7.4.2 Interface Descriptions

Interface Descriptions (IDE) are another feature which give the designer of a GUI powerful means for an efficient solution of the problem. These interface descriptions are strongly motivated by the MOTIF UIL language [31], and go in some areas beyond the capabilities of UIL since they are used in an interpreting environment such as VLISP. Example 7.3 shows the interface description of the GUI which is depicted in Figure 7.3.

An example of these features is the curve-manager-visual which is used multiply in fairly unrelated areas. Although initially designed to build up the curve viewer (see Figure C.1 on page ) it is also used to monitor the optimization progress within the Optimization Module (see Figure 4.3 on page ). In either case the curve-manager-visual is fully embedded into the application and the work which has been invested into a careful design of this visual has paid off when the Visual was used the second time. This is not just a single case but rather exemplary for the Visual concept.