Method and apparatus for persistently resolving events to event source

A method, computer program product, and data processing system for recording GUI events and for persistently identifying the events' target GUI components for subsequent playback of the recorded events are disclosed. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, each GUI component is assigned a numerical identifier by traversing the component hierarchy in a well-defined order. As the GUI components are visited during the traversal, the components are numbered sequentially according the order in which the components were visited. When events are received, they are recorded along with the number corresponding to the target component of the event. Upon a subsequent execution of the GUI program, the hierarchy is traversed again in the same order, which results in the same assignment of identifying numbers to components. Therefore, the recorded events may be played back by applying each event to its corresponding target component, as identified by number.