Perform actions in another application

[meir1990]

I am trying to perform actions on another application. Find its process, then do some stuff like click on a button, add new elements possibly as overlay etc.

Few questions:
1. Is it even possible to do such stuff?
2. I read about sendMessage and c# automation. what are the differences? which one is better? which is more flexible?

 

[Skydiver]

Yes, it is possible. This is what a lot of automated software testing tools do. The preference is to use the UI automation interfaces because that is what they have been designed to do: allow other programs, particularly, assistive software for people with disabilities, to be able to interact with the target program. If the program does not implement the UI automation interfaces, then you may have to fallback on using SendMessage() to emulate the Windows messages that a program would normally get when a person actually uses it.