JPH04319732A - Data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reuse existing constitutional elements and to easily execute definition relating to action to other constitutional elements and its change by describing the definition of respective constitutional elements themselves separately from the definition relating to the action. CONSTITUTION:The data processor is provided with a constitutional element defining means 101, an action defining means 102, an information storing part 103, a constitutional element display part 104 for displaying plural constitutional elements constituting display contents, a user input part 105 for applying instructions to respective elements displayed on the display part 104, and a control part 106 for controlling respective parts 101 to 105 and executing prescribed processing. The control part 106 displays respective constitutional elements on the display part 104 based on the definition of the element itself corresponding to each of plural constitutional elements described in the means 101. In addition, the control part 106 changes the display state of another corresponding constitutional element in accordance with the definition of action to other constitutional elements.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to interactive data processing devices such as workstations and personal computers.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, interactive systems perform data processing through dialogue between the user and the system, in which the user instructs the system on processing details, and the system then displays the results on the display screen. The process progresses by repeating the process of displaying . At this time, as a result of performing a specific operation on one element among the group of components on the display screen, a visual effect can be obtained by changing the display content and display form of other components. .

Conventionally, in order to obtain such an effect, a mechanism such as MVC (Model View Controller) of Smalltalk-80 has been used.

[0004] Regarding the MVC mechanism of Smalltalk-80, see "Integrated Programming Environment - Smalltalk-80 and Interli" edited by Akihiro Uetani.
sp-D-” (p184-p205), Maruzen Co., Ltd.
It is described in detail in the document published on January 30, 1986.

[0005] However, the MVC described in that document
In mechanisms, it was necessary to describe the actions to be taken on other elements when the state of a component changes in the definition part of that element itself, so even if the functions of the components themselves are exactly the same, , when the actions for other elements were different, a new component had to be redefined.

[0006]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned documents, in the definition section of a certain component,
In addition to the definition of the element itself, we also wrote the definition of actions for other components, so even if the functions of the components themselves are exactly the same, the actions for other components may be different. must define components according to the number of actions to be defined (elements that describe their own definition contents and definition contents related to actions for other elements), and therefore use existing components. That was impossible.

[0007] Therefore, when the functions of the constituent elements themselves are the same but the actions for other elements are different, defining the constituent elements is time-consuming and troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is a data processing method that allows existing constituent elements to be reused and that allows for easy definition and modification of actions for other constituent elements. The purpose is to provide equipment.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, each component is displayed according to the definition of the component itself corresponding to each of a plurality of components constituting display contents, and other components are displayed. A data processing device that executes an action according to a definition regarding an action for an element, comprising: a component definition means in which a definition of each component itself is written; and an action definition means in which a definition regarding the action is written; A feature is that the definition of the element itself and the definition regarding the action are described separately.

0010

[Operation] According to the data processing apparatus according to the present invention, definitions of the constituent elements themselves are written in the constituent element definition means, and definitions regarding actions for other constituent elements are written in the action definition means. Therefore, each of the definition contents is written in an independent area, so that the definition contents of the constituent elements themselves can be used. Also,
When changing an action for another component, it is only necessary to change the definition content of the action definition means, so it is possible to easily change the definition content of the action.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a data processing device according to the present invention. In the figure, the data processing device includes a component definition means 101, an action definition means 102, an information holding unit 103,
A component display section 104 that displays a plurality of components constituting display content, a user input section 105 that gives instructions to each element displayed on the component display section 104 (requests for changing the state of the element), and each of the above sections. and a control section 106 that performs predetermined processing.

[0012] The information holding unit 103 includes the component definition means 1
It holds information indicating each component defined in 01 and its status. Further, the information holding unit 103 updates its own retained information based on the state change notification from the component definition means 101, and also updates the information holding unit 103 to the component definition means 101 and the action definition to the effect that the state of a certain component has changed. The means 102 is notified. In this embodiment, since the information indicating each component is used to manage the status of each component, the information is used as, for example, the name of the component.

