Nathalie Aquino 1, Jean Vanderdonckt 2, Francisco Valverde 1, Oscar Pastor 1 1 Department of Information Systems and Computation, Valencia University of Technology, Camino de Vera s/n Valencia (Spain) {naquino, fvalverde, – 2 Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain School of Management (LSM) Place des Doyens, 1 – B-1348, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) - This work has been developed with the support of MEC and MITyC under the projects SESAMO (TIN ) and PISA (FIT )

 Introduction  The Transformation Profile Approach ◦ Model Mappings ◦ Transformation Templates  Transformation Profiles in the Generation Process of User Interfaces in OO-Method  Conclusions

 Preliminaries ◦ The Cameleon Reference Framework defines a MDE- compliant (Model-Driven Engineering) development life cycle for multi-target User Interfaces (UIs) Abstract Interaction Objects (AIOs) Concrete Interaction Objects (CIOs) ◦ This work focuses on the transformation from an AUI model to a CUI model

 Motivations of the work ◦ In the field of MDE of UIs  There are approaches in which transformation rules are implicit in the transformation tools ( Teallach, MOBI-D, Mastermind, OLIVANOVA,... )  Lack of flexibility to customize transformations  Manual modifications may be needed in the final UI in order to achieve specific user requirements  There are similarities and differences among UI development projects and it is not reasonable to  Define the transformation rules for the AUI to CUI model transformation each time for each project  Use the same transformation rules for every UI development project

 Our proposal ◦ We propose the use of Transformation Profiles in order to  Externalize and customize the AUI to CUI model transformations  Re-use the model transformation knowledge between different projects

 Introduction  The Transformation Profile Approach ◦ Model Mappings ◦ Transformation Templates  Transformation Profiles in the Generation Process of User Interfaces in OO-Method  Conclusions

 One Transformation Profile = one set of Model Mappings + one Transformation Template

 Introduction  The Transformation Profile Approach ◦ Model Mappings ◦ Transformation Templates  Transformation Profiles in the Generation Process of User Interfaces in OO-Method  Conclusions

 The Mapping Model ◦ Is based on the UsiXML Mapping Model ◦ Is made up of reification relationships between the elements of an AUI model and a CUI model ◦ Allows to specify widget selection and layout ◦ Each mapping is specified by  Source: AIO of the AUI model  Target: CIO of the CUI model  Condition: boolean expression related to elements of the AUI model  Priority ◦ Different Model Mappings can be defined to address different UI platforms and end-user preferences

 Introduction  The Transformation Profile Approach ◦ Model Mappings ◦ Transformation Templates  Transformation Profiles in the Generation Process of User Interfaces in OO-Method  Conclusions

 Composed of Parameters that specify how the CUI model and the subsequent final UI are going to be structured and/or stylized  Types of Parameters ◦ Low-level parameters: related to a single attribute of a CIO  colours, font types, etc. ◦ High-level parameters: related to a group of attributes of one or more CIOs, or to the CIOs themselves and relations among them. They can also be related to AIOs.  Selection of widgets or layout, dialog style, alignment of elements, etc.  These parameters can overwrite previous mappings of the Mapping Model

 Each parameter is described by ◦ Name ◦ Set of possible values ◦ Default value ◦ Elements where it is applied ◦ Scope of application

 Examples of Parameters

 Introduction  The Transformation Profile Approach ◦ Model Mappings ◦ Transformation Templates  Transformation Profiles in the Generation Process of User Interfaces in OO-Method  Conclusions

 OO-Method  OO-Method is supported by OLIVANOVA (

OO-Method´s Presentation Model is based on Interface Patterns that specify a UI in an abstract way

OO-Method UI generation process: a) in its current state; b) incorporating the UsiXML CUI Model; c) using a Transformation Profile

Subset of the Mapping Model that externalizes the mappings used by the OLIVANOVA compiler in the generation of UIs

Subset of an alternate Mapping Model

Subset of a Transformation Template

 Introduction  The Transformation Profile Approach ◦ Model Mappings ◦ Transformation Templates  Transformation Profiles in the Generation Process of User Interfaces in OO-Method  Conclusions

 Contribution of the work : the application of Transformation Profiles (Transformation Template and a set of Model Mappings) inside a model-driven software development method  Transformation Profile advantages:  Externalization of the transformation rules. They can be edited, customized and reused  Independency from the underlying models  Model Mappings can be conditioned and prioritized  The different dimensions and scopes of the Transformation Template Parameters provide a lot of flexibility and expressivity for UI definition

 Shortcoming of the approach: implementation cost  Ongoing and further work: ◦ Parameters identification and specification ◦ Design and implementation of tools ◦ Validation of the approach  Improvements in the usability of the generated UIs (efficiency and satisfaction of the user)?  Improvements in the MDE UI development process?