I run into this sort of dilemma every day. Always the question...how close to an end user experience should the test steps be? And more difficult (and very subjective) to answer, how do we define a realistic user experience for this test? :)
Before I commit to automating something with TC...
1. Are the sequence of steps that make up this 'test case' likely be re-used by another 'test case' in the future?
2. Are the sequence of steps that make up this 'test case' central/vital to what is being tested in this 'test case' or is it just getting the environment into a particular needed state?
3. Do I have time for perfection or do I need to come back later on and make the test steps more realistic?
4. Is the part of the UI that I am automating with TC likely to be swapped out by a third party component (devexpress)? If that is the case, there is a risk I will have throw out the test that was tightly coupled to the old UI component and rewrite it.