[0013] The component definition means 101 includes, for each of the plurality of components constituting the displayed content, information about the element itself that does not affect other components, such as functions related to the element itself and mutual dependencies with other components. The definition is described. The component definition means 101 holds internal information of each component (for example, information on its own status, mutual relationships, etc.), and stores internal information of the component whose status has changed in response to a change request. and updates the information to that effect in the information holding unit 103.
Notify. In addition, for each component, display processing is performed on the component display unit 104 based on the definition of the component itself, and the display processing of the component is performed on the component display unit 104 based on its own internal information and the notification content from the information holding unit 103. Perform display processing to redisplay.

Action definition means 102 describes definitions regarding actions for other components,
When the action definition unit 102 receives a notification (that the state of a certain component has changed) from the information holding unit 103, the action definition unit 102 receives a notification (that the state of a certain component has changed) held by the information holding unit 103. If the information (that is, the status of each component) satisfies the definition content described in itself, the definition content (action) is executed.

Note that in this embodiment, the component definition means 101, the action definition means 102, and the information holding section 10
3 is realized by the control unit 106 executing programs (software) that perform the respective functions. Note that it is also possible to use a firmware configuration or a hardware configuration.

Next, the basic processing operation of the data processing apparatus in the above-described configuration will be explained. First, the control unit 10
6 interprets the input from the user input unit 105 (operation that changes the state of a certain component), and indicates that there is an instruction for a certain component to each component defined in the component definition means 101. Of these, the relevant components will be notified. In the component definition means 101, the component that has received the notification collects its own internal information (for example, its own status,
information such as mutual relationships), and further notifies the information holding unit 103 of the updated contents. The content of this notification is
The information holding unit 103 is notified through 06.

[0017] The information holding unit 103 reflects the updated contents to the information contents of the corresponding constituent elements among the constituent elements held by itself, and also notifies the user that the state of a certain constituent element has changed. , all the components defined in the component definition means 101 and the action definition means 102 are notified. This notification content is notified to the definition means 101 and 102 through the control unit 106.

Each component that has been notified of the change redisplays itself on the component display section 104 via the control section 106 in accordance with its own internal state and the content held in the information storage section 103. On the other hand, action definition means 102
executes the definition of actions defined for itself according to the state of each component.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a workstation for implementing the apparatus shown in FIG. In the figure, the workstation includes a display device 201 such as a bitmap display, a data input device 202 such as a keyboard, a mouse 203 as a pointing input device, a main storage device 204, a control device 205, a magnetic disk, etc. auxiliary storage device 206.

Here, the component definition means 1 shown in FIG.
01, the action definition means 102 and the information holding section 103 store the component display section 10 shown in FIG. 1 in the main storage device 203.
4, the user input section 10 shown in FIG.
5 corresponds to the mouse 203, and the control unit 106 shown in FIG. 1 corresponds to the control device 203.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the flow of control of display processing by the above-mentioned workstation.

In this figure, component definition means 101
Buttons 1 to 3, which have two states of on and off, are components that make up the display content.
The three buttons are respectively button 1 definition section 101A,
It is defined in the button 2 definition section 101B and the button 3 definition section 101C. In each button definition section, for example, the button 2 definition section 101B states that button 2 cannot be turned on at the same time as button 1, and the button 3 definition section 101C states that button 3 cannot be turned on regardless of the state of other buttons. Mutual dependence relationships are defined, such as being able to have your own state.

Each button definition section turns on the component based on the internal information of the component defined within itself.
state or off state and is displayed on the component display section 104.

[0024] The action definition means 102 includes "If at least one of the three buttons is in the on state, all the buttons are displayed normally" and "If all the buttons are in the off state, the buttons are displayed normally." , the area containing all the buttons (for example, the shape representing the button (in this example, it is a "○" shape) and its name (in this example, buttons 1 to 3)) is displayed in a hazy manner.'' is defined.

[0025] In the information holding unit 103, the names of three buttons 1 to 3 indicating the name of each component are registered, and the state (on/off) of the button corresponding to each name is registered.
off state) is maintained. In the initial state, information indicating the off state is held corresponding to each button.

[0026] In the initial state, the display device 201 displays the above three buttons in a hazy state, with the area including all the buttons being dimmed. Each of the displayed buttons is
By moving the pointer (cursor) that moves with the movement of the mouse 203 over the display area and clicking the mouse button provided on the mouse 203, you can turn it on and off.
f can be switched. Here, when a button in the on state is clicked, that button changes to the off state,
When a button in the f state is clicked, the button changes to the on state.

