Model-Driven Engineering Applied to User Interfaces. A Systematic Literature Review

The complexity and dynamism of modern systems have made software development a task that requires a lot of time and effort since traditional methods and tools focus on the implementation domain instead of the problem. The implementation and maintenance of software user interfaces have been no exception. Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) emerges as a potential approach to increase the level of abstraction, improve the management of the complexity and evolution of the system, and ultimately maximize the productivity of software development projects. Therefore, this paper presents a systematic literature review to understand the state of the art on model-driven user interface engineering by following the Kitchenham’s guidelines. This study aims to answer the following research questions: i) How is MDE used to build and maintain software user interfaces? and ii) How is the research addressed in studies related to using MDE to build and maintain software user interfaces? First, 1708 primary studies were collected from multiple research sources. Then, applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 51 articles on relevant MDE proposals focused on software user interfaces were selected. Finally, quantitative and qualitative methods based on extraction criteria were applied to answer the proposed research questions, determine the advantages and disadvantages of the existing proposals, and identify the challenges, gaps, and research opportunities.