End-User Composition of Graphical User Interfaces for PalCom Systems

Summary, in English

In ubiquitous computing, end-user composition allows users to combine multiple single-purpose devices into new, interesting constellations. In PalCom – a ubiquitous middleware – this is achieved without the need to write program code. In this paper we present a solution that in the same way allows users to create Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for such systems without coding. The approach is to focus on presenting functionality in a GUI rather than attaching functionality to manually added components. We see this as an inverted way of working with GUI development. The solution was realized in the form of a graphical editor for a PalCom specific User Interface Description Language. The tool produces platform independent GUI descriptions that can be interpreted on any platform. When compared to another common tool, the presented editor exhibited roughly 10x shorter development times. The learning time for new users was also evaluated with positive outcome, and a scalability evaluation showed that the solution can be used to create professional grade GUIs.

• Author: Björn A Johnsson; Gunnar Weibull
• Department/s: Department of Computer Science; ELLIIT: the Linköping-Lund initiative on IT and mobile communication; Software Development and Environments
• Publishing year: 2016
• Language: English
• Pages: 224-231
• Publication/Series: Procedia Computer Science
• Volume: 94
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2016.08.035
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Computer Engineering
• Conference name: The 11th International Conference on Future Networks and Communications
• Conference date: 2016-08-15 - 2016-08-18
• Conference place: Montreal, Canada
• Status: Published
• Project: Support for user control and integration in pervasive systems.
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1877-0509