JPH05233185A - User interface control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the troublesome of operation by multiply defining the two relations of a relation for managing a display area and a relation unrelated to the management of the display area in optical order and utilizing it. CONSTITUTION:The system is provided with a grouping object being masters 11, 21, 31, 33 on a view hierarchy and being virtual masters 22, 32, 34 on the view hierarchy. The view hierarchy preparation can be realized by constituting a tree structure with a component for constructing a user interface, which is in the relation of master-slave and on the other hand, group hierarchy preparation can be realized by introducing data structure corresponding to the grouping object to by virtual masters 22, 32 and 34 on the tree structure and constituting the structure and the components for interface construction in the tree structure. Thus, by putting both structures into one tree structure, both relations of the relation for management of the display area and relation unrelated to the relation of the display area can multiply be defined in an optical order and utilized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of defining or changing a user interface (specifically, display mode or input mode) of an information processing apparatus.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

(1) Method used in the window system and the user interface construction environment thereabove In an apparatus that realizes some function such as an information processing apparatus, when creating software that realizes the user interface, In order to reduce the number of components, it is performed in advance as a component group. In a system that interactively creates and uses a user interface, the user interface is created by selecting an appropriate one from these user interface building components and arranging it on the screen.

The user interface thus created typically supports editing hierarchical relationships for display area management.

In the following, this hierarchical relationship will be described by a plurality of users.
The functions provided when viewed as a means for collectively operating the interface building components will be described.

In many window systems, the user
The interface is realized by hierarchically configuring a plurality of user interface building components. Specifically, the user interface building component displayed on the screen and the display area of the component are associated with each other. Hereinafter, the display performed on the screen corresponding to the user interface building component is called a view.

Views have a parent-child relationship corresponding to the inclusion relationship of display areas. For example, when the screen 11 'displays the views 21', 22 ', 31' and 32 'as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the screen 11' is considered as one of the views, and the relation to this is shown in FIG. It can be expressed as a hierarchical structure like b). Here, 11, 11, 2 in the figure
Reference numerals 2, 31, and 32 are data structures corresponding to the views, respectively, and store and manage the attributes of each view, such as the type of view, the position and color at the time of display. The solid lines connecting the data structures corresponding to the views represent the parent-child relationships of the views. In this figure, the ones drawn above are the parents of what is written below. For example, 21 is a child of 11 and a parent of 31 and 32. Also, multiple views with the same parent can be considered siblings. Figure 6
21 'and 22' in (a) are siblings. The siblings have an order relationship, and when the display areas overlap on the screen, the displays are overlapped according to this order relationship, and one display is hidden and not displayed. In FIG. 6 (a), the display of 21 'is hidden by the display of 22'. For parents and children, the child's display will always hide the parent's display. Hereinafter, this hierarchical relationship is referred to as a view hierarchy. This hierarchical relationship has a tree structure and defines the relationship between a single parent and multiple children in multiple layers.

Actually, the data structure corresponding to the view is realized as a structure in a programming language, for example, and the parent-child relationship is maintained by storing a pointer pointing to another structure in the structure.

As a specific example of the view, it can be considered that each of the buttons existing on the screen for operating with a mouse and the text field for inputting / outputting a numerical value or a character string corresponds to the view. In practice, these buttons and text fields may consist of multiple views. In addition, by arranging multiple buttons and text fields on the form that is the view that becomes the mount,
A window or dialog box is created for the program to display information.

In the parent-child relationship defined by the structures shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), the child view cannot be displayed outside the area of the parent view. In other words,
The display of the child's view is clipped by the area of the parent's view. For example, the view 32 'of FIG. 6 (a) is shown in FIG.
When moving to the position shown in FIG.
The shaded portion 32 'in (a) is not displayed, and this portion can be viewed by the view 11' below.

The user interface building component usually has an attribute for determining whether to display the view. Below, this is called a display attribute. The display attribute is a Boolean value, when this is true the view is displayed and when it is false the view is not displayed. In the view hierarchy, when the display attribute of the parent view is false, the view of the descendant is not displayed regardless of whether the display attribute of its own view is true or false. For example, when the display attribute of the view 21 'in FIG. 6A becomes false, the views 31 and 32 that are descendants thereof are not actually displayed on the screen.

