One of the tools that I have developed for a client was a prototype GUI automation tool. The tool was required to launch a Windows application on the local computer and interact with it. I used VB.NET and the windows API (FindWindow and ShowWindow) to interact with the tool.
The tool was able to launch the application, find the application on the Windows desktop and then interact with it in a predictable way. So the prototype was successful in that respect. The scope, however, for the automation tool is quite limited in that the interactions must be very carefully scripted to avoid interruption and failure.
Selenium HQ is a good alternative to a completely hand crafted GUI automation tool. Particularly when the Selenium script is written using the Selenium .NET drivers. This combines the ability to drive the GUI offered by Selenium with the ability to provide programmatic data for the automation from C#. In this way, the automation process can be enhanced to perform a much broader set of activities, rather than just simple record and play scenarios.
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