JP2001281835A - Layout edition system, method and layout edition program as well as recording medium recording the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the operability of layout edition work in DTP. SOLUTION: An electronic document and page constitution element are displayed as an edition form on a screen of a display device. The page constitution element is moved by operating a pointing device and is arranged to the desired position on the electronic document. The electric document has page grids to delineate layout reference lines. Plural pieces of first attraction points are arranged in prescribed patterns on the page grids. The page constitution element also has plural pieces of second attraction points. Only the one attraction point nearest the position of a cursor within the frame of the page constitution element is set at an attractable state by the adsorption control function of this system. Then, when the page constitution element is moved on the screen, the selected one second attraction point is moved while the attraction operation of the page grid to the first attraction point is repeated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention generally relates to desktop publishing (DTP) technology, and more particularly to layout editing technology for electronic documents in DTP.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a DTP using a computer, an electronic document of a selected size as an editing sheet is displayed on a screen of a CRT display device. A reference line called a grid composed of a plurality of horizontal lines and a plurality of vertical lines is usually set in this electronic document. Then, a page component called an object is formed on a screen or taken in from the outside to be arranged on an electronic document. An object is usually composed of a frame that defines the region and content data such as graphics or text set in the frame.

In DTP, it is important to accurately arrange such objects on an electronic document. In this case, for example, using a pointing device such as a mouse, the cursor on the screen is positioned on the object, and the object is held (selected) by clicking a button of the pointing device, and the mouse is operated. The object can be moved together with the cursor to a desired position on the electronic document. Further, it is possible to move the object to a desired position by inputting the X and Y coordinate values of the object using the keyboard. Then, in the grid, for example, a suction point (also called a snap point) is provided at each intersection.
Are provided, and a plurality of suction points are also provided on the object. Thus, for example, when the object is moved to a position near a desired position by a pointing device, at least one of the adsorption points of the object is adsorbed (also referred to as snapping) with the adsorption point of the grid, whereby the object is accurately aligned with the grid. The Rukoto. In other words, by using the suction technique, it is not necessary to manually align the object to the grid accurately to the end, but only by moving the object close to the desired position, the object is sucked and automatically adjusted. Positioned in alignment with the grid.

As described above, the suction technique is a very effective technique in layout editing for accurately positioning an object on an electronic document using a grid. However, a normal object has a plurality of adsorption points, and particularly when the grid interval is small compared to the size of the object, the object adsorption point and the grid adsorption point frequently adsorb. Instead, the positioning operation of the object may be complicated or inaccurate. Further, depending on the form of the grid (for example, the grid set on the document paper), the positioning operation may be difficult because the object has a plurality of suction points.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a layout editing system and method which solves the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art and has improved operability. Aim.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute the layout editing method is recorded.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a layout editing system for arranging page components on an electronic document, a display device, and a plurality of first and second display devices for displaying on the display device. First supply means for supplying an electronic document having a grid having one suction point to the display device, wherein the outline is defined by a frame on the electronic document displayed on the display device, and A second supply unit configured to supply a plurality of page components having a plurality of second suction points that can be suctioned so as to be aligned with respect to the first suction point; A moving means for manually moving the user to move it to a desired position; only one selected suction point among the plurality of second suction points while being held by the moving means; Layout editing system characterized in that it has first adsorption state control means for the adsorption state, is provided.

Preferably, the moving means has a pointing device such as a mouse or a tracking ball, and the page component is maintained in a holding state by clicking, ie, pressing down, a button of the pointing device. You. The pointing device is associated with the cursor on the display device and is closest to the cursor when the cursor is positioned within the frame of the page component and the page component is maintained in a held state. Second
Only the suction points are set to a suction-enabled state, and the other second suction points are set to a suction-disabled state.

More preferably, the layout editing system has a suction operation mode setting means, whereby a first suction operation mode for setting all of the plurality of first suction points to a state in which suction is possible, A second suction operation mode for setting a state in which suction is possible only to a preselected one of the plurality of first suction points is selectively set. Preferably, the suction operation mode setting means has a predetermined key on a keyboard, and the second suction operation mode is set while the key is held in a pressed state, and not set. In this case, the first suction operation mode is set.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a layout editing method for arranging page components on an electronic document, an electronic document having a grid having a plurality of first suction points on a display device. And a plurality of second suctions whose outline is defined by a frame on the electronic document displayed on the display device and which can be suction-aligned with respect to the plurality of first suction points. Displaying a page component having a dot, and detecting that a button of a pointing device associated with the cursor is pressed down while the cursor is positioned within the frame of the page component, The page constituent element is set to the holding state, and only the second suction point closest to the cursor among the plurality of second suction points is set to the suckable state, and from the second suction point, A probe point for maintaining the relative positional relationship with the cursor at the time of is set, and when the pointing device is operated and the cursor is moved in the holding state, the second suction in the suckable state is performed. A layout editing method is provided, wherein a page component is moved by sucking a point to a first suction point closest to the probe point that moves in conjunction with the movement of the cursor.

