Here is a question that I already has an answer. I want to mark here to help others. I have a self-defined tabcontrol. When I do the automation, the control tree of tabitem doesn't populated in inspect. Here is the code:
<Window.Resources>
<Style x:Key="TabControlStyle1" TargetType="{x:Type TabControl}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type TabControl}">
<Grid x:Name="templateRoot" ClipToBounds="true" SnapsToDevicePixels="true" KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition x:Name="ColumnDefinition0"/>
<ColumnDefinition x:Name="ColumnDefinition1" Width="0"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition x:Name="RowDefinition0" Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition x:Name="RowDefinition1" Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TabPanel x:Name="headerPanel" Background="Transparent" Grid.Column="0" IsItemsHost="true" Margin="2,2,2,0" Grid.Row="0" KeyboardNavigation.TabIndex="1" Panel.ZIndex="1"/>
<Border x:Name="contentPanel" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Grid.Column="0" KeyboardNavigation.DirectionalNavigation="Contained" Grid.Row="1" KeyboardNavigation.TabIndex="2" KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local">
<ContentPresenter ContentSource="SelectedContent" Margin="{TemplateBinding Padding}" SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding SnapsToDevicePixels}"/>
</Border>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid>
<TabControl Margin="5" Style="{DynamicResource TabControlStyle1}">
<TabItem Header="tab 1">
<Button Width="90" Height="90" Content="btn1"/>
</TabItem>
<TabItem Header="tab 2">
<Button Width="90" Height="90" Content="btn2"/>
</TabItem>
</TabControl>
</Grid>
Why the Tabitem is unseen in inspect?