The display position of the child's view is usually defined with respect to the coordinate system defined on the parent's view. Therefore, when the parent's view moves on the screen, the child's view maintains a relative positional relationship with the parent's view. That is, the screen is moved as much as the parent view is moved. For example, if the view 21 'in FIG. 6 (a) has moved to the position shown in FIG. 7 (b) to the right, the views 31', 3
2'is also moved by the same amount as the parent view 21 '.
The position is as shown in (b). That is, the views 31 'and 32' that are children maintain their relative positions with respect to the view 21 'that is a parent.

In addition, there is a window system that changes the size of the child's view when the size of the parent's view changes.

When changing the color of the parent's view, only the color of the parent's view is changed, the child's view is unaffected. That is, the setting of the attribute for the parent is not affected by the change regarding the position as if it is transmitted to the child and the change regarding the color as if it is not transmitted to the child. Regarding the size, the handling differs depending on the system. When affected, it is applied recursively to descendants.

In the window system, it is necessary to manage a large number of windows. By using this framework, it is possible to reduce the difficulty of operating a plurality of windows. For example, once an application programmer has defined a hierarchy of views, if they want to move them together, they only need to manipulate the views that are their parents. Further, by manipulating the display attribute of a certain view, it is possible to eventually change the state of all the display of its descendants.

In the user interface construction environment for application programs operating on the window system, a function for the user to define the view hierarchy is provided. For example, the layout of views is specified on the screen for each user interface building component by an operation similar to the drawing tool described later, and the hierarchical relationship of views is further defined. The hierarchical relationship of views is defined by placing the child's display area completely within the parent's display area when the child is placed on the screen, for example. Further, while defining the layout of a view on a certain window, there are many cases in which a parent-child relationship other than the parent-child relationship between the view corresponding to the window and the newly defined view cannot be defined. That is, it does not provide the application programmer with the concept of defining the hierarchical structure of views in multiple layers. There are some that do not allow layered definition of the hierarchical structure of views. In this case, it is allowed to define a child's view only on one of the view corresponding to the entire screen or its immediate children, and all views defined there are siblings. (2) Method used in drawing tool In the drawing tool, a means for collectively operating a plurality of display objects is provided in a form different from the user interface construction environment.

The drawing tool is complicated by displaying a paper image on a normal screen and arranging graphic elements such as lines, rectangles, polygons, circles, ellipses, and character strings on it as graphic objects. Draw a perfect circle. The position and size of the graphic object can be determined by a pointing device such as a mouse.

The attributes of the graphic object include line width and color. The typical operation for setting these is to select the graphic object using the pointing device and then select the attribute value from a separate menu to set the attribute of the graphic object in the selected state. Is to be done.

Many of the drawing tools provide a grouping function as a function for treating a plurality of graphic objects as one and treating them as if they were a single graphic object. The grouped graphic objects can be operated as a single object. When moved, each graphic object that is an element of the group moves by the same amount. When changing the size, usually, the size of each graphic object is changed in such a manner that the vertical and horizontal ratios of the sizes between the graphic objects are preserved. When a color or line width changing operation is performed on a group, the change is performed on all of the graphic objects forming the group. The grouping function in the drawing tool is often performed by selecting a plurality of graphic objects and then selecting the grouping function from the menu.

The management of the graphic object is realized, for example, by using the same method as the management of the data structure corresponding to the view described above. For example, in FIG.
(A) A graphic object 2 on the screen 11 'as shown on the left side
When 1 ', 22', and 23 'are arranged, the data structure shown on the right side of the figure can be considered.

Grouping can be expressed by allowing a virtual parent to exist for a group. In FIG. 8 (a),
The grouping of 21 'and 22' can be realized by placing a virtual parent like 31 in FIG. 8 (b). Below, this virtual object is called a grouping object. Grouped graphic objects 21 ', 22'
Is regarded as an operation on the grouped object 31 'having no display form, and the result of the operation is reflected on the children 21' and 22 '. This makes it possible to change the position and size, set the color, and copy the plurality of graphic objects at the same time.

Grouping of drawing tools can usually be done in multiple layers. However, only the graphic objects existing at the highest level can be targeted for grouping, and in FIG. 8B, only 31 and 22 as a result of grouping 21 and 22 can be targeted. 21 and 22 can no longer be targeted. Therefore, even if the layers are grouped in layers, the resulting hierarchical structure expressed by this expression method will eventually become a tree structure and not a net structure. Below, this hierarchical relationship is called a group hierarchy. This hierarchical relationship is a layered definition of the relationship between a single parent and multiple children.

