Designing database interfaces with DBface

ABSTRACT

DBface is a toolkit for designing interfaces to object-oriented databases. It provides users with a set of tools for building custom interfaces with minimal programming. This is accomplished by combining techniques from User Interface Management Systems (UIMS) with a built-in knowledge about the specific kinds of techniques used by object-oriented databases. DBface allows users to create graphical constructs and interactive techniques by taking advantage of an object-oriented database environment and tools. Not only can database tools be used for creating an interface, but information about the interface being built is stored within a database schema and is syntactically consistent with all other schema information. Thus, an interface can deal with data and schema information, including information about another interface. This allows for easy reusability of graphical constructs such as data representations.

REFERENCES

• 1: Paul S. Barth, An object-oriented approach to graphical interfaces, ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), v.5 n.2, p.142-172, April 1986 [doi>10.1145/22949.22951]
• 2: Donald D. Chamberlin , Raymond F. Boyce, SEQUEL: A structured English query language, Proceedings of the 1974 ACM SIGFIDET (now SIGMOD) workshop on Data description, access and control, p.249-264, May 01-03, 1974, Ann Arbor, Michigan [doi>10.1145/800296.811515]
• 3: Daniel Bryce , Richard Hull, SNAP: A Graphics-based Schema Manager, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Data Engineering, p.151-164, February 05-07, 1986
• 4: W. Buxton , M. R. Lamb , D. Sherman , K. C. Smith, Towards a comprehensive user interface management system, ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, v.17 n.3, p.35-42, July 1983
• 5: Luca Cardelli, Building user interfaces by direct manipulation, Proceedings of the 1st annual ACM SIGGRAPH symposium on User Interface Software, p.152-166, October 17-19, 1988, Alberta, Canada [doi>10.1145/62402.62428]
• 6: Jay W. Davison , Stanley B. Zdonik, A visual interface for a database with version management, ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), v.4 n.3, p.226-256, July 1986 [doi>10.1145/214427.214430]
• 7: EGE, R.K. Defining constraint-based user interfaces. Data Eng. 11, 2 (June 1988), 54 63.
• 8: Kenneth J. Goldman , Sally A. Goldman , Paris C. Kanellakis , Stanley B. Zdonik, ISIS: interface for a semantic information system, Proceedings of the 1985 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data, p.328-342, May 1985, Austin, Texas, United States
• 9: GREEN, M. Report on dialogue specification tools. Comput. Graph. Forum 3 (1984), 305-313.
• 10: Mark Green, The University of Alberta user interface management system, ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, v.19 n.3, p.205-213, Jul. 1985
• 11: Mark Green, A survey of three dialogue models, ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), v.5 n.3, p.244-275, July 1986 [doi>10.1145/24054.24057]
• 12: M Green, Directions for user interface management systems research, ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, v.21 n.2, p.113-116, April 1987 [doi>10.1145/24919.24927]
• 13: HELD, G., STONEBRAKER, M. AND WONG, E. INGRES: A relational data base management system. In Proceedings of the AFIPS National Computer Conference 44 (Anaheim, Calif., May 1975), 409-416.
• 14: J. I. Helfman, Panther: a specification system for graphical controls, Proceedings of the SIGCHI/GI conference on Human factors in computing systems and graphics interface, p.279-284, April 05-09, 1987, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 15: D. A. Henderson, Jr., The Trillium user interface design environment, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.221-227, April 13-17, 1986, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
• 16: Scott E. Hudson , Roger King, CACTIS: a database system for specifying functionally-defined data, Proceedings on the 1986 international workshop on Object-oriented database systems, p.26-37, September 23-26, 1986, Pacific Grove, California, United States
• 17: Scott E. Hudson , Roger King, An Semantic Feedback in the Higgens UIMS, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, v.14 n.8, p.1188-1206, August 1988 [doi>10.1109/32.7628]
• 18: Scott E. Hudson , Roger King, Cactis: a self-adaptive, concurrent implementation of an object-oriented database management system, ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS), v.14 n.3, p.291-321, Sept. 1989 [doi>10.1145/68012.68013]
