Generating user interface code in a model based user interface development environment

Abstract

Declarative models play an important role in most software design activities, by allowing designs to be constructed that selectively abstract over complex implementation details. In the user interface setting, Model-Based User Interface Development Environments (MB-UIDEs) provide a context within which declarative models can be constructed and related, as part of the interface design process. However, such declarative models are not usually directly executable, and may be difficult to relate to existing software components. It is therefore important that MB-UIDEs both fit in well with existing software architectures and standards, and provide an effective route from declarative interface specification to running user interfaces. This paper describes how user interface software is generated from declarative descriptions in the Teallach MB-UIDE. Distinctive features of Teallach include its open architecture, which connects directly to existing applications and widget sets, and the generation of executable interface applications in Java. This paper focuses on how Java programs, organized using the model-view-controller pattern (MVC), are generated from the task, domain and presentation models of Teallach.