Even in the hierarchically defined group hierarchy, the user of the drawing tool can directly operate only the graphic object existing at the highest level and the grooved object existing at the highest level. When an operation such as changing the position or size or setting a color is performed on the highest level grouped object, the result of the operation is reflected on each of the children's objects. When there is a grouping object for grouping lower level groups in the children, the result of the operation is recursively reflected in the children. This can be viewed as propagating the grouping hierarchy of attribute values set for the highest level grouping object towards descendants. That is, the grouped objects other than the topmost group transmit the attributes transmitted from the parent to their own children.

As described above, many graphic drawing tools provide grouping of objects arranged on the screen. However, this is not a system for creating an operable user interface, and thus display is performed. It does not support editing the hierarchical structure for area management. For example, clipping of the child display area by the parent display area as shown in FIG. 7A is not supported.

There are other methods for realizing grouping, but even if the expression methods are different, the tree structure is conceptually considered and expressed by each method.

[0025]

However, the conventional method has the following problems when arranging a large number of user interface building parts on the screen.

In the conventional user interface construction environment, it is necessary to operate many views, and by organizing them in a hierarchical structure, the operational complexity is reduced.

However, the views 21 'and 2 of FIG.
If a plurality of views that are to be treated as a group of views are separated on the screen, such as 2 ', the view hierarchy cannot process them well. This is because it is impossible to define a parent-child relationship in the view hierarchy between them. If this is grouped together using the view hierarchy, a new view with these as children will be created. The parent view will have a display area that is large enough to include all the display areas of the child views. At this time, a portion of the display area of the parent view that is not the display area of the child view will occur. For example, the portion between the display areas of the child views. This area is hidden by the display of the new parent view, even though the original parent view display must have been visible. If there are other views that were originally siblings of the child view in the hidden area, this may also be hidden. Generally, it is desired to make a plurality of user interface construction parts as a group, but in many cases, it is not desired to have such an influence on the display area. Also, the user
There are cases where it is desired to handle some user interface building components as a group during interface building, but ultimately to define all user interface building components as siblings on the view hierarchy. Thus, it is not possible to use one of the group hierarchy and the view hierarchy as a substitute for the other. As described above, it is difficult to operate the views 21 'and 22' of FIG. 8A as a group without a group hierarchy. Therefore, when the same operation is performed on a plurality of user interface building components. It is necessary to perform operations for all user interface building components. For this reason, the operation labor increases in proportion to the number of user interface building components.

To cope with this, a function equivalent to the group hierarchy is required, but this is not provided in a general user interface construction environment. Therefore, these environments do not benefit from grouping. For example, in FIG. 9, a total of three component groups having the same form as the user interface constructing component group in which 31 ', 32', and 33 'are grouped together are arranged on the user interface constructing component 21'. However, even in such a case, 41 ', 42', 43 ', 51', 52 ', 5
It is necessary to individually create and arrange each 3 '. If 31 ', 32', 33 'can be handled as a group, it can be duplicated twice to obtain 4
It is possible to create portions corresponding to 1 ', 42', 43 ', 51', 52 ', 53'.

The above is the problem in the user interface construction environment which does not provide the grouping function at all.
As a function similar to grouping is provided in the user interface building environment, it is possible to temporarily select and operate multiple views, but relationships cannot be saved as groups, etc. There are things that cannot be transformed. These environments do not benefit from multiple grouping. For example,
When creating the layout of Fig. 9 in such an environment, the user
After creating the interface building parts 31 ', 32', 33 ', they are selected and duplicated twice to obtain 4
1 ', 42', 43 ', 51', 52 ', 53' can be created. However, 41 ', 42', and 43 'can only be created even if 31', 32 ', and 33' are selected and copied, and these are strictly different users.
It exists as an interface construction component and cannot be operated as a single structure. Therefore, if it is necessary to operate a part of the user interface after creating it in the form as shown in FIG. 9, it is necessary to individually operate each user interface building component again. If you want to operate more than one, you have to select the ones you want to operate again. In other words, even if the grouping function can be used temporarily, no group hierarchy is finally defined between the created user interface building component groups, and all are independent and independent. The problem is that it becomes a user interface building component.

This problem becomes even more difficult when the user interface building components that are to be handled as a group are not arranged separately. Different from the example in Fig. 9, when the layouts of things that should belong to multiple groups are intricate or overlap with each other, all the user interface construction parts that should belong to a certain group are correctly selected on the screen. It's not always easy to do. In some cases, some of them are hidden under the user interface building component that should belong to another group and cannot be selected directly.

