Flexible widget layout with fuzzy constraint satisfaction

We propose a new solution for the flexible widget layout (FWL) problem, formulating this problem as a fuzzy constraint satisfaction problem (FCSP) in the field of artificial intelligence. Widget layout performed by computers is one of the most important challenges for automatic generation of graphical user interfaces (GUIs). In the field of model-based user interface design, the widget layout is more complicated because the process of selecting widgets is needed. The FWL, we named, is the automatic GUI generation, which requires both (1) deciding which widget types and their alignments are used and (2) completing the layout in a certain time especially when the system generates them in run time. Our system automatically selects appropriate widgets and lays them out in certain rectangles. We formulate the desirability of the selection straightforward as fuzzy constraints; therefore, we can utilize existing technique of FCSP for the FWL. We divide the layout process into three phases, and using an existing FCSP algorithm, we realize the layout in a short time enough not to keep users of the generated GUI waiting.