System and method for making a user interface element visible

Various new and non-obvious apparatus and methods for ensuring a user interface element is visible within an automated user interface test environment are disclosed. One of the disclosed embodiments is a method for locating a parent element of the user interface element and then making the user interface object visible using top-down scrolling, bottom-up scrolling, expanding, or a combination of all three. Top-down scrolling scrolls the parent element until the user interface element becomes visible. Bottom-up scrolling first locates a grandparent element. The parent element then scrolls until the user interface element is within the parent object. The grandparent element is then scrolled until the parent element is visible within the grandparent element, the parent object is then scrolled until the user interface element is visible within the grandparent element. This exemplary embodiment further confirms that the user element interface made visible can be selected by ensuring that the window where the user interface element resides is ready for user input and is not covered by another object.