There is also a user interface construction environment in which a plurality of views can be grouped in a multi-layered manner, but the phase or number of times when the view hierarchy can be used is limited and the group hierarchy and the view hierarchy cannot be used in an arbitrary combination. To do. The view hierarchy is limited to a predetermined number of stages, and the scene to be used cannot be freely selected. In this environment you can not use the view hierarchy freely,
You cannot benefit from this. For example, the clipping of the display area realized by the view hierarchy cannot be freely used. In an environment in which the view hierarchy can be freely used, as shown in FIG. 10, 41 ', 42', 4 are provided on the user interface construction part 31 '.
3 ', 51', 52 ', 53', 61 ', 62', 6
In the situation where 3'is arranged, the size of 31 'is changed without changing the sizes of 41' to 63 ', and the display of the user interface building parts arranged on the upper side as shown in FIG. You can use the view hierarchy by hiding the view hierarchy.
Further, by utilizing this, by moving the position of the user interface building component, the display area can be managed and limited by the parent user interface building component when creating an animation. Since clipping of the display area by such a view hierarchy is realized by the system, the burden on the user is reduced. However, if such a process is attempted in an environment where the view hierarchy cannot be used freely, the shape of the user interface building component will change as the user interface building component moves, or another user interface building component will be used. The user must describe the process of hiding unnecessary parts.

As described above, even though both the view hierarchy and the group hierarchy are necessary, there is no user interface construction environment for freely using both, and the construction of a complicated user interface is targeted. It was complicated work depending on the complexity.

As described above, the conventional user interface control method has a problem to be solved. An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a user interface construction environment and a method of realizing a use environment in which a user can easily handle a large number of user interface construction parts.

[0034]

In the present invention, the above-mentioned problem is solved by using the following method.

(1) The invention according to claim 1 A system for interactively constructing and utilizing a user interface on a screen by arranging a plurality of user interface constructing parts prepared in advance on the screen. In a user interface control method that uses two relationships, one for managing the display area between the parts for building the user interface and the other one not related to the management of the display area, both relationships can be used in any order. It is defined as multiple and can be used.

However, this equation also has the following problems. In the framework that allows both the view hierarchy and the group hierarchy to be multiplexed in an arbitrary order, the method of setting various attributes for the user interface building component, which is its constituent element, becomes a problem. This is because the effect of reducing the complexity of operations cannot be utilized by canceling these hierarchical relationships, setting attributes for each, and defining the hierarchical relationships again.

In many cases, the attribute setting operation for the grouped user interface building parts is to set the same attribute to all the constituent elements of the group. The drawing tool has succeeded in simplifying the attribute setting operation for a plurality of graphic objects by using the method in which the attribute setting propagates through the group hierarchy.

Even in the framework in which both the view hierarchy and the group hierarchy are allowed to be multiplexed in an arbitrary order, if a method similar to this is used, attribute propagation is performed using both the view hierarchy and the group hierarchy. If it is possible, it is possible to simplify the operation of setting attributes for multiple user interface building components, but if it is not available, set the attributes for individual user interface building components. Must be done individually.

As described above, in the user interface construction environment in which both the view hierarchy and the group hierarchy of claim 1 can be used freely, the attributes of the user interface construction parts at the time of constructing a complicated user interface are Setting up was a complicated task depending on the complexity.

The present invention has solved this problem.

(2) The invention according to claim 2 A system for interactively constructing and utilizing a user interface on a screen by arranging a plurality of user interface constructing parts prepared in advance on the screen. Two relationships, one for managing the display area between the parts for building the user interface and one for which the management of the display area is irrelevant are used, and both relationships are defined and used in any order. In a possible user interface control method, when a state change occurs for a certain user interface construction component, the above-mentioned relationship is used to propagate the state to other user interface construction components. I am going to do it.

However, this method also has the following problems.

In the user interface construction in which both the view hierarchy and the group hierarchy can be permitted to be superposed in an arbitrary order and the attributes can be propagated by utilizing the relationship between them, in a plurality of user interface construction parts, It is possible to set attributes with a single operation. However, there are cases where it is inconvenient if the propagation is unconditional.

For example, as shown in FIG. 12, user interface building parts 31 ', 41', 42 ', 43 and 3 created as a group using the view hierarchy.
When 2 ', 51', 52 'and 53' are arranged on 21 ', these two can be respectively regarded as a composite part for constructing a user interface. Change the color of 31 'and 32' corresponding to the background of these composite parts, but 41 ', 42', which are children on their view hierarchy.
There are cases where it is desired not to affect 43 ', 51', 52 'and 53'. 31 'and 32' are grouped,
If the grouped object 61 'is a child in the group hierarchy, the attribute can be propagated via 61'