SigmaCLIPSE provides an expert systems and 'intelligent' data base development program for diverse systems integration environments that require support for automated reasoning and expert systems technology, presentation management, and access to 'intelligent' SQL data bases. The SigmaCLIPSE technology and and its integrated ability to access 4th generation application development and decision support tools through a portable SQL interface, comprises a sophisticated software development environment for solving knowledge engineering and expert systems development problems in information intensive commercial environments -- financial services, health care, and distributed process control -- where the expert system must be extendable -- a major architectural advantage of NASA CLIPS. SigmaCLIPSE is a research effort intended to test the viability of merging SQL data bases with expert systems technology

Weiss, Bernard P., Jr.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

N96- 12919
ECLIPSE = Presentation Management + NASA Clips + SQL
Bernard P. Wess, Jr. "
May 1, 1990
Abstract
_CLIPSE provides a expert systems and "intelligent" data base development program for di-
verse systems integration environments that require support for automated reasoning and expert
systems technology, presentation management, and access to "intelligent" SQL data bases. The
_CLIPSE technology and and its integrated ability to access 4th generation application develop-
ment and decision support tools through a portable SQL interface, comprises a sophisticated
software development environment for solving knowledge engineering and expert systems devel-
opment problems in information intensive commercial environments--financial services, health
care, and distributed process controlmwhere the expert system must be extendable---a major
architectural advantage of NASA Clips.
ECLIPSEis a research effort intended to test the viability of merging SQL data bases with
expert systems technology.
1 Goals
ECLIPSE provides the Management Information Systems (MIS) expert systems developer a unique
expert systems environment for:
Integration Much expert systems technology is too difficult for MIS developers to modify or does
not adequately integrate with MIS data processing environments which demand support for
corporate data bases and sophisticated visual presentation management facilities for profes-
sional and clerical users. [Schur88 Scown85] ZCLIPSE supports commercial "mission critical"
and "strategic" applications by extending NASA Clips to take advantage of Presentation
Management (PM) functions and ANSI SQL data base access to enhance existing enterprise
files and data bases. [Date88]
Standards ]ECLIPSE comprises functional extensions for portable text screens, windowing, fields,
and menu development on a variety of operating systems and full graphics capabilities for
the IBM PC under MSDOS and Borland Turbo C BGI graphics. ANS] SQL data base
management is provided through an SQL C interface to a variety of file and data man-
agers. [MIS89] ECLIPSE is an eztended, not modified version of NASA Clips Version 4.3
[Giarr89] and includes objects and Clips facts and rules language source code for defining and
manipulating--windows, forms, screens, reports, menus, fields, and icons.
"Theauthormay be reachedatMentor Communications Ltd,790HighlandAvenue,Needham Heights,MA
02194, (617)449-0086, Fax (617)449-0476.
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https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19960002910 2020-06-16T05:31:30+00:00Z
2 PRESENTATION VERSUS DATA MANAGEMENT
Power ECLIPSE provides high performance expert systems development capabilities to MIS pro-
fessionals who need continuing compatibility with future NASA Clips upgrades, portable text
windowing, and IBM PC graphics capabilities. All text-based presentation management is
portable and IBM PC graphics-based presentation management is MSDOS "extended" to
support 16 megabyte Clips applications for the Intel 386/486 processors.
Compatibility _CLIPSEofl'ers a complete implementation of NASA Clips and ANSI standard
SQL including automatic ROLLBACK and COMMIT functions for commercial transaction
processing. SQL is the only ANSI standard relational language for query, data manipulation,
data definition and security. AppLications developed IBM's SQL/DS and DB2 are very similar
to ECLIPSE SQL which is ANSI compatible.
Portability Text-based presentation management applications developed with ECLIPSE can easily
be ported to a wide-range of operating systems and computers, including: IBM PC/OS/2,
Unix, DEC/VAX VMS. No Clips source code changes are required. SQL access to data bases
and file managers is transparent within ZCLIPSEClips rules and provides the application
developer with the widest possible range of data retrievM and storage means, including:
dBASE, Btrieve, C-tree, CB-tree, and in the future VAX/VMS Rdb, RMS, and Oracle.®
Systems Integration Future accessto Oracle'sdistributedarchitecture(SQL*Connect), DEC
DECNET, or TCP/IP _;CLIPSEapplicationswillenable distributedClips knowledge bases,
when distributedprocessingisenabled within Clips,to resideon multiple computers and
to access DBMS relationstransparentIFthrough distributedSQL remote procedure calls.
[Symb90 Adler90]
Architectural Freedom ECLIPSE is divided into three layers--the User Front-End (Presentation
Manager) in text or graphics modes, the Clips expert system compiler, Clips language, and
the Back-End SQL data base engine implemented as both a Clips external function and
internal Clips rule. All functional ECLIPSE layers are independent architectural code layers
which can be supplemented or replaced based on the changing requirements of the NASA
Clips community of users and the demands of commercial MIS users.
