To build on the idea of a framework that is not application dependant, you can take a look at what Boris documents here
http://blog.smartbear.com/post/11-08-11/improving-gui-automated-testing/The idea is that even the actions of clicking on a button or such is driven by the data with the object designation itself being passed in. This is a highly complex and advanced method of doing this requiring a much more in depth experience with software development.
BUT... it is possible, just might not be practical depending upon what you need to accomplish. As mentioned, when it comes to automation with a UI, it's usually best to build the automation AFTER the application is available with the expectation that you'll need to make adjustments. Now, using things like FindChild and NameMapping and other such things you can add some flexibility, but you'll still need to make adjustments as the application is finalized
