lt — — duce—and can even eliminate—the The main strength of P M S | | eki | by no ji de, pond to Manager is providing the int be unhappy, the programer is satisfied -.... Mser interaction are not only unfamil vit nani ae intelligence to — with the lo; ture. pomot SA | lo most programmers, a ao nila deal with all possible user actions, ogical structure, — zira BEE gos ZA nal interface program is: | | s — Wo prograr | sije rogram is the dispateh loo Ga "9 programming f(acilities for building that recognizes šek AUGUST 14, 1989 PG WEEKNAPPLIGATION DEVELOPMENT Pie 69. ; —— m ra APPLIED INTELLIGENCE GA A's Presentation, Dialog Interfaces Ease Programming im | e dialoguc cult to decide whether to make an in: , easv wav to imple- a dialogue with the user. The dialogues ta oe ogreti osni ler piven interf a VE RSRAIA are scattered throughout the appl ime V ENAGETI in hooefi UE senite to ra BE STRI For example, t itation Manager reguires thal lanager. Although the ber use Mnatinni ; e, the Presentation Manag classes of applications. For exampie, This is Part 6 izi inci- da monstrable, it is not clear if these kova ski ialog interface makes it easy to devel. — user l/O be the highest ar NI poj are worth the cost in training IBMS Sys op iransactjn procesi Pet AI ro oicoba k lcato. the and development. UP pširA tion Ar oki the user filled-in forms for tions. In conventional applications, et odvis ie dilicult to bulkd spol hitect gathering data to maintain a database. function is considered to be the highest chiuecture ne 1 1 i oa oi ol o pra pa A cations with Presentation Manager, but A used for applications organizing principle. Si Ee »f ental reorganization Gen de fi ti sedi O itenjive user interac- When function comes ei tl id i s or GE codo JEN on Parti existing troductton of 1n- — hat regulre RS EI D- at the mercy of the application and 1S ol appi a Brata Hen NAR toti eh as text processing, or for ap: MI nI applications to a Presentation interface tegrated comput- tion, such as text proce eneed graph- forced to respond with a specialized pp pom EOL ing environ: plications that regulre high-speed grap command syntax that is unigue to the may also be dif fic s : oč ee ME ments such. 5 m Pe h of Presentation program. The user can do only what is the presentation xE site PE oriše a bo rodii. Minagevs imeclacejki (ne Freedom it ulowed'by ite application althat pone. omiim gange es well EN staja AG eš tne Use to control the interface to In general, the user often develops a aa difricultice inherent in converting NE prelat e interaction might be ap- helpless, anti-computer, frustrated feel JE o oaE (im orfane ara nota technologies of applications. The interaction might b€ | to a Presentation interface are not ap the 905. plication-specific, such as entering re- ing. A chief benefit of integrated comput: — - a ia ing environments such as IBM s SAA is the provision of a standard user inter- face that. makes all applications appear to behave in a consistent, and familiar manner. The SAA component that gov: ititerface Provides Cotiitnor Uset erns the user interface is called Com- pealing to large, conventional COBOL programming organizations; however, ij | ki yganizations willing to make li e Window F: W | | | tke ni prerejnie are tremendous A Sirgle Window to SAA's World o NI The easiest way to bring this new s | technology into conventional organiza- ss (CUA ich is based CCEsSS K Al AA PR | tions is through the use of higher-level mon User Access (CUA), which is base Ačetesg to | l Ne a di Z, veror EI aa Ne o oe, ge zool Applieatiotis ere UME ija MN: N: must be built that lets programmers sti pet | ravneh Ap Saške zah in rasa ai ei Rea o NAV deske romi Me kval LJA am di AM concentrate on the a pplication logic, not o ŠE by the ppie U mputer C. | | o kat ie Sre. soki ki aaa zid š Hasconi SE oča % ia the user interface. The tools shou ld k acintos ; | a? d EN Mi: KRE Ma tega ; RAN TE RA LE ira Ja, a A use . poro, " h | ij i | | | | sa toma! ild the i ace for the CUA supports text-only funetions ap- automatically build the interf: propriate for a non-programmable ter- minal and graphically oriented functions designed for a programmable worksta- tion. With a workstation, the user has windows open for different, applications or different parts of the same applica- tion. Menu bars with associated pull- down