2 Presentation versus Data Management
This section outlines the "front-end" of the ECLIPSE product. Additionally, _CLIPSE provides a
dynamically re-configurable data base "ba_k-end" which supports multiple data bases, platforms,
applications, and communications environments based on SQL relational data bases. [MISg0]
The independence between presentation management and back-end data base management is
provided by a data object object, the actions applied to an object, its relationship(s) to other
object(s), and the screen representation of the object from access, through SQL to underlying
components or sub-objects of the parent object. [Shu89] Thus an unlimited range of presentation
metaphors can be used to represent user interactions. The _CLIPSE front-end enables a vastly
expanded level of functionality to be incorporated in the presentation, display, manipulation and
interaction between application and screen processes and the user. The level of complexity of screen
presentation and interaction is greatly enhanced over existing front-ends which either:
• rely on a single metaphor for interacting with the user or display of visual objects or
434
3 ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW
• require that the front-end be used to build complex displays through the use of icons.
These methods do not enable the use of more complex forms of interaction to be integrated or
enhanced in the graphic front-end.
3 Architectural Overview
_CL|PSE has the following characteristics:
Object-orlented "Intelligent" displays are comprised of visual objects that have meaning and
actions associated with them. Screens are built from complex objects and icons and their
associated actions, predetermined by the user/develop or the application logic, lead the user
through an application. Icons and/or complex objects (for example, data base tables or
spreadsheets) can be moved, manipulated, or act as triggers when activated or changed.
Active Screen Metaphors Any graphical metaphor can be set up which makes sense to the user
and aids in representing the underlying application logic or data base. For example, a manager
may interact with the program through a spreadsheet where each cell is an active object that
itself may be another spreadsheet or piece of a data base. Or a screen may represent a
chemical processing plant from which the user can control the operations by manipulating
dials, meters, switches, etc.
Virtual Objects The physical screen is not a limitation on the size of a screen object and the
data or image it represents. For example, a spreadsheet could handle large data base tables
of virtually unlimited size with numerous graphs located in cells as associated screen "child"
objects. Or a physical window may represent only a portion of a larger graphical image and
the image may be zoomed, panned, expanded, etc.
Ease of Use The user interface is highly intelligent, intended for use by professional managers
and office workers as well as by MIS professionals.
Integrated DBMS Display tools, such as forms builders and spreadsheets may be integrated in
a "seamless" manner through the defintion of more complex objects.
Flexibility Because of the modular nature of the product, design flexibility and independence
of architecture, interfaces among v,CLIPSZ modules, underlying application programs, com-
munications technology, and the data base manager are easily modified or replaced. Any
component of the program or any associated application can be replaced by another product,
such as Excel in the spreadsheet arena or Sybase in the DBMS area.
The simplearchitectureisoutlinedin Figure 1.
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4 F.CLIPSE FRONT-END FEATURES
Figure 1: The simple architecture of the F,CLIPSE.
II WindowsFields I
U Screen Manager
][ Data Base [[
II RulesFa ts U
H SQL Data Base Driver II
4 _']CLIPSE Front-End Features
4.1 General Features
The general features of the the program include the following and are available regardless of the
Front-end (FE) mode of operation. Both text and graphics modes of operation can be executed
simultaneously.
FE Drivers The FE driver can be replaced or enhanced to extend the functionality of the FE.
C Interface The user's application and the FE itself may be extended or merged by registering
external C functions to be recognized by ECLIPSE and/or the user's application.
!
Compiled Screens All screen objects--windows and fields, for example, are compiled once at
application run-time if they are not loaded in binary format. Therefore, screen objects are
manipulated on the display with maximum speed so the user sees fast screen updates.
4.2 The Text-based Front-End Features
The text-based FE provides the following functionality:
4.2.1 Window & Display Control
Windows A window is an area of the logical screen that is treated as a separate display entity.
Windows may have borders, overlap, or cover one another and have a priority that is user or
application assigned in real-time. They may also be larger then the physical display.
Forms or Pages A "page _ of "forms _ is a virtual screen which may be smaller, larger, or the
same size as a physical display. Pages or windows may be named.
Scrolling Automatic scrolling is accomplished to orient the proper current window. Scrolling may
be horizontal or vertical, as required. The application may write to hidden window areas
without causing scrolling.
Logical Write An application may write to a window without causing a window to update the
physical screen until all application output has ended.
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4 ECLIPSEFRONT-END FEATURES
Logical Attributes A display "attribute" table is maintained which is logical in nature. The
logical display attributes, for example, "red" are converted to display driver output in real-
time by the FE.
Character Writing Characters may be written with or without attributes and for one or more
characters.
String Writing Strings may be written with or without attributes and for one or more characters.
