A Petri Nets Method for Specification and Automatic Generation of User Interface

In process control, many automated applications with high degree of safety require the human operator’s permanent presence. The operators have to control the system’s evolution and to react to unexpected events. Graphical user interfaces inform the operators about the process evolution and assist them in their complex task of problem solving. Several researchers are interested in the improvement of the quality of such interfaces (e.g., Rasmussen 1986; Gilmore et al. 1989; Kolski 1997). Nowadays, the tendency is to provide formal techniques for interface specification. So that, it becomes easier to verify the consistency of the specifications before the interface generation. This is particularly crucial when the interfaces are used in critical domains such as process control or transportation systems. Many works have been carried out within this framework and different approaches have been proposed (Moussa 1992; Bodart et al. 1995; Mahfoudhi 1997; Palanque and Bastide 1997). But, most of them presents slackness concerning for example system analysis, interface specification or automatic generation of the interface. Thus, we try to palliate them by proposing a global approach which covers the different aspects of the user interface design. This approach benefits from Petri Nets formalism and contributes to the “Tools for working with guidelines” domain.