[0011] Preferably, a first suction mode for setting all of the plurality of first suction points to a suction-enabled state, and a selected one corresponding to a predetermined pattern among the plurality of first suction points. And a second suction mode in which only the suction-enabled state is set. Then, in this case, the first and second suction modes are selected depending on whether a predetermined key on the keyboard is in a pressed state or in a released state. According to the above, a procedure for displaying an electronic document having a grid having a plurality of first suction points on a display device in a layout editing program,
The electronic document displayed on the display device has an outline defined by a frame and includes a plurality of second suction points that can be sucked to align with the plurality of first suction points. A step of displaying a page component being displayed, and detecting that a button of a pointing device associated with the cursor is depressed while the cursor is positioned within the frame of the page component, A component is held, and only a second suction point closest to the cursor among the plurality of second suction points is set to a suction-enabled state, and the second suction point is positioned relative to the cursor at that time from the second suction point. Setting a probe point that maintains a target positional relationship, and, when the pointing device is operated and the cursor is moved while maintaining the holding state, the suckable state is set. And causing the computer to execute the procedure of moving the page component by sucking the determined second suction point to the first suction point closest to the probe point that moves in conjunction with the movement of the cursor. An editing program is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an electronic document having a grid having a plurality of first suction points is displayed on a display device on a computer-readable recording medium recording a layout editing program. Displaying the plurality of second suction lines, the outline of which is defined by a frame on the electronic document displayed on the display device, and which can be sucked to align with the plurality of first suction points. A procedure for displaying a page component having a suction point, and that a button of a pointing device associated with the cursor is depressed while the cursor is positioned within the frame of the page component. Upon detection, the page component is held, and only the second suction point closest to the cursor among the plurality of second suction points is set to a suction-enabled state. And setting a probe point that maintains a relative positional relationship with the cursor at that time from the second suction point, and when the pointing device is operated and the cursor is moved while the holding state is maintained, the Causing the computer to execute the steps of: moving the page component by sucking the second suction point in the suckable state to the first suction point closest to the probe point that moves in conjunction with the movement of the cursor. A computer-readable recording medium recording a layout editing program is provided.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a DTP processing system 1 incorporating the present invention. The DTP processing system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a DTP processing control device 2 that can perform a typesetting process, a plate making process, and the like, a display device 3 that displays data being processed, and a display device 3 that is displayed on the display device 3. Means for moving the data on the screen, input means 5 for inputting various data (for example, graphics and text data) used for DTP processing, and output means 6 for outputting edited data. Have.

The DTP processing control device 2 has an electronic document supply means 2a, and the electronic document supply means 2a
An electronic document (editing paper) having a grid having a plurality of suction points (also referred to as snap points) is supplied to the display device 3 in order to be displayed by. Note that the grid is a reference line composed of a plurality of vertical lines and a plurality of horizontal lines arranged on a page of an electronic document when displayed on the display device 3 as described in detail later. And at least one page component (also called a page object) using a grid
Is positioned on the electronic document. The grid is selectively used in two or more different formats. At each intersection of the vertical line and the horizontal line of the grid, suction points are usually provided, which function to suck and mutually align the suction points provided on the page components. .

The DTP processing control device 2 further has a page component supply means 2b, which is formed by a user on the display device 3 for display on the display device 3 or a graphic created in advance. After inputting data or text data via the input means 5, the data is displayed on the display device 3. The page component is a page object to be laid out on the electronic document displayed on the display device 3 as will be described in detail later, and basically includes a frame that defines the area, and a frame within the frame. Has graphic data or text data to be included in the data, and a plurality of suction points. When the page components are displayed on the display device 3, the user operates the moving means 4 to move the page components on the screen of the display device 3 to position the page components at a desired position of the electronic document. In this case, as described above,
The page component has a plurality of suction points, and the grid arranged on the electronic document also has a plurality of suction points. When the page component is moved, the page component moves while its attraction point is attracted to the attraction point of the grid.

The DTP processing control device 2 further has a suction state control means 2c.
Is to improve the operability of the layout processing of the page components by controlling the suction operation between the page components and the grid in a predetermined manner when the page components are moved as described above. . That is, as described later in detail, according to the present invention, when a page component is moved by the moving means 4, one of the plurality of suction points of the page component is selected. Only the selected suction point is set to the suction-enabled state, and the remaining suction points are set to the suction-disabled state. As a result, the processing performance when the user arranges the page components on the electronic document is remarkably improved, and the positioning can be performed more accurately. In addition, various modes are possible for selectively setting only one of the plurality of suction points included in the page component to the suction-enabled state. For example, the moving unit 4 is a mouse. in case of,
When the mouse is clicked, the suction point closest to the cursor located on the page component can be selectively made to be in a suckable state.