Cursor Control Full "virtual" cursor control is available including the ability to write to a win-
dow's "current position," with a virtual or physical row and column attached. The cursor
may "drag" the virtual windows, leave the display unchanged, or make the cursor position
the current position.
4.3 Field Level Functions
The following functions are available for fields:
Repeating Lines A formatted "block" may be entered once and repeated for scrolling formatted
windows of identical lines of input. The lines in a block can exceed the actual physical window
size and automatic scrolling will occur.
Validation Format strings control the character field-level input and output. _CLIPSE rules can
intercede to more fully control field and character I/O based on external application function
calls or rule execution.
Field Editing A full-featured text editor is automatically invoked for each field. Intra- and extra-
field movement can be controlled within a window or field.
Field Functions Window and field level functions include exit to next field or previous field, field
above or field below, beginning or end of window, previous or next window, line up or down,
send data, delete data, or abort.
Field Data Types String; 8-, 16-, 32-bit signed and unsigned binary, 32-bit monetary, date, time,
32- and 64-bit floating point.
Edit Patterns Character strings format a field on input or output so that formatted fields are
properly presented, for example, account, SSNs and telephone numbers.
4.4 Graphical User Interface Functions
The following functions are available within the GUI and are unique to the bit-mapped GUI FE:
Graphics System Automatic detection of hardware and resolution and driver loading for more
than 30 modes of operation. Movement from character-based I/0 to bit-mapped graphics is
supported. Multiple pages of graphics are supported for the appropriate hardware drivers.
Graphics An unlimited variety of objects can be drawn directly on the physical screen (not in
window buffers). Arcs, circles, polygons, ellipses, lines, points, 3-D and 2-D bars and bar
437
5 FRONT-ENDCOMMUNICATIONSINTERFACE
charts,lineand point charts,pie slices,rectangles,as wellas iconsof any sizeare available.
Functions to flood and pattern fillobjects,rotate,zoom, move and manipulate linesand
polygons are av_lable.
Fonts & Icons Multiplefontsareavailable,includingsans-serif,gothic,triplex,and roman. Fonts
may be oriented,sized,colored,and transposed. Icons may be loaded and displayedfrom
externalfontand icon tables.Pixels,characters,strings,and images may be interrogatedor
manipulated. Both bit-mapped and "stroked"fontsare available.
Graphic Function Library Many internal functions, accessible to user processes, programs, and
functions are provided for business and engineering graphics.
Text Output Full-text control is available including style, centering, color, orientation, size, and
magnification.
Color Control Color can be appliedthrough a "colorpalette"to objects,characters,windows,
and pixels.A "colortable"isdefinedto controlcolors.
State Control The "state _ of an object, character, window, display or pixel can be interrogated
and the results sent as a message as a fact into the data base or to a function. Full application
control is enabled through the message system to maintain flexibility.
Icon/Object Library Graphical objects may be created with the graphics editor and dynamically
called from memory or disk. A library of icons mad presentation management metaphors is
available for customization and use in new user defined applications.
5 Front-End Communications Interface
The FE utilizes the ECLIPSE development language and support utilities to "define _ or to "create"
display objects such as windows and fields. Moreover, ECLIPSE can manipulate any defined object.
The FE or the application can directly execute SQL commands.
ECLIPSE allows any data base or graphical object to be modified by sending command messages
to ECLIPSE from user-developed applications, external events, and changes in the state of objects
or data. Also, objects may send messages directly to other objects for processing, without the need
for application program or user intervention.
V
_ J
v
438
6 REFERENCES
6 References
[Schur88] Stephen Schur,"The Intelligent Data Base", AI Expert, pp. 26-34, Jan. 1988
[Scown85] Susan B. Scown, The Artificial Intelligence Ezperience: An Introduction, Digital
Equipment Corporation, 1985.
[Date88]Date & White, A Guide to DB2, Second Edition, Addison Wesley, New York, 1988.
[MIS89]CQL Data Base/Program Development System, Version 6.0, Machine Independent Soft-
ware, Fourth Edition, 1989.
[Giarr89]Giarratano & Riley, Ezpert Systems: Principles and Programming, PWS-Kent, Boston,
MA, 1989.
[SymbD0]Symbiotics, MetaCourier User's Guide, Symbiotics, Inc., Jan. 1990, Pre-Release Ver-
sion 1.2.4, Cambridge MA 1990.
[Adler90]Adler & Cottmast,A Development Framework for AI Based Distributed Operations Sup-
port Systems, Fifth Conference on AI for Space Applications, Huntsville, Alabama, May 22-23, 1990
[Shu89]Shu, N., "Visual programming: Perspectives and approaches", IBM Systems Journal,
Vol. 28, No. 4, 1989, pp. 525-547.
CLIPS1 .TEX
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SigmaCLIPSE = presentation management + NASA CLI PS + SQL

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