Domain-Specific Graphical Editors

Unidraw is a framework for creating object-oriented graphical editors in domains such as technical and artistic drawing, music composition, and CAD. The Unidraw architecture simplifies the construction of these editors by providing programming abstractions that are common across domains. Unidraw defines four basic abstractions: components encapsulate the appearance and behavior of objects, tools support direct manipulation of components, commands define operations on components, and external representations define the mapping between components and a file or database. Unidraw also supports multiple views, graphical connectivity, and dataflow between components. This paper presents Unidraw and three prototype domain-specific editors we have developed with it: a schematic capture system, a user interface builder, and a drawing editor. Experience indicates a substantial reduction in implementation time and effort compared with existing tools.