Paul S. Barth
Abstract
An object-oriented system for building graphical interfaces to programs is discussed. The system, called GROW, facilitates the process of creating interfaces that are highly interactive (including direct manipulation and animation), rich in layout structure, and effectively reusable across applications. These properties are achieved through three techniques: object-based graphics with taxonomic inheritance, interobject relationships such as composition and graphical dependency, and separation of the interface and application. Experience with interfaces for several applications has provided insights on the effectiveness of these techniques. First, object-oriented programming yields significant leverage on specializing and reusing interfaces. Second, layout constraints (such as maintaining the connectivity of a graph) can be managed with simple data dependencies among the attributes of the graphical objects. Finally, separating the interface and application is essential to reusing interface components. This paper describes the techniques in detail, gives examples of interfaces built with GROW, and summarizes experiences using GROW with a variety of applications.
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Index Terms
- An object-oriented approach to graphical interfaces
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Reviews
Chirtic Silvia
This paper presents an object-oriented system called Grow, used to construct graphical interfaces for several different systems. Grow simplifies the process of creating icons, linking the interface and application and adding interactivity and animation. Interfaces created with Grow can be modified and reused in other applications. Grow is written in INTERLISP-D, uses the object-oriented language Strobe, and runs on the Xerox-1100 series workstation. This paper is organized into nine sections. Sections 1, 2, and 3 provide an overview of the basic concepts in Grow and give an example of a dataflow interface. Three techniques are used: object-based graphics, interobject relationships, and separation of interface and application. Section 4 describes the three types of object relationships: (1)Taxonomy inheritance—Allows objects to share commonalities. (2)Composition—Allows several objects to be combined into a single, complex object. (3)Graphical dependency—Allows constraints to be maintained among the attributes of the graphical objects. Section 5 presents, in detail, the operations for creating a graphical object, linking the application and the interface, and selection and animation. Section 6 describes the main steps for creating a graphical interface. Sections 7, 8, and 9 provide examples of the use of Grow and summarize its design. A number of applications are described: a dataflow program simulator, a Petri net editor and simulator, and an analog computer simulator. In my opinion, this paper is rigorous and original. The concepts used—object-oriented system, taxonomy inheritance, and interobject relationships—are powerful, modern, and attractive. The system described will support a wide variety of interactions, from graphical editing to animation.
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