GUI generation from annotated source code

Abstract

Creating user interfaces in a common task in application development. It can become time and money consuming if the same application is to be run on more platforms with different restrictions and requirements. To reduce the development cost and time the user interface can be defined on an abstract level in the form of a task model. Explicit defining and maintaining the task model can complicate the development especially in its early stages when application prototype are built. We present a way to define a user interface on an abstract level without explicit definition of the user interface module while keeping it transparent, thus reducing the work required to make functional application prototypes. Our approach is based on derivation of a user interface module directly from an application source code enriched by abstract commands of user interaction to control the generation of the user interface.