Identifier information is generated for a user interface element of interest within a user interface of a computer program based on a description of a hierarchical element path comprising, e.g., some combination of parent elements that the user interface element inherits from, class names of user interface elements, module names of application programs in the element path, and sibling order information. Process identifiers may also be added to distinguish between user interface elements of two different process instances of the same program. Unlike more fragile identifiers, such an element path identifier persists across instances of the computer program, across different computers, across different builds of the program, etc. Converting between a user-defined data type and a string type and vice versa also is provided.