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Visual and Formal Modeling of Modularized and Executable User Interface Models

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The Handbook of Formal Methods in Human-Computer Interaction

Part of the book series: Human–Computer Interaction Series ((HCIS))

Abstract

This chapter presents the visual Formal Interaction Logic Language (FILL) for the description of executable user interface models. This modeling approach is based on an architecture called 3LA, which separates a user interface from its outward appearance as a set of interaction elements called physical representation, and its functional part called interaction logic, which connects the physical representation with the system to be controlled. The latter refers in general terms to a business model of an interactive system, where the interaction logic is further meant to describe dialog-specific aspects, e.g., the availability of widgets depending on the system state or other widgets. FILL is algorithmically transformed to reference nets, a special type of Petri nets, which makes it executable and equips FILL with formal semantics through the formal semantics of reference nets. FILL models are modularization which enables the description of multidevice user interface models as well as the reuse and exchange of parts of the model. For the creation and execution of FILL-based user interface models, the UIEditor tool is presented. It offers editors for modeling the physical representation and the modularized FILL-based interaction logic. It further implements the transformation algorithm for generating reference nets out of a given FILL model and finally the execution environment for the user interface model. The applicability of this modeling approach will be shown by means of a case study for the control of a simplified nuclear power plant. The chapter will conclude with a broader view to future challenges this approach is facing.

The original version of the book was revised: For detailed information please see Erratum. The erratum to the book is available at 10.1007/978-3-319-51838_21

An erratum to this chapter can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51838-1_21

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://agilemodeling.com/artifacts/componentDiagram.htm.

  2. 2.

    http://www.omg.org/spec/UML/2.5/PDF/.

  3. 3.

    http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/PDF/.

  4. 4.

    https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=wsbpel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Visual Computing Institute—Virtual Reality & Immersive Visualization, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Benjamin Weyers

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  1. Benjamin Weyers
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Correspondence to Benjamin Weyers .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Visual Computing Institute—Virtual Reality & Immersive Visualization, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Benjamin Weyers

  2. Department of Computer Science, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Judy Bowen

  3. School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Alan Dix

  4. Universite de Toulouse, ICS-IRIT, Toulouse, France

    Philippe Palanque

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Weyers, B. (2017). Visual and Formal Modeling of Modularized and Executable User Interface Models. In: Weyers, B., Bowen, J., Dix, A., Palanque, P. (eds) The Handbook of Formal Methods in Human-Computer Interaction. Human–Computer Interaction Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51838-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51838-1_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51837-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51838-1

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