The DTP processing control device 2 includes various functional components which are usually required in DTP and known to those skilled in the art, in addition to those described above. Then, the electronic document on which the layout editing has been performed and the DTP process has been completed is output by the output unit 6, and for example, a publishing operation can be performed using the output data obtained as a result.

The layout editing system of the present invention can be incorporated as a part of the DTP system 1 as shown in FIG. 1, but is further incorporated in a general-purpose computer system 10 as shown in FIG. By installing the layout editing program 8 of the present invention, a layout editing system or a DTP system can be constructed. That is, in the embodiment of FIG.
0 denotes a CPU 11, a memory 12, a CRT 13, a hard disk 14, a keyboard 15, and a mouse 16
, CD-ROM drive 17 and FD drive 18
And a printer 19. These units are connected to each other by a bus 9. The layout editing program 8 according to the present invention is, for example,
For example, stored on the hard disk 14 by being installed in the system 10 via the ROM drive 17 or the FD drive 18. Then, when the user operates the keyboard 15 or the mouse 16,
When the layout editing program 8 is activated, it is loaded into the memory 12 as shown. Therefore, C
DTP processing including the electronic document supply unit 2a, the page component supply unit 2b, and the suction state control unit 2c shown in FIG. 1 in cooperation with the PU 11 and the layout editing program 8 loaded in the memory 12. A control mechanism will be built. Therefore, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium recording a layout editing program capable of converting a general-purpose computer system into a DTP processing system.

FIG. 3 shows a portion of a screen display of the display device 3 of FIG. 1, which may be, for example, the CRT 13 of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the present invention. That is, an electronic document 22 is displayed on the screen 21 as editing paper, on which layout editing of various page components is performed. The electronic document 22 is, for example, the screen 2
For example, in the menu bar 20 displayed along the upper end of the “1”, the “File” can be displayed on the screen 21 by clicking the “File” with the mouse and selecting “New Document”. When the electronic document 22 is displayed on the screen 21, the user is asked a question in a dialog box, or the page grid 2 is displayed on the electronic document 22 based on a value set as a default.
3 is displayed. The layout grid (hereinafter, simply referred to as “grid”) 23 is a reference line used for layout editing arranged in a page of the electronic document 22. The grid 23 in the illustrated example is in the format of a horizontally-written original paper, but there are other grids in various formats such as a vertically-written original paper format and a grid paper format. Grid 23 is typically
It has a plurality of vertical lines and a plurality of horizontal lines, and further has a plurality of suction points. The grid 23 is displayed by clicking “View” in the menu bar 25 to display a pull-down menu, and selecting “display grid” or “non-display grid” from the pull-down menu to display the grid 23 on the electronic document 22. / Non-display can be controlled. Regardless of the display / non-display, the suction function of the grid 23 can be used.

In FIG. 3, a page component 24 is further arranged on the electronic document 22. This page component 2
4 is created, for example, by the user using the mouse to click a grid tool 26b in a horizontal writing paper format (also referred to as a frame grid) in the tool box 26 and dragging it over the screen 21 over a desired length. Things. The tool box 26 further includes a grid tool 26c in a vertical writing paper format, a selection tool 26a for selecting an object displayed on the screen 21, and various other known editing tools. I have. Further, the menu bar 20 includes a function of performing a normal editing operation such as copying and pasting, for example, as “Edit”, and a function of setting a grid format, an interval, and the like, for example, as “Layout”.

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, when laying out page components 24 on an electronic document 22 on which a grid 23 is set, the processing performance is improved. This allows the user to easily and accurately perform the layout operation.

Next, an embodiment of the layout editing method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.
This will be described in detail with reference to schematic diagrams of A to 5G. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5A, the grid 123 set in the electronic document is in a graph paper format, and therefore has a plurality of vertical lines 123v and a plurality of horizontal lines 123h. It is assumed that the vertical and horizontal lines are equally spaced. Accordingly, a square cell 123c is defined between a pair of adjacent vertical lines 123v, 123v and a pair of adjacent horizontal lines 123h, 123h, and each cell 123c has nine cells 123c as shown in FIG. Adsorption point tl (upper left), tc
(Top center), tr (top right), cl (center left), cc (center center), cr (center right), bl (bottom left), bc (bottom center), br (bottom right). In FIGS. 5 and 6, nine adsorption points of one cell 123c of the grid 123 are indicated by circles.
It should be understood that 23c has nine adsorption points. However, at a common boundary line between adjacent cells, three suction points on the boundary line are shared by a pair of adjacent cells. Further, in FIGS. 5 and 6, the suction points for one cell are indicated by circles, but this is merely an example, and the suction points do not necessarily have such a size and shape. Instead, the suction distance at each suction point can be set to a desired value by a known technique. Furthermore, in this embodiment, each cell has nine suction points, but the number of suction points possessed by each cell can be set to any number other than nine.

