Paper presented at ACM CHI'93 (conference on Human Aspects in Computing Systems). This paper introduces the notion of Abstract Interaction Objects, which is an abstraction of Concrete Interaction Objects found in various toolkits. The implementation was done is OSF/Motif on DEC stations.

1. Encapsulating Knowledge for
Intelligent Automatic
Interaction Objects Selection
Jean Vanderdonckt, François Bodart
University of Namur, Belgium
jean.vanderdonckt@gmail.com
in Proceedings of ACM Conference on Human Aspects in Computing Systems InterCHI'93 (Amsterdam, 24-29 April 1993), S.
Ashlund, K. Mullet, A. Henderson, E. Hollnagel, T. White (Eds.), Addison Wesley, Reading (Massachusetts), pp. 424-429.

2. Interaction Objects Selection
Introduction
1. Is environment independent
2. Is included in an automatic generator
3. Involves application semantic
4. Requires a dialog model

3. Interaction Objects Selection (2)
5. Requires a user model
6. Considers screen space
7. Uses explicit rules
8. Groups related objects

4. Selection Requirements
1. Is environment independent
2. Is included in an automatic generator
3. Involves application semantic
4. Requires a dialog model

5. Abstract Interaction Objects
Different presentations
Same behaviours
Abstract (AIO) versus Concrete (CIO)
– Abstract Interaction Objects are platform-independent
– Concrete Interaction Objects are platform-specific
Taxonomy of AIOs
6 sets : action, scrolling, static, control,
dialog and feedback

6. Abstract Interaction Objects (2)
Generic name, definition
Nature
Type
Aggregation, inheritance
Operations = (causes, effects)
Abstract attributes, events and primitives
– PushButton_TriggeredFunctionName
– PushButton_OnSelection
– PushButton_TriggerFunction

7. Selection Requirements
1. Is environment independent
2. Is included in an automatic generator
3. Involves application semantic
4. Requires a dialog model

8. TRIDENT Approach Overview
Specification editor
ERA, FCG databases
AIO selector
Selection rules
AIO specifications
AIO to CIO mapper
CIO specifications
CIO placer
UIL objects
Presentation editor

9. Specification Editor

10. Abstract Interaction Object Selector

11. UIDL Specifications

12. Selection Requirements
1. Is environment independent
2. Is included in an automatic generator
3. Involves application semantic
4. Requires a dialog model

13. Application Data Modelization
Domain
Data types
Values to choose
Default value
Principal values
Secundary values

14. Application Data Modelization (2)
Granularity: low-medium-high
Known values: domain values
Ordered list: yes/no
Expandable list: yes/no
Continuous range: yes/no

15. Selection Requirements
5. Requires a user model
6. Considers screen space
7. Uses explicit rules
8. Groups related objects

16. Application Data Modelization (3)
User level : Beginner
Novice
Intermediate
Expert
Master
Selection preference
Constrained screen space

17. Selection Requirements
5. Requires a user model
6. Considers screen space
7. Uses explicit rules
8. Groups related objects

18. Selection Rules
Data input, data display
8 data types : hour, date, logical, integer,
numeric, real, alphabetic, alphanumeric
Simple AIO for elementary data
Composite AIO for grouped data
(list, group, array)

19. Selection Rules (example)
Integer input data, known domain, Nvc > 1
Nsv Exp Npv AIO
= 0 no [2,3] Npv check boxes
[4,7] Npv check boxes+group box
[8,Tm] List box
[Tm+1,2Tm] Scrolling list box
> 2Tm Scrolling drop-down list box
= 0 yes Combination box
> 0 List box

20. Decision Trees
2 trees for input/display
Data type on first node
One simple condition by node
Branching nodes
Conclusion nodes

21. Decision Tree (example)
Nsv=0 Exp=no 2ŠNpvŠ3
Npv check boxes
Nsv>0 Exp=yes 4ŠNpvŠ7
Npv>2Tm
Npv check boxes+group box
8ŠNpvŠTm
List box
Tm+1ŠNpvŠ2Tm
Scrolling list box
Combination box
Scrolling drop-down list box
List box

22. Decision Tree : Conclusion
Visibility
Easy backtracking
Easy explanation
Fast selection
Modifiability
Refinement
Rule redundancy
Excessive size
Predefined order
Pro
Contra