Next, the display processing operation by the above-mentioned workstation will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

Note that FIG. 4(a) shows the initial state displayed on the component display section 104, and FIG. 4(b) shows the display state when button 1 is turned on.

In this embodiment, the button is represented by a "○" shape, and its on/off state is expressed by inserting a "●" shape into the "○" shape if it is on. On the other hand, if it is in the off state, it is expressed in the form of a figure "○".

First, as shown in FIG. 4(a), off
When the user clicks the mouse button while placing the pointer in the display area of Button 1 that is in the state (control line 301), the control device 205 recognizes that Button 1 has been designated and configures the button to that effect. The button 1 definition section 101A of the element definition means 101 is notified.

In the button 1 definition section 101A, the current state (internal state) of the button 1 is changed, in this example from off to on.
, and informs the information holding unit 204 that it is in the on state (control line 302).

Then, the information holding unit 204 stores the currently held information, that is, button 1 is in the OFF state, button 2 is in the OFF state, and button 2 is in the OFF state.
Among the information indicating that the button 1 is in the off state and the button 3 is in the off state, the state of the button 1 is changed from off to on, and the information that the button 1 is changed to the on state is defined in the component definition means 101. Each component is notified (control line 304). At the same time, action definition means 1
02 is also notified that button 1 has changed to the on state.

[0033] Component definition means 101 that received the notification
Each of the button definition units within displays itself on the display device 201 based on the mutual dependence relationship as described above and the information held in the information holding unit 103 (control line 305
).

In this case, the button 1 definition section 101A changes the button 1 to the on state and displays it on the component display section 103, while the button 2 definition section 101B and the button 3 definition section 101C change the button 2 and button 3 to the on state. The current off state will be displayed on the component display section 103 without changing the state.

On the other hand, when the action definition means 102 receives the notification that there has been a change from the information holding unit 103, the action definition means 102 displays the latest held information in the information holding unit 103 (button 1 is
n state, button 2 is in the off state, button 3 is in the off state), and checks whether the held information satisfies the definition content described in itself. If satisfied, execute the definition.

In this case, since button 1 is in the on state and buttons 2 and 3 are in the off state, the action definition means 102 uses the definition content (
If at least one button is in the on state, all buttons are normally displayed). by this,
Button 1 in the on state and buttons 2 and 3 in the off state are respectively changed from hazy display to normal display and redisplayed (control line 306). That is, FIG. 4(a)
The display state shown in is changed to the display state shown in FIG. 4(b).

Similarly, if the user clicks the mouse button while placing the pointer on button 1, which is in the on state in the display state shown in FIG. 4(b), button 1 will be turned off. It will reappear in the state, but button 2
and 3 remain in the off state. At this time, all the buttons are in the off state, so the action definition means 102 sets the button ~3 is redisplayed in a hazy state. That is, the display state shown in FIG. 4(b) is as shown in FIG.
The display state is changed to that shown in (a).

Here, when all the buttons are in the OFF state, if you want to display the area including all the buttons in reverse black and white, for example, change the definition content defined in the action definition means 102 to "all buttons". This can be achieved by simply changing the content to ``When a button is in the off state, the area containing all buttons is displayed in reverse black and white.''

However, in the past, when it was desired to change the display method, it was necessary to change the definition content regarding the action described in each button definition section to the above-mentioned change content.

In the above-described embodiment, the constituent elements are buttons, but the present invention can also be applied to the following cases.

For example, when setting attributes using a property sheet as a component, when the "Register" command is executed, in addition to changing the data corresponding to each item, the user is warned of any omissions or omissions. There are times when it is better to encourage this.

The "registration" command here is given as an argument a list of pairs of item names and their corresponding values, and does not assume the existence of a window system. Therefore, in a window system, for example, a registration command can be issued when a certain button in a property sheet (for example, a button corresponding to a registration command) is specified, whereas on a character display, for example, a registration command can be issued when a button corresponding to a registration command is specified. A registration command may be issued when a key indicating this is pressed.

