UI Automation to make a program click on another programs button

Question

I want to make a program that will click on a button on another program (the button is actually in the toolbar which gives it characteristics different to a normal button). I have been advised to use something called UI Automation, but I am not sure exactly what it is and how it works. I believe UI Automation has some sort of a library that makes this kind of stuff easier. So my questions are:

Question 1:: What is UI Automation

Question 2:: Could you give me an example of code that would let me look for a button (toolbar button preffered) on another program and click it. could be some rough, simple code, I'll take anything I can get as a starting point

Question 3:: Any tips would be awesome (not really a question, rather a suggestion)

Answer 1

Question 1: UI Automation allows a user to set up a set of actions to be performed automatically. It is generally used in automated testing. Such as integration test, or functionality tests (On both mobile and web platforms)

Question2/3: It depends on what platform you are on. There are a lot of options and what you pick depends on what you are trying to achieve and which platform you are on.

If you are on iOS, Apple has a UIAutomation Library which does exactly that.

If you are on Andriod, you can try Robotium.

There is also this scripting language called Sukili which works on Linux, Mac and Windows platform. http://www.sikuli.org/

If you have no programming background, I would highly recommend the Sukili Script. It used in web testing, gaming and productivity improvements.