Addressing the mapping problem in user interface design with UsiXML

The mapping problem has been defined as any method aimed at mapping models capturing various aspects of an interactive system throughout their development life cycle to support model-based design of user interfaces. This field has followed a long tradition of establishing models and maintaining mappings between them so as to create and maintain accurate specifications of a user interface. In this paper, potential mappings between models are defined so as to create a uniform and integrated framework of adding, removing, and modifying mappings throughout the development life cycle of interactive systems. The mappings can be established from any source model to any target model, one or many, in the same formalism, or from any model element to any other. Those models include task, domain, presentation, dialog, and context of use. The context of use is itself decomposed into user, platform, and environment. To support the manipulation of mappings between models, two examples of supporting software are detailed. TRANSFORMIXML consists of a Java application that triggers transformations of models expressed by graph grammars. IDEALXML consists of a Java application allowing the designer to edit any model at any time, and element of any model and to establish a set of mappings. Both software are based on UsiXML, a User Interface Description Language