Coded UI Test Extension for 3rd party controls - the basics explained

This post details the four levels of implementing Coded UI Test support for third-party controls: Level 1 (Basic Record and Playback) allows for element identification and basic property validation; Level 2 (Rich Property Validation) enables assertions on custom properties; Level 3 (Code Generation) allows for specialized classes and more readable auto-generated test code; and Level 4 (Intent Aware Actions) aggregates actions for more accurate recording based on control behavior. Implementing these levels requires extending the Technology Abstraction Layer (TAL), PropertyProvider, and ActionFilter.