• 19: HUTCttlNS, E. L., HOLLAN, J. D. AND NORMAN, D.A. Direct manipulation interfaces. In User Centered System Design, Lawrence, Erlbaum, 1986, 87 124.
• 20: Robert J. K. Jacob, A specification language for direct-manipulation user interfaces, ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), v.5 n.4, p.283-317, Oct. 1986 [doi>10.1145/27623.27624]
• 21: Roger King , Stephen Melville, Ski: A Semantics-Knowledgeable Interface, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, p.30-33, August 27-31, 1984
• 22: Roger King , Michael Novak, Freeform: A User-Adaptable Form Management System, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, p.331-338, September 01-04, 1987
• 23: R. King , M. Novak, FaceKit: a database interface design toolkit, Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Very large data bases, p.115-123, July 1989, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• 24: Hiroyuki Kitagawa , Makiko Gotoh , Sohei Misaki , Motoei Azuma, Form document management system SPECDOQ its architecture and implementation, Proceedings of the second ACM-SIGOA conference on Office information systems, p.132-142, January 1984
• 25: Alison Lee , F. H. Lochovsky, Enhancing the usability of an Office Information System through direct manipulation, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, p.130-134, December 12-15, 1983, Boston, Massachusetts, United States [doi>10.1145/800045.801596]
• 26: Brad A. Myers, Creating dynamic interaction techniques by demonstration, Proceedings of the SIGCHI/GI conference on Human factors in computing systems and graphics interface, p.271-278, April 05-09, 1987, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 27: Dan R. Olsen, Jr. , Elizabeth P. Dempsey , Roy Rogge, Input/output linkage in a user interface management system, ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, v.19 n.3, p.191-197, Jul. 1985
• 28: Dan R. Olsen, Jr., MIKE: the menu interaction kontrol environment, ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), v.5 n.4, p.318-344, Oct. 1986 [doi>10.1145/27623.28868]
• 29: D R Olsen, Jr., Larger issues in user interface management, ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, v.21 n.2, p.134-137, April 1987 [doi>10.1145/24919.24932]
• 30: John S. Quarterman , Josiah C. Hoskins, Notable computer networks, Communications of the ACM, v.29 n.10, p.932-971, Oct. 1986 [doi>10.1145/6617.6618]
• 31: T. R. Rogers , R. G. G. Cattell, Entity-relationship database user interfaces, Readings in database systems, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, 1988
• 32: Andrew J. Schulert , George T. Rogers , James A. Hamilton, ADM — a dialog manager, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.177-183, April 1985, San Francisco, California, United States
• 33: John L. Sibert , William D. Hurley , Teresa W. Bleser, An object-oriented user interface management system, ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, v.20 n.4, p.259-268, Aug. 1986
• 34: Pedro Szekely , Brad Myers, A user interface toolkit based on graphical objects and constraints, Conference proceedings on Object-oriented programming systems, languages and applications, p.36-45, September 25-30, 1988, San Diego, California, United States
• 35: Jeffrey D. Ullman, Principles of Database Systems, W. H. Freeman & Co., New York, NY, 1983
• 36: Charles Wiecha , William Bennett , Stephen Boies , John Gould , Sharon Greene, ITS: a tool for rapidly developing interactive applications, ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), v.8 n.3, p.204-236, July 1990 [doi>10.1145/98188.98194]
• 37: S. Bing Yao , Alan R. Hevner , Zhongzhi Shi , Dawei Luo, FORMANAGER: an office forms management system, ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), v.2 n.3, p.235-262, July 1984 [doi>10.1145/1206.357413]
• 38: ZLOOF, M.M. Query by example. In Proceedings of the AFIPS Natmnal Computer Con}%rence 44 (Anaheim, Calif., May 1975), 431-438.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques

          Nouns: DBface

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: Computer-aided software engineering (CASE)

  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors
  H.2 DATABASE MANAGEMENT
      H.2.1 Logical Design
          Subjects: Data models
      H.2.4 Systems
          Subjects: Query processing
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: User interface management systems (UIMS)

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors

Keywords:
graphical interfaces, object-oriented databases, user interface management systems