FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 1 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Software Life Cycle Automation for Interactive Applications: The AME Design Environment Christian Märtin Fachbereich Informatik Fachhochschule Augsburg D Augsburg (Germany)

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 2 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Introduction Concurrent support for automating the design of the UI and the domain parts of interactive systems Unifying specification and generation approaches AME: architecture and scope AME´s life cycle for automated model refinement Future work

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 3 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Integration of the life cycles OO technology as the common denominator

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 4 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Unifying specification and generation Balancing the ratio of flexibility vs. automation –The designer´s choice at each life cycle activity accept the intermediate model as proposed by the system partly modify or extend the intermediate model interactively integrate reusable components into the intermediate model –Model refinement knowledge standard knowledge for standard design problems optional domain or user specific knowledge for adaptation experience of the designer technical knowledge for automated system integration

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 5 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur AME Architecture AME Architecture Three levels: –modeling –construction –implementation OO representation scheme Target applications: –Business domain

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 6 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur AME life cycle model

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 7 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur OOA Modeling Example OOA model specification –attributes –operations –gen/spec relations –aggregations –associations –message channels

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 8 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Generating the window hierarchy Mapping of complex OOA classes to windows, if possible –expanding gen/spec relations –exploiting attributes, attribute types, grouped attributes –exploiting aggregations (to simple OOA classes) –adopt simple OOA classes as OOD classes Creating the menu- and command hierarchy –exploit target environmental constraints and synonym lists –assignment of OOA operations to menu entries or buttons

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 9 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Assigning interaction objects Exploiting qualified attribute types, if available: –map the attribute type to a specific OOD object pattern –assign AIOs to the OOD objects If not: activate a number of rule groups –exploit content oriented meta data –exploit synonym lists to find the correct qualified data type –exploit the cardinality of attributes and/or operations –refinement of already assigned AIOs Apply user or environment-specific rule groups

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 10 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur UI behavior spec AME exploits –OOA/D-messages, relational OOA/D patterns, embedded code fragments to automatically specify –menu/command activation, inter-object communication, method code integration Designer adds domain specific dynamics

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 11 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Layout generation Layout simulation –choosing dialogbox and window types automatically –standard set of layout alternatives –user/env. profiles –additional forward chained rule sets –interactive layout modification

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 12 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Target application generation Scanning/Parsing the detailed specification Generating C++-code, callbacks, defaults Integration of existing domain method code Integration of standard dialog boxes and behavior Integration of reusable major application parts Activating the Borland C++-compiler As an alternative a UIMS interface exists

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 13 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Conclusions and future work Benefits –complete prototypical life cycle support for interactive system development –automating many standard UI design tasks: the time gained can be used for domain modeling and refinements Drawbacks –AME needs a relatively long incremental learning process –modeling system level dialog dynamics is time consuming Future –Borland Delphi, multimedia, new domains, OO synergies

FH Augsburg - FB Informatik 14 CADUI' June FUNDP Namur Thank you for your attention!