Automatic GUI Generation
Research
Programme
Bournemouth University,
Overview
Usable software
should be the aim of every software designer. Building easy-to-use software
with a consistent interface reduces the required training to learn how to use a
product and prolongs its usage life significantly.
Software
functionality should be presented in a task-oriented manner while its
interface, just like football referees, should be transparent and not get in
the way of its use. If the software modelled real-world tasks, then users can
logically form a mental picture of its functionality without the need for documentation.
The test-bed
environment built using C++Builder, is an Integrated Development Environment that
enables the application developer to model a given problem domain in an object
model, and be able to instantly generate a 'fully navigable' Windows
application, using the built-in OOA-to-GUI generation rules. Furthermore,
built-in OOA-to-RDBMS generation rules, automatically create the underlying
database required to store the application data and make it 'functional'.
These generation rules have been thoroughly tested and validated for data-intensive applications in an BSc final project report. They transparently map abstract/concrete classes, class attributes types and ranges, instance relationships (including many-many), and class relationships (both inheritance and containment (including many-many) into suitable GUI components and database tables and integrity constrains.
All that remain
for the application developer to do, is to implement the class methods to
deliver a 'fully functional' and 'usable' application that is both
task-oriented for easy-to-use, and has a consistent interface throughout, which
makes it a truly 'zero-training' software.
Ali Adams
GUI Design Consultant
[email protected]