[0043] Normally, the means for calling the user's attention are different on a window system and on a character display. Therefore, the transition of the display state on the window system is shown in FIG. 5, and the transition of the display state on the character display is shown in FIG. 6. In any case, No, Name, Address
When all the information regarding ss is input and an operation to register is performed, the contents are registered.

On the window system, as shown in FIG. 5, the "Address" field 501
When the accept button 503 is instructed (clicked) with the content of the property sheet 502 in which the property sheet 502 has not been filled in, the "registration" command is executed, and the display content 504 changes to the display content 505. Display content 505
In , the "registration" command is executed with unfilled items present, so a message (or a new warning window) is displayed on the window 506.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, on the character display, when a key indicating that registration is to be pressed is pressed in a state of content 601 in which information regarding Address is not filled in, "Registration" is displayed. " command is executed, and as a result, the display content 602 changes to display content 6.
Changes to 03. In this case, since the "registration" command is executed in the state of the content 601 in which there are unfilled items, the warning message 604 is simply displayed as a character string in the display content 603.

As explained above, in order for the "Register" command to be usable in all environments, the definition for calling the user's attention (action) must be written separately from the definition corresponding to the "Register" command. There is a need to. Therefore, as in the present invention, the definition corresponding to the "register" command is added to the component definition means 101, while the action definition means 1
By writing definitions regarding the warning display method in each section 02, all that is required is to change the definition contents in the action definition means 102 when operating in a different environment. Furthermore, since the definition contents of the action definition means 102 can be shared with respect to the registration of each property sheet, even if the message display method is changed throughout the system, only the definition contents within the action definition means 102 can be changed. That's enough.

For example, if the above-mentioned property sheet is considered to be a window, the same processing as described above using the above-mentioned property sheet as an example is performed on the window as well. Furthermore, it is also possible to use a menu as a component.

[0048] In addition to the above-mentioned example, the present invention is also applicable to cases where, when a certain combination of certain states of a group of constituent elements occurs, it is desired to generate an action that is not directly related to the functions of those constituent elements. It can also be applied to

For example, when simulating the situation at a road intersection, the rule ``when the traffic light turns green, the car moves, and when the traffic light turns red, the car stops'' is created by humans. , the traffic light operates regardless of the presence or absence of such a rule.

Therefore, when performing a simulation, if the behavior (action) of the car when the state of the traffic light changes is described in the definition section of the component representing the traffic light, as in the past, the traffic rules will not be correct. If the traffic light changes, the components that represent the traffic light need to be redefined. However, as in the present invention, the function of the traffic light is defined by the component definition means 1.
01, by writing the definitions of the car's actions in the action definition means 102, even if the traffic rules change (for example, when the traffic light turns red, the car moves,
Even if the traffic rule is changed to ``When the light turns green, the car will stop,'' all that is required is to change the definition content of the action definition means 102.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, the definition of the component itself and the actions for other components (parts related to functions that are not directly related to the component itself) are separated into separate areas. Since they are written separately, it is easier to reuse existing components. At the same time, it also becomes easier to define and change the actions to be executed when a certain combination of states of the constituent elements occurs.

[0052]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the definition of the component itself and the definition of actions for other components are written in separate areas, so that the existing Components can be used, and actions can be easily defined and changed.

[0053] Therefore, the user can easily create and edit each component that makes up the display content.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a data processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a workstation for implementing the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the flow of control in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display state of buttons as constituent elements.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing transitions of display states of other components.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing transitions of display states of other components.

[Explanation of symbols] 101... Component definition means, 102... Action definition means, 103... Information holding section, 104... Component display section, 105
...User input unit, 106...Control unit, 201...Display device, 202...Keyboard, 203...Mouse, 204...Main storage device, 205...Control device, 206...Auxiliary storage device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data processing device that displays each component according to the definition of the component itself corresponding to each of a plurality of components constituting display content, and executes an action according to a definition regarding actions for other components, the data processing device comprising: comprising a component definition means in which a definition of each component itself is written, and an action definition means in which a definition related to the action is written, and the definition of each component itself and the definition related to the action are separated. A data processing device characterized by the above.