-contained minimal repro project attached? I'm not quite following what you are trying to do that requires you to copy UIAutomationClient.dll manually, or browse to it and add a reference to it using the Visual Studio Reference Manager.

Given the fact that UIAutomationClient.dll is implicitly referenced by all Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop projects when <UseWPF>true</UseWPF> is set in the project, such projects would get a reference to it automatically without needing any additional work. If you are having to do more here, I'd like to understand your scenario better.

[dlwiii]

What if you need to reference UIAutomation in a program which is not a Desktop app and does not use WPF? Is there a reliable way to ref it besides copying over dlls?

[vatsan-madhavan]

You can use a FrameworkReference to Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App.Wpf from a console app and get references to WPF assemblies (which includes UIA* assemblies).