Megamodeling and Metamodel-Driven Engineering for Plastic User Interfaces: MEGA-UI

摘要: Models are not new in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Consider all the Model-Based Interface Design Environments (MB-IDE) that emerged 1990s for generating User Interfaces (UI) from more abstract descriptions. Unfortunately, resulting poor usability killed approach, burying models HCI a long time until requirements sprung, pushed by ubiquitous computing (e.g., need device independence). These requirements, bolstered large effort expended Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) Software (SE) community, have brought back to life HCI. This paper utilizes both know-how and recent advances MDE address challenge of engineering Plastic UIs, i.e., UIs capable adapting their context use (User, Platform, Environment) while preserving usability. Although most work has concentrated on functional aspect adaptation so far, this chapter focuses The point is acknowledge strength keeping trace UI’s design rationale at runtime as make it possible system reason about its own when changes. As transformations link together different perspectives same UI user’s tasks workspaces spatially grouping items together), claims embedding graph depicts explaining rationale. meets notion Megamodel promoted MDE. first was used explicit relations between core concepts MDE: System, Model, Metamodel, Mapping, Transformation. When transposed HCI, gives rise Mega-UI makes user (designer and/or end-user) browse control levels abstraction tasks, workspaces, interactors, code) genericity model, metamodel, meta-metamodel). Yet, prototype (a rapid prototyping tool) been implemented using general tools EMF, ATL). So directed subset links including mapping platform. Via an Extra-UI, designer controls molding distribution based library self-explanative transformations. Extra-UIs were previously called Meta-UIs. But Meta confusing with prefix MDE, we prefer Extra assess there no change level genericity. By contrast Meta-UI manipulates upper (Meta MDE) making observe define languages specifying Meta-UIs next step our research agenda. overall encompasses Extra-UIs,