WinAppDriver having issues identify elements in a driver when the driver changes too much - automation

Question

For example: Launch Outlook on your desktop. Notice how there is a "splash loading screen" well the driver I have will look at this executable and wait x seconds before trying to click on the "New Email" button. However when it gets to the page where the new email button appears, it can't find it. Strange... hmm okay lets start the application but have it trigger the executable that is already in the process. It looks for the new email button and finds it no problem.
The only thing i can think of is that the driver loads the executable, the executable then changes its data drastically or something. Then all of a sudden i need to build a new driver. But I dont think this is the way to go about it.
[TestInitialize]
public void TestMethod1()
{
options.AddAdditionalCapability("app", #"C:\Program Files (x86)\<PATH>");
_driver = new WindowsDriver<WindowsElement>(new Uri("http://127.0.0.1:4723"), options);
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);
}
[TestMethod]
public void TEST()
{
LoginPage page = new LoginPage(new WindowsDriver<WindowsElement>(new Uri("http://127.0.0.1:4723"), options)); // Notice how i am building a new driver just for this page. This is VERY heavy.
page.Login("USERNAME", "PASSWORD");
}

Answer 1

You probably have the "splash screen issue".
Here's a explantation about what to do about it.
In short, winappdriver creates a new windowhandle for every new window it encounters. As the splash screen counts for a separate window, you should have 2 windowhandles available at the moment you wanted to click that "new email" button. The most recent windowhandle will be the highest index.
You can switch between windowhandles like this (copied from link):
// Return all window handles associated with this process/application.
// At this point hopefully you have one to pick from. Otherwise you can
// simply iterate through them to identify the one you want.
var allWindowHandles = session.WindowHandles;
// Assuming you only have only one window entry in allWindowHandles and it is in fact the correct one,
// switch the session to that window as follows. You can repeat this logic with any top window with the same²
// process id (any entry of allWindowHandles)
session.SwitchTo().Window(allWindowHandles[0]);
Also take a look at this answer. Could be useful too.