Software fault tree analysis tool user's manual

The Software Fault Tree Analysis Tool allows the user to interactively modify the graphic representation of a fault tree. This manual describes the user interface of the tool. The tool is currently available only for Sun-2 workstations running 4.2 BSD Unix

Advanced display object selection methods for enhancing user-computer productivity

The User-Interface Technology Branch at NCCOSC RDT&E Division has been conducting a series of studies to address the suitability of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) graphic user-interface (GUI) methods for efficiency and performance in critical naval combat systems. This paper presents an advanced selection algorithm and method developed to increase user performance when making selections on tactical displays. The method has also been applied with considerable success to a variety of cursor and pointing tasks. Typical GUI's allow user selection by: (1) moving a cursor with a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, joystick, touchscreen; and (2) placing the cursor on the object. Examples of GUI objects are the buttons, icons, folders, scroll bars, etc. used in many personal computer and workstation applications. This paper presents an improved method of selection and the theoretical basis for the significant performance gains achieved with various input devices tested. The method is applicable to all GUI styles and display sizes, and is particularly useful for selections on small screens such as notebook computers. Considering the amount of work-hours spent pointing and clicking across all styles of available graphic user-interfaces, the cost/benefit in applying this method to graphic user-interfaces is substantial, with the potential for increasing productivity across thousands of users and applications

User's manual for MacPASCO

A user's manual is presented for MacPASCO, which is an interactive, graphic, preprocessor for panel design. MacPASCO creates input for PASCO, an existing computer code for structural analysis and sizing of longitudinally stiffened composite panels. MacPASCO provides a graphical user interface which simplifies the specification of panel geometry and reduces user input errors. The user draws the initial structural geometry and reduces user input errors. The user draws the initial structural geometry on the computer screen, then uses a combination of graphic and text inputs to: refine the structural geometry; specify information required for analysis such as panel load and boundary conditions; and define design variables and constraints for minimum mass optimization. Only the use of MacPASCO is described, since the use of PASCO has been documented elsewhere

Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus: A NASA tool for building and managing graphical user interfaces

The Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus, developed at GSFC, is an advanced portable user interface development environment which simplifies the process of creating and managing complex application graphical user interfaces (GUI's), supports prototyping, allows applications to be ported easily between different platforms and encourages appropriate levels of user interface consistency between applications. The following topics are discussed: the capabilities of the TAE Plus tool; how the implementation has utilized state-of-the-art technologies within graphic workstations; and how it has been used both within and outside of NASA

Spatial issues in user interface design from a graphic design perspective

The user interface of a computer system is a visual display that provides information about the status of operations on data within the computer and control options to the user that enable adjustments to these operations. From the very beginning of computer technology the user interface was a spatial display, although its spatial features were not necessarily complex or explicitly recognized by the users. All text and nonverbal signs appeared in a virtual space generally thought of as a single flat plane of symbols. Current technology of high performance workstations permits any element of the display to appear as dynamic, multicolor, 3-D signs in a virtual 3-D space. The complexity of appearance and the user's interaction with the display provide significant challenges to the graphic designer of current and future user interfaces. In particular, spatial depiction provides many opportunities for effective communication of objects, structures, processes, navigation, selection, and manipulation. Issues are presented that are relevant to the graphic designer seeking to optimize the user interface's spatial attributes for effective visual communication

Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus: A NASA user interface development and management system

The transportable Applications Environment Plus (TAE Plus), developed at the NASA Goddard Space FLight Center, is a portable, What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) user interface development and management system. Its primary objective is to provide an integrated software environment that allows interactive prototyping and development of graphical user interfaces, as well as management of the user interface within the operational domain. TAE Plus is being applied to many types of applications, and what TAE Plus provides, how the implementation has utilizes state-of-the-art technologies within graphic workstations, and how it has been used both within and without NASA are discussed

General model of editor graphic uniterms

Застосовуючи методи декомпозиції і модифікованої алгебри алгоритмів створено й описано загальну модель редактора проектування багатотипних графічних інтерфейсів користувача інструментальних засобів комп’ютерних систем. Виконано декомпозицію за критерієм функціонального призначення підсистем. Математичну модель інструментальних засобів проектування графічних інтерфейсів користувача описано засобами модифікованої алгебри алгоритмів. Побудована математична модель програмно реалізована й апробована.A general editor model of designing graphic user interfaces tools computer systems was created and described by applying the method of decomposition and modified algebra algorithms. Decomposition has been done by the criterion of functional subsystems destination. Mathematical model of instrumental ways of designing graphic user interfaces is described by means of the modified algebra algorithms. The mathematical model is implemented and tested using programming. Modern software development systems must meet certain conditions regarding quick and efficient development of software packages and systems. Editor GUIs is one of the main parts of these systems, which should ensure graphic user's interface of computer systems tools, and which also should be most easy to use, intuitional clear and functional. Nowadays, when the functional peculiarities of websites or web projects almost are not worse than the desktop systems and despite of the fact that modern systems of developing and designing GUIs make possible to create projects and to use graphic elements (graphic uniterms of only certain types: buttons, text fields, elements of alternative and non-alternative choice, etc.), there is a problem of creating the editor, which would realise the possibility of developing only one GUI for many types of projects (editor user interfaces of computer systems). Graphic uniterms editor is a computer system of projecting graphic interfaces of computer system and providing them with functional properties. Graphic interface is characterized by an aggregate of facilities for processing and retrieving of information, maximally adapted for the user's convenience. The user's interface is implemented by a single window or multiwindow mode, change of the colour, size, visibility (transparency, translucency, invisibility) of windows and their elements, their location, sorting of window elements, flexible configuration of windows and some of their elements (files, folders, labels, fonts, etc.) in graphical systems. To build the most easy to use and optimally informative graphic interface modern graphical interface, editors are needed, with the help of which the development of graphic interface would be as quick as possible with the ability of visual location and positioning of interface elements, display and editing of all graphic interface properties as a whole and each element separately, quick display of the result of development, implementation of the graphic interface's response to user actions

The Application of Graph Model for Automation of the User Interface Construction

The ability of automatic graphic user interface construction is described. It is based on the building of user interface as reflection of the data domain logical definition. The submitted approach to development of the information system user interface enables dynamic adaptation of the system during their operation. This approach is used for creation of information systems based on CASE-system METAS

EXEL : a language for interactive behavioral synthesis

This paper describes a new input language for behavioral synthesis called EXEL. EXEL is a powerful language that permits the user to specify partially designed structures in the language. It employs a mixed graphic/textual user interface to enhance user interactivity. EXEL's design model is comprehensive: it permits specification of synchronous and asynchronous behavior, and allows specification of general timing constraints. A flexible type construct permits the user to define operators and components to be used in the description. Finally, it simplifies compilation by using a small set of constructs for specifying timing and asynchronouos behavior. The compiler for EXEL runs on SUN-3 workstations and is written in C and SUNVIEW

Three-dimensional representation of a spacecraft's trajectory

A method and a computer system with a specialized graphic user interface for processing trajectory data of a spacecraft and planets. The preferred graphic user interface is capable of representing the orbital trajectory of the spacecraft traveling from one planet to another in 3D and providing user interactions to display the orbit information at any time and position