Abstract Models of Dialogue Concepts
We introduce formal, abstract models for specifying modern dialogue concepts offered by dialogue interfaces. The dialogue concepts considered in this paper are menus, forms, and windows. Using these abstract models a totally formal definition of man-machine interactions and screen layouts is achieved. Thus the semantics of user actions can be formalized. The specification method we are using is the Vienna Development Method. Examples are taken from the Application Development and Support System ADS which offers dialogue functions for generating and using application systems.