Model and framework for multimodal and adaptive user interfaces generation in the context of business processes development

This thesis addresses issues related to the automatic generation of user interfaces, in order to identify methods to effectively support the constant evolution of processes and, at the same time, to put the emphasis on fundamental concepts for the user such as usability, plasticity, adaptability and multi-modality. The proposed methodology foresees the definition of a set of four meta-models for the design of the various aspects of both the UI and the application development processes, with the definition of the different users involved in the different steps and the indication of the models produced at the end of each step of the process; said methodology is synthesized in a specific framework covering both the design and runtime phases of multimodal adaptive UIs and application life cycles, thus embracing a more holistic model-driven approach foreseeing the integration of methods for the automatic generation of user interfaces with the tools used for business process management. In particular the framework envisions: a Domain Model, to represent all the concepts characterizing each application domain; a Process Model, to represent the tasks fulfilling the application requirements; an Abstract User Interface Model, automatically generated from the two previously introduced models and describing any possible user interface generated for the specific use case; a Concrete User Interface Model, automatically generated from the abstract model and describing the family of concrete user interfaces for a specific use case once a particular target technology has been chosen.