Further, in the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5, page component 24 includes (1) a frame 4 defining its area.
1; (2) text data 44 contained in the area; and (3) a pair of vertical lines representing the width of the frame 41 and a pair of horizontal lines indicating the height of the frame 41 (“bounding box”). 42)
(4) Four suction points 43a to 43d are provided.
In the illustrated example, the frame 41 has a trapezoidal shape, but the surrounding box 42 is always rectangular. The four suction points 43a to 43d are enclosed in a box 42.
Are arranged at the four corners. 5 and 6, the suction points of the grid 123 and the page component 24 are indicated by circles for convenience of description, but the suction points are normally displayed as circles on the screen 21. is not.

FIG. 5A shows a state in which the page component 24 has been created on the grid 123, and further shows a state in which the user operates the mouse to position the cursor 40 inside the frame 41 of the page component 24. Is shown. In this state, when the user clicks the mouse, that is, depresses the left button of the mouse (step S1), the cursor 40 keeps the page component 24 in the holding state (that is, the selected state), and maintains the pressed state of the left mouse button as it is. Then, page component 2
Among the four suction points 43a to 43d, only the one closest to the cursor 40 (in this case, the suction point 43c) is set to a suction-enabled state, and the remaining three suction points 43 are set.
a, 43b, and 43d are set to a suction impossible state (step S2). Since only the attraction point 43c is set to be in the attainable state, the attraction point 43c is converted into a black circle in FIG. 5A. On the other hand, in the grid 123, as described above, each cell 123c has nine suction points, which are indicated by white circles. Assume that At this point, the selected suction point 43 of the page component 24
c sets a probe point whose relative positional relationship with the cursor 40 does not change. In other words, the probe point is a virtual point, and when the mouse is clicked and the page component 24 is held by the cursor 40, that is, in the selected state, the suction point 43c closest to the cursor 40 is selected. ,
It can be defined as a point at which the relative positional relationship between the cursor 40 and the suction point 43c at that time is maintained.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the user drags the mouse and moves it in the direction indicated by arrow A on the screen, the cursor 40 moves in the direction indicated by arrow a in conjunction with the movement of the mouse. The movement is started (in parallel with the arrow A) (step S3). Then, the position of the probe point that changes with the movement of the cursor 40 is determined (step S4). In this case, as shown in FIG. 5A, the position of the probe point is substantially the same as the suction point 43c, and The probe point (in this case, the adsorption point 43c) is
Since the X coordinate of the selected suction point 43c is closest to the center left suction point cl of the cell 123c, the center left suction point c of the cell 123c is set.
1 (step S6), and then changes the Y coordinate of the selected suction point 43c to the Y coordinate of the center left suction point cl of the cell 123c (step S7). As a result, the selected suction point is changed. 43c is the center left suction point c of the cell 123c
The page component 14 is moved by suction to the position shown in FIG. In this case, it is assumed that in the determination step S5, the suction mode correction key is depressed, so that the suction operation mode 1 is selected.

Next, the user keeps the mouse button pressed (step S9), and as shown in FIG. 5B, the user further drags the mouse in the direction of arrow A to move the cursor 40 in the direction of arrow a. When moved in the direction (step S10), the program loops back to step S3 to determine the position of the probe point 45 with respect to the position of the new cursor 40 (step S4). Then, as described above, since the suction operation mode 1 is currently set, the process proceeds to steps S6 and S7. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the user's mouse is continuously dragged, the page component 24 changes its position without changing the position of the suction point 43c while the suction point 43c is suctioned at the center left suction point cl of the cell 123c. However, as the cursor 40 gradually moves on the page component 24 in the direction of the arrow a, the probe point 45 that maintains the relative positional relationship with the cursor 40 is maintained.
Also move in the same direction. Then, when the probe point 45 moves to a state closest to the lower left suction point bl of the cell 123c, the X coordinate of the selected suction point 43c is changed to the X coordinate of the lower left suction point bl of the cell 123c ( In step S6), the Y coordinate of the selected suction point 43c is changed to the Y coordinate of the lower left suction point bl of the cell 123c (step S7). As a result, the selected suction point 43c is changed.
The page component 24 is moved to the position shown in FIG. 5C by being adsorbed to the lower left adsorption point bl of the cell 123c (step S8).

