The development of an executable graphical notation for describing direct manipulation interfaces : a dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science at Massey University

Abstract

The research reported in this thesis involves the development of an executable semi-formal graphical notation, Lean Cuisine+, for describing the underlying behaviour of event-based direct manipulation interfaces, and the application of the notation both in 'reverse engineering', and during the early design phase of the interface development life cycle. A motivation for the research stems from the need for tools and techniques to support high level interface design. The research supports and brings together a number of views concerning the requirements of notations at this level. These are that a notation should be semi-formal, graphical, executable, and object-oriented, and that to be most effective it should be targeted at a specific category of interaction. The Lean Cuisine+ notation meets all these criteria, the underlying meneme model matching closely with the selection-based nature of direct manipulation interfaces. Lean Cuisine+ is a multi-layered notation, and is a development of Lean Cuisine (Apperley & Spence, 1989). The base layer is a tree diagram which captures part of the behaviour of an interface in terms of constraints and dependencies between selectable dialogue primitives. Further constraints and dependencies associated with the dynamics of the interface are captured through overlays to the basic tree diagram. An orthogonal task layer captures any temporal relationships between primitive task actions, and provides a link with higher level functionality. Lean Cuisine+ is able to combine both static and dynamic modelling in a coherent manner, thus avoiding the necessity of employing separate and possibly disjoint models at the early design stage. A software support environment for the notation is also specified and partially prototyped. The research demonstrates the advantages of a notation which can be executed to provide limited but valid early simulation of the dynamic behaviour of the interface under design. A mapping from Lean Cuisine+ to a dialogue implementation language, DAL (Anderson, 1993), is also developed in support of the view that a multi-notational approach to interface development is required, and that it must be possible to move easily from initial specification to prototyping and implementation. The Lean Cuisine+ descriptions of aspects of the Apple Macintosh interface included in the thesis show the notation to be capable of handling a range of direct manipulation interaction styles and a variety of interface objects. A five stage methodology for the construction of Lean Cuisine+ specifications for new interfaces is also developed, and applied in two case studies.