36 research outputs found
Formal specification of human-computer interfaces
A high-level formal specification of a human computer interface is described. Previous work is reviewed and the ASLAN specification language is described. Top-level specifications written in ASLAN for a library and a multiwindow interface are discussed
A grammatical specification of human-computer dialogue
The Seeheim Model of human-computer interaction partitions an interactive application into a user-interface, a dialogue controller and the application itself. One of the formal techniques of implementing the dialogue controller is based on context-free grammars and automata. In this work, we modify an off-the-shelf compiler generator (YACC) to generate the dialogue controller. The dialogue controller is then integrated into the popular X-window system, to create an interactive-application generator. The actions of the user drive the automaton, which in turn controls the application
Specification of Interface Interaction Objects
User Interface Management Systems have signigicantly reduced the effort
required to build a user interface. However, current systems assume a set
of standard "widgets" and make no provisions for defining new ones. This
forces the user interface designers to either do without or laboriously build
new widgets with code. The Interface Objects Graph is presented as a method
for specifying and communicating the design of innteraction objects or widgets.
Two sample specifications are presented, one for a secure switch and the other
for a two dimensional graphical browser.
(Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-687
Bridging the Gap between a Behavioural Formal Description Technique and User Interface description language: Enhancing ICO with a Graphical User Interface markup language
International audienceIn the last years, User Interface Description Languages (UIDLs) appeared as a suitable solution for developing interactive systems. In order to implement reliable and efficient applications, we propose to employ a formal description technique called ICO (Interactive Cooperative Object) that has been developed to cope with complex behaviours of interactive systems including event-based and multimodal interactions. So far, ICO is able to describe most of the parts of an interactive system, from functional core concerns to fine grain interaction techniques, but, even if it addresses parts of the rendering, it still not has means to describe the effective rendering of such interactive system. This paper presents a solution to overcome this gap using markup languages. A first technique is based on the Java technology called JavaFX and a second technique is based on the emergent UsiXML language for describing user interface components for multi-target platforms. The proposed approach offers a bridge between markup language based descriptions of the user interface components and a robust technique for describing behaviour using ICO modelling. Furthermore, this paper highlights how it is possible to take advantage from both behavioural and markup language description techniques to propose a new model-based approach for prototyping interactive systems. The proposed approach is fully illustrated by a case study using an interactive application embedded into interactive aircraft cockpits
AN EXAMINATION OF THE USE OF DIALOG CHARTS IN SPECIFYING CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF DIALOGS
The conceptual design of user interfaces focuses on the specification of the structure
of the dialog, independent of any particular implementation approach. While there is
common agreement with respect to the importance of this activity, adequate methods
and tools to support it are generally unavailable. The Dialog Charts (DCs) yield high
level dialog schemas that are abstract enough to support the conceptual design of
dialog control structures. They combine dialog concepts with widely accepted design
principles, in a uniform diagramming framework. Specifically, the DCs distinguish
between the dialog parties, provide for hierarchical decomposition and enforce a
structured control flow.
A clear set of guiding principles for the conceptual design of dialogs has yet to
emerge. In this paper we have elected to focus on the notions of descriptive power and
usable power, as they apply to conceptual dialog modeling tools. The conceptual
descriptive power of the DCs is informally examined by applying them in a varied set
of examples and relating them to their lower level counterparts, namely
implementation dialog models like augmented transition networks or context-free
grammars. The usable power of the DCs has been examined empirically through a
qualitative study of their actual use by system designers. The Dialog Chart models
were found by dialog designers to be a useful conceptual design tool, which exhibit the
essential attributes identified for conceptual models.Information Systems Working Papers Serie