A general framework for bidirectional translation between abstract and pictorial data

The merits of direct manipulation are now widely recognized. However, direct manipulation interfaces incur high cost in their creation. To cope with this problem, we present a model of bidirectional translation between pictures and abstract application data, and a prototype system, TRIP2, based on this model. Using this model, general mapping from abstract data to pictures and from pictures to abstract data is realized merely by giving declarative mapping rules, allowing fast and easy creation of direct manipulation interfaces. We apply the prototype system to the generation of the interfaces for kinship diagrams, Graph Editors, E-R diagrams, and an Othello game.