If the user continues to drag the mouse in the same direction, the page component 24 is maintained at the position shown in FIG. 5C for a while, but the cursor 40 and its initial relative positional relationship are maintained. Since the probe point moves continuously in the direction of arrow a, the probe point is ultimately closest to the lower central adsorption point bc of the cell 123c. Therefore, similarly to the above-described steps, the selected suction point 4
The X and Y coordinates of 3c are the lower central adsorption point bc of the cell 123c.
Are changed to the X and Y coordinates, and as a result, the suction operation is performed, so that the page component 24 jumps to the position shown in FIG. 5D. If the user continues to drag the mouse in the same direction, the described processing steps are repeated,
The page component 24 jumps and moves from the position shown in FIG. 5D to the position shown in FIG. 5E. As shown in FIG. 5E, all the suction points of the grid 123 are in the suction-enabled state, but the suction points 4 at the four corners of the page component 24 are located.
Attraction point 43 closest to cursor 40 among 3a to 43d
c is in the adsorbable state and the other three 43a, 43
Since b and 43d are in the suction-disabled state, only the suction point 43c is suctioned to one corresponding suction point of the grid 123, and the remaining three suction points 43a, 43b, and 43d are suction points on any grid. Is not even adsorbed. FIG.
When the user releases the pressed state of the mouse button after moving to the position indicated by E, the program 30 branches from step S9 to step S11.

Next, the user moves the mouse without clicking the mouse button to move the cursor 40 in FIG.
It is assumed that the mouse is clicked with the mouse button (step S1) in the area of the frame 41 of the page component 24 near the upper left corner as shown in FIG. As a result, in this case, since the suction point of the page component 24 closest to the cursor 40 is the suction point 43a, the suction point 43a is selected, and the current suction point 43a is selected.
A probe point for maintaining the position of the cursor 40 and the position of the cursor 40 unchanged is set (step S2). Therefore, in this case, only the suction point 43a is set to the suction-enabled state, while the remaining three suction points 43b, 43c, and 43d are set to the suction-disabled state. Indicated by

Next, as shown in FIG. 5G, when the user drags the mouse so as to obtain the movement in the direction indicated by arrow A 'on the screen, the cursor 40
Starts moving in the direction of arrow A '(step S3). As a result, the position of a new probe point is determined with respect to the position of the new cursor 40 (step S4). As described above, in this example, since the suction operation mode 1 is selected, the process branches to “Y” in the determination step S5, and the X coordinate of the selected suction point 43a is changed to the cell 123c closest to the probe point. Is changed to the X coordinate of the upper left attraction point tl (step S6), and its Y coordinate is also changed to the Y coordinate of the upper left attraction point tl of the cell 123c (step S7). As a result, the page component 24 is shown in FIG. (Step S8).

As described above, the page component 24 usually has a plurality of suction points, but according to the present invention,
When the page component is held or selected by a mouse click or the like, only one suction point closest to the cursor 40 is set to a suction-enabled state, and all the remaining suction points are set to a suction-disabled state. You. And like this,
By making only one of the plurality of suction points of the page component 24 that is closest to the cursor 40 in the suckable state, the layout work of the page component 24 by the user is significantly improved. . This is because the page component 24 is selected by the cursor 40 when laying out the page component 24 on the screen, and in order to lay out within the page component 24, the suction that is closest to the cursor position that is currently of most interest. This is because only the points are set in the suckable state, so that the user can accurately and quickly grasp the relative positional relationship between the grid 123 and the page component 24.

As described above, according to the present invention, page component 2
One of the features is that only one of the four suction points is selectively made in a suctionable state. Further, the grid 123 also has a plurality of suction points. It is possible to obtain a special effect by selectively setting the grid suction points to the state in which suction is possible. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, each cell 123c of the grid 123 has nine suction points, and in a normal state, all the suction points are maintained in a suckable state. Accordingly, in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, for example, when the cursor 40 that holds the page component 24 in the holding state (selected state) is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow A ″, the page component 24 moves along the step-like path shown by the dotted line B. That is, the cursor 40 operated by the user performs a smooth movement (arrow A ") along a diagonal straight line from upper right to lower left. , Its cursor 40
The page component 24 which moves in conjunction with the movement of the grid always moves while jumping from a certain suction point to the next suction point of the grid by a suction operation while being aligned with the grid 123. By the way, the movement of the page component 24 along the path B in this way is extremely effective when fine positioning on the grid 123 is required, but in some cases, the page component 24 There is a case where the user wants to move the reference numeral 24 over a relatively large distance. In such a case, if the pointer 24 is moved along the path B, the suction operation is frequently repeated, so that the page component 24 frequently jumps and is difficult to see. May be. Therefore, in another embodiment of the present invention, only a selected suction point corresponding to a predetermined pattern among a plurality of suction points of the grid 123 is set in a suction enabled state, and the page component 24 is relatively large. Even in the case of being moved over a distance, it is possible to reduce the number of occurrences of the suction operation. Part 1
In the case shown in FIG. 6 as an example, for example, as shown by a route C, only the suction points at the respective intersections of the grid 123 are set to the suction-enabled state, and the other suction points are set to the suction-disabled state. It is. Thus, grid 1
By controlling the adsorbable state of the adsorbing point at 23, the optimum page component 24 is always set according to situations such as when fine positioning is required and when it is necessary to move over a large distance. Can be controlled.

