Proving the Correctness of Formal User Interface Specifications

Formal grammars, task action grammars and attribute grammars are widely accepted approaches for the specification of dialogues of interactive systems. In this paper we present a formal specification technique - based on attribute grammars - coupling dialogue specifications with application and layout specifications. For this specification formalism a proof principle and an analyzing technique is provided and applied to a user interface specification of an ISDN telephone. Properties can be shown between the interaction of a user and the behaviour of the system. The used specification technique allows e.g. to show that there are dialogues such that a special action can be performed, e.g. a menu-item can be selected and e.g. that the application has a special state after a distinguished action