menus provide access to the vari- ous functions. Users are in complete control of the interface. A mouse can be used to select a window or to move to another part of the screen. Users might open a new win- dow or close an old one. Scroll bars might be used to access material that, is too large to fit within the view dis- played in the window. This type of graphically oriented in- ' terface has proven comfortable for users and is casy to learn. It is based on the metaphor of (he desktop: The user se- lects objects on the on-sereen desktop and manipulates them in a consistent application. Dialog Interface: A First Step The Dialog interface, built atop the Presentation interface, is a first step in that direction. As with all high-level pro- gramming tools, it automates (the devel- opment. process for a restricted class of applications. The programmer specifies, in a non- procedural manner. ihe attributes of a dialogue, such as menu entries and fields in it form. The dialogues are com- piled separately. The programmer sim- ply calls them when needed. The Dialog Manager run-time svstem handles all of the top-leve! control! necessarv for deliv- ering an event-driven user interface, The programmer uses a conventional development style (hat maintains pro- gram function as the highest organizing principle. When communication with the manner. Consisteney means that seroll- User is reguired, the Dialog Manager is AK A au imaripaletino keč sie uje poje of the zanke SE ne same lor all applications, The Se 0! the Dialog Manager still re- menus and multiple windows vastly re- a zn guires some redesign of an application. ji interface is the freedom it gives o enllonai na čaj: a, pi the user tf ral the int ; ' h See -S Lhe user lo (lip from panel tu gi gas legi zuau oompia Ran: r to control the inter face to applications. The inter- panel. ln a windowing ROE me SL nere are no di([fering "modes" of action mi ). eks ce na | is no longe po raraaji RAI SEVE | operation with confusing behaviors. The might be app Ucation-specif ic orata System level. that SAME EEA An application user can move anywhere in the inter. aS originally composed of sepa- face at any time. A ET nm — o neeea ; Can be better designed as Although this type of interface je Ada. ; č SEE S LENE applications, each in its own rahle Nece odrad dn s pela Ma yi ne skopa EI, sj se might. sane at Programmers are very happy with the Ee operadin within a workstation only a new ls but ola o Z ZL ANNO A hen moving win. concept o tion f SPRE IE balo, ielety d non tools but also a com- — dows or initiating another application. SSI m o unction first, because the Next week, Fl dese kep ni pucjan ene! of designing The main difficulty in developing an ne of the program is cleanly laid out, tion-generation envi ribe the applica end buliding applications, The event. a k sita koki e application, While the user mig a ROA ZA TA ironment provided PRča Ebel | seg zne nevem z application controlled by Presentation PPlication, While the user might SAA. m p SCROLLBAR need for the user to learn any command are a si To learn more aho 5 hani (o vate Using the Presentation interface, the When user interaction comes first, the more about the sub ject of — JE PRI these articles, please rn v | seen dpi User s attitudes PSA S, please call The James IBM is attacking the problem with in arine ka of organization in the user- Al] the functions of the maci na se sa ; ai elarkah "formation service NE a then calls the appropriate modne. se; s mi? peče rja; nemi sie h the pro- z ati a a lat k Sel ji the interface leads to happier Nation oja (in ihe United States and Ca zas 0 dor building a full event. This is in sharp sito one nc more productive users... | Te s. nsfer Institute, d | Mi contrast, to ion. | Ve users. ze toti , O A A eti ul al applications (hat are organized by ap sala orisa ej It is organized, com. DOKOB(bSI) o pasa Calij The Dialog interface ig a mne plication function. When a function has tion is S user and applica- tact Savant, 2 New: St. Ca a ŠE to communicate with the user, it initiates or for the prog be uči the user evi LA5 9BX Uniter PRE, ""oBrammer. It is often diti. (0524) 73) 505 ui keri , % i š 5 h 4 ] E sa rr I —- Hi giilesa m m —— ——>— a z i.., di % certain user actions and. vme o dua ble; 8d the user decides For re ani dt (800) 2429-1240, ii