9123468 Olsen, Dan R. This is the third year of a three-year continuing grant. Direct manipulation user interfaces are difficult to build. User Interface Management Systems (UIMS) have attempted to alleviate this problem by providing models of the interactive dialog which can drive the interface implementation. Such models, however, have failed to directly express the changes of information which comprise most operations in direct manipulation interfaces. A data pattern and transformation language based on matching will be developed as a model of such additional processes. Techniques will be developed for using this language as a user interface design tool. These techniques will include approaches for visually expressing the patterns and transformations interactively. This data transformation language can then be used for creating visualization of data. Such a language can express attribute modifications, style sheets, critics (which monitor and advise users) and searches. Unifying the interaction in such a transformation language provides a foundation for more intelligent tools to reason about the behavior of the interface.
