Property models: from incidental algorithms to reusable components

A user interface, such as a dialog, assists a user in synthesising a set of values, typically parameters for a command object. Code for “command parameter synthesis” is usually application-specific and non-reusable, consisting of validation logic in event handlers and code that controls how values of user interface elements change in response to a user’s actions, etc. These software artifacts are incidental—they are not explicitly designed and their implementation emerges from a composition of locally defined behaviors. This article presents property models to capture explicitly the algorithms, validation, and interaction rules, arising from command parameter synthesis. A user interface’s behavior can be derived from a declarative property model specification, with the assistance of a component akin to a constraint solver. This allows multiple interfaces, both human and programmatic, to reuse a single model along with associated validation logic and widget activation logi...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: GPCE
• Authors: Jaakko Järvi, Mat Marcus, Sean Parent, John Freeman, Jacob N. Smith
• Keywords: Command Parameter Synthesis, GPCE 2008, Programming Languages, Property Models, User Interfaces