Formalizing the Informational Content of Database User Interfaces

The work described in this paper addresses the problem of modelling the informational content of a graphical user interface (GUI) to a database. The motivation is to provide a basis for tools that allow customisation of database interfaces generated using model-based techniques. We focus on a particular class of user interface, forms-based GUIs, and explore the similarities between these types of interfaces and a semantic data model. A formalism for translating between forms-based interfaces and a semantic data model is presented. The translation takes account of the context in which each control on the GUI is employed, and accommodates the need to map distinct GUI elements to the same semantic concepts.

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