UI Automation AutomationIdProperty Not Working

[StealthRT]

Hey all i have the following code that *should* find a button and click on it within the program:

    Try
        aeDesktop = AutomationElement.RootElement

        Dim numwaits As Integer = 0

        Do
          Debug.WriteLine("Looking for CDBurnerXP . . . ")
          aeProgram = aeDesktop.FindFirst(TreeScope.Children, New PropertyCondition(AutomationElement.NameProperty, "CDBurnerXP"))
          numwaits += 1
          Thread.Sleep(100)

          Loop While aeProgram Is Nothing AndAlso numwaits < 50

          If aeProgram Is Nothing Then
              Throw New Exception("Failed to find CDBurnerXP")
          Else
              Debug.WriteLine("Found the CDBurnerXP Application!")
          End If

          Dim btnID As String = "000F0206"
          Dim btnDecimalID As String = Convert.ToInt32("000F0206", 16).ToString

          aeBtn = aeProgram.FindFirst(TreeScope.Descendants, New PropertyCondition(AutomationElement.AutomationIdProperty, btnDecimalID))

          Dim ipClickBtn As InvokePattern = DirectCast(aeBtn.GetCurrentPattern(InvokePattern.Pattern), InvokePattern)

          ipClickBtn.Invoke()
    Catch ex As Exception
          Debug.WriteLine("Fatal error: " & ex.Message)
    End Try

When i run it this is my output:

    Looking for CDBurnerXP . . . 
    A first chance exception of type 'System.InvalidCastException' occurred in UIAutomationClientsideProviders.dll
    A first chance exception of type 'System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception' occurred in UIAutomationClient.dll
    Found the CDBurnerXP Application!
    A first chance exception of type 'System.NullReferenceException' occurred in windowsAutomation.exe
    Fatal error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
    The program '[11036] windowsAutomation.vshost.exe: Program Trace' has exited with code 0 (0x0).
    The program '[11036] windowsAutomation.vshost.exe: Managed (v4.0.30319)' has exited with code 0 (0x0).

It seems to find the program box just fine but once it gets to the aeBtn=nothing and i am trying to find out why!

I know i have the correct Control id since the example HERE works just fine with the MS Calculator.



Any help would be great to solve this problem!

[Arjay]

Have you stepped through the code in a debugger to find out what's going wrong?