Next, still another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 4B and FIG. The series of steps shown in FIG. 4B constitutes a part of the flowchart shown in FIG. 4A, and is a routine that is branched when the determination result in the determination step S5 is “N”. That is, in the determination step S5, "Y" (that is, "first suction operation mode") or "N" (that is, "second suction mode") depends on whether the "suction mode correction key" is down, that is, pressed down. Operation mode ”). In the present invention, when the suction state control is performed, only one of the plurality of suction points of the page component 24 that satisfies a predetermined condition (for example, the distance closest to the cursor 40) is selected. The suction state is set, and all other suction points are set to the suction disabled state. And FIG.
In the embodiment of the present invention described above with reference to FIG.
One suction point set in the suction operation mode, and thus set in the suction enabled state, can be suctioned to any suction point on the grid 123. On the other hand, for example, depending on the format of the grid 123, one suction point set to be in a state in which the page component 24 can be sucked is displayed on the grid 123.
Of the grid 12 rather than being able to be adsorbed to all the adsorption points
In some cases, it is desirable to be able to adsorb only to a specific adsorption point corresponding to a predetermined predetermined pattern among the plurality of adsorption points. This is desirable for use in the case of a grid 123 having, for example, a plurality of horizontal rows 123a and a plurality of gaps 123b arranged at predetermined intervals therebetween as shown in FIG. There are cases.

FIG. 7 shows a part of the page grid 123 displayed on the screen, on which the page component 2 is displayed.
4 are arranged. Also in this case, the page component 24 includes a frame 45 that defines the area, a rectangular surrounding box 46 defined by the height and width of the frame 45, and eight pages arranged on the surrounding box 46. (Shown by black squares). A text grid corresponding to the grid 123 is defined in the frame 45, and the text grid includes a plurality of horizontal rows 45.
a, and a plurality of gaps 45b arranged at predetermined intervals therebetween, and each horizontal row 45a has a plurality of character frames 45c. Each character frame 45c is
As shown, one character can be accommodated. Further, in the illustrated example, the frame 45 of the page component 24 is provided with a text inflow port 47a and a text outflow port 47b, which are used to allow text to flow into and out of the frame 45. It is possible. FIG. 7 shows a state in which text is written in the first two horizontal rows.

As shown in FIG. 7, the cursor 40 is positioned within the frame 45, and in this state, the page component 24 is held (for example, when the user clicks the left mouse button). In this case, according to the principle of the present invention, only the suction point 48a closest to the current position of the cursor 40 is selected and set to the suction-enabled state, while the other suction points 48b to 48h are set to the suction-disabled state. Is set. Therefore, in FIG. 7, in order to reflect this, a circle is attached around the adsorption point 48a.

In this state, it is assumed that the user moves the cursor 40 in the direction indicated by the arrow A ". In this case, if the suction function is performed according to the embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 7, the page component 24 moves while jumping between the suction points along the stepped path B in Fig. 7. This is because the grid 123 in Fig. 7 is used.
This is because each cell 123c has nine adsorbable adsorption points. However, grid 1 shown in FIG.
Due to the nature of the format of the format 23, when moving along the route B, the text grid in the page component 24 often does not match the grid 123 of the electronic document, and the layout work is rather complicated or difficult. There is a possibility that. This is because, in the case of FIG. 7, it seems that it is rather desired to perform the layout work in a state where the text grid and the layout grid 123 of the electronic document are always aligned in the page component 24. is there. The routine shown in FIG. 4B provides a layout editing mode that can be effectively used in such a case.

That is, in the determination step S5 in FIG. 4A, it is detected that the "suction mode correction key" is depressed, and if it is determined that the user has set the second suction operation mode, FIG. 4B The process branches to the routine shown in FIG. And first, the page component 24
It is determined whether the horizontal position of the selected suction point 48a is “left”, “center”, or “right”. In this case, the suction point 48a is horizontally shifted to the “left” side. Since it is the position (step S21a), the X coordinate of the selected suction point 48a of the page component 24 is changed to the X coordinate of the upper left suction point tl of the grid cell 123c closest to the probe point (step S22a). Further, since the vertical position of the selected suction point 48a of the page component 24 is "up" (step S24a), the Y coordinate of the selected suction point 48a of the page component 24 is set to the grid cell closest to the probe point. Change to the Y coordinate of the suction point tl at the upper left of 123c. By repeatedly performing this procedure, the page component 24 moves along the step-like path C. In this case, when the page component 24 moves intermittently due to the suction operation, the text grid always maintains the alignment state with the layout grid 123. Therefore, an effect is obtained in that the suction distance is relatively coarse, but the layout work is rather easy.

