Running Windows UI automation tasks which are stored in a database

Question

I am storing a list of links to resources such as documents to be opened by Windows applications as well as web pages in a database and need to know how to open them in Windows.

For some webpages it will be achieved by passing parameters to a web browser process or executing the document and letting Windows decide what is the best application to open it.

However, there are some instances where the resource the user wants will require some automation involving mostly sending keystrokes, but also clicking through some forms for web applications.

To make this application flexible, my idea was to store scripts in a database of how to reach certain document types.

My question is what is the best format to store these scripts in a database and how should I execute them.

Options so far include:

• CSharpCodeProvider - Creating automation tasks in C# code using existing automation libraries such as WatiN (for web browser automation) or an AutoIt wrapper (for desktop app automation).

• Creating automation tasks in a scripting language that is just executed by C# code - running AutoIT directly

• IronAHK - a complete rewrite of AutoHotkey in C# for .NET and Mono

Answer 1

I use AutoIt for things like this regularly in my work. AutoIt was written to automate installations of applications that didn't have silent installs to begin with. If your looking for a vote, AutoIt is a quick and east way to go.

As you mentioned about the AutoIt wrapper AutoItX (the dll version of AutoIt) is amazingly easy to roll into C#.