By the way, the "suction mode correction key" for switching between the first and second suction operation modes as described above includes, for example, a CTR used for switching a layout editing function normally provided on a keyboard.
It is possible to use the L key or the ALT key. In this case, for example, the first suction operation mode is set when the user keeps the specific key pressed down, and the second suction operation mode is set when the user is in the release state. It will be. Further, as another embodiment,
It is also possible to set an operation mode by setting it as one item of a pull-down menu and clicking it with a mouse, or to provide it as a suction operation mode setting tool in a tool box.

Next, with reference to FIG. 8, several specific embodiments capable of performing the adsorption state control in the present invention will be described. According to the present invention, a cursor existing in a frame of a page component when the selected component is set to a holding state by a click operation of a pointing device such as a mouse among a plurality of suction points of the page component. In this case, a suction state control function of setting only one suction point closest to the position to the suction enabled state is performed. In this case, a specific one of a plurality of suction points is selected. May be selected from several embodiments.

For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8A, the page component 24 has a frame 41 that defines an area for containing text or graphic data, and the frame 41 has an arbitrary shape. Can be set to The page component 24 further includes a frame 41
Has a rectangular surrounding box 42 determined by the height and width of the box, which, by definition, always takes on a rectangular shape defined by a pair of horizontal lines and a pair of vertical lines. Further, the page component 24 has a plurality of (in this case, four) suction points 43a to 43d, and in this case, one at each corner of the surrounding box 42.
The plurality of suction points 43 are arranged. In this embodiment, the surrounding box 42 is equally divided into four quadrants A1 to A4.
The suction point closest to the cursor 40 is selected depending on whether 0 is located. Further, it should be noted that the cursor 40 being positioned inside the frame 41 is a prerequisite for setting the page component 24 to the holding state by a click operation of the pointing device.

FIG. 8B shows another embodiment of the suction state control function. In this case, the frame 41 is omitted for convenience of explanation. In this embodiment, the page component 24 has eight suction points 43a to 43h, of which four suction points 43a to 43d are arranged at respective corners of the surrounding box 42. The remaining four suction points 43e to 43h are arranged between the corners on each side of the surrounding box. Also in this case, the surrounding box 42 is divided into eight quadrants A1 to A8 at an equal angle around the center thereof, and one suction point is selected according to which quadrant the cursor 40 is located in.

FIG. 8C shows a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 8B. In this case, a circular area A9 is formed around the center of the surrounding box 42.
When the cursor 40 is positioned in the position 9, no suction point is selected. In this modification, when the user clicks the pointing device near the center of the frame of the page component 24, it may not be clear which suction point to select. Contribute to clarity. As this embodiment shows, the areas associated with each suction point need not all be of the same shape,
It is also possible to provide a vacant area which is partially unrelated to any suction point in the area.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 8A to 8C, the case where a plurality of suction points 43 are arranged on the surrounding box 42 is shown. However, as another embodiment,
It is also possible to arrange a plurality of suction points 43 on the frame 41. In this case, the surrounding box 42 may be omitted. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the area of the enclosing box 42 (or the frame 41) of the page component 24 is divided, and one specific area is determined by determining in which specific area the cursor 40 is located. Although a point is selected, as still another embodiment, a configuration in which a linear distance between the cursor 40 positioned in the frame and each suction point is calculated and the suction point having the minimum linear distance is selected. It is also possible to use

Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention should not be limited only to these specific embodiments, but may depart from the technical scope of the present invention. It goes without saying that various modifications can be made without the above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a DT incorporating a layout editing mechanism of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a P system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a state in which a general-purpose computer system is converted to a DTP system by incorporating a layout editing program of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which an electronic document 22 having a grid 23 and page components 24 to be laid out thereon are displayed on a screen of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a layout editing process of the present invention.

FIG. 4B is a flowchart showing a branch sequence forming a part of the flowchart of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram showing a state at a certain stage of performing a layout editing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram showing a state at another stage of performing a layout editing process based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5C is a schematic diagram showing a state at another stage of performing a layout editing process based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5D is a schematic diagram showing a state at another stage of performing layout editing processing based on one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5E is a schematic diagram showing a state at another stage of performing a layout editing process based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5F is a schematic diagram showing a state in another stage of performing the layout editing process based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5G is a schematic diagram showing a state at another stage of performing a layout editing process based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a page grid, the movement of a cursor, and the manner of movement of page components associated therewith, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a page grid, the movement of a cursor, and the manner of movement of page components associated therewith, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 8A to 8C are schematic views showing some embodiments of a suction state control mechanism of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: DTP system 2: DTP processing control device 2a: Electronic document supply means 2b: Page component supply means 2c: Attraction state control means 3: Display device 4: Moving means 8: Layout editing program 22: Electronic document (editing paper) 23, 123: Page grid 24: Page component 40: Cursor 41: Frame 42: Surrounding box 43, 48: Suction point of page component

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (72) Inventor Nathaniel McCully United States, Washington 98102, Seattle, Boylston Avenue East 2815, Number 204

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A layout editing system for arranging page components on an electronic document, comprising: a display device; and an electronic document having a grid having a plurality of first suction points to be displayed on the display device. First supply means for supplying to a display device, a plurality of outlines of which are defined by frames on an electronic document displayed on the display device, and which can be sucked so as to be aligned with the plurality of first suction points. Second supply means for supplying a page component having a plurality of second suction points, and manually moving the page component in a holding state to a desired position on the electronic document by a user Moving means, while in the holding state by the moving means, a suction state control means for setting only one selected second suction point of the plurality of second suction points to a suction enabled state; , The layout editing system characterized in that it has a. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving means has a pointing device, and the page component is maintained in a holding state by maintaining a button of the pointing device in a pressed state. Layout editing system. 3. The first suction operation mode according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first suction operation mode is set to a state where all of the plurality of first suction points can be suctioned, and a predetermined one of the plurality of first suction points is set. And a second suction operation mode for selectively setting only a selected pattern corresponding to the selected pattern to a suctionable state. 4. The second suction operation mode according to claim 3, wherein the suction operation mode setting means has a predetermined key on a keyboard, and holds the predetermined key in a pressed state. Is set. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving means has a cursor displayed on the display device, and the first suction state control means controls the position of the cursor in a frame of the page component. A layout editing system, wherein, when the page component is held by the moving means, only the second suction point closest to the cursor is set in a suckable state. 6. A layout editing method for arranging page components on an electronic document, comprising: displaying an electronic document having a grid having a plurality of first suction points on a display device; A page component whose outline is defined by a frame on the displayed electronic document and which includes a plurality of second suction points that can be sucked to align with the plurality of first suction points. When a button of a pointing device associated with the cursor is detected to be depressed while the cursor is positioned within the frame of the page component, the page component is held. In addition, only the second suction point closest to the cursor among the plurality of second suction points is set to a suction-enabled state, and the phase with the cursor at that time from the second suction point is set. Setting a probe point that maintains a relative positional relationship, when the pointing device is operated and the cursor is moved in the holding state, the second suction point in the suckable state is moved to the movement of the cursor; A layout editing method, wherein the page component is moved by being sucked to a first suction point closest to the probe point that moves in conjunction with the page. 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein a first suction operation mode for setting all of the plurality of first suction points to a suction-enabled state, and a predetermined pattern among the plurality of first suction points. A layout editing method, which includes selecting a second suction operation mode in which only a selected one of the selected ones is set to a suction-enabled state. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first or second suction operation mode is selected depending on whether a predetermined key on a keyboard is in a pressed state or a released state. Layout editing method to be characterized. 9. A layout editing program, comprising: displaying an electronic document having a grid having a plurality of first suction points on a display device; and displaying the electronic document on the electronic document displayed on the display device. Displaying a page component having an outline defined by a frame and having a plurality of second suction points that can be sucked to align with the plurality of first suction points; When it is detected that the button of the pointing device linked to the cursor is depressed while being positioned in the frame of the page component, the page component is held and the plurality of third components are held. Only the second pick-up point closest to the cursor among the two pick-up points is set to the suckable state, and the relative positional relationship between the second pick-up point and the cursor at that time is set. Setting the probe point to maintain the position, and, when the pointing device is operated and the cursor is moved in the holding state, the second suction point in the suckable state is interlocked with the movement of the cursor. And causing the computer to execute a procedure of moving the page component by sucking the first suction point closest to the probe point to be moved. 10. A method for displaying an electronic document having a grid having a plurality of first suction points on a display device on a computer-readable recording medium on which a layout editing program is recorded; The outline of the electronic document displayed on the electronic document is defined by a frame, and the plurality of second suction points that can be sucked so as to be aligned with the plurality of first suction points is provided. A step of displaying the element, and when detecting that a button of a pointing device associated with the cursor is pressed down while the cursor is positioned within the frame of the page element, holding the page element And setting only the second suction point closest to the cursor among the plurality of second suction points to the suckable state, and setting the second suction point to the second suction point. A procedure for setting a probe point for maintaining a relative positional relationship with the cursor at that time; and, when the pointing device is operated and the cursor is moved while the holding state is maintained, the suction-enabled state is set. A computer which records a layout editing program for causing a computer to execute the steps of: adsorbing a suction point to a first suction point closest to the probe point that moves in conjunction with the movement of the cursor; and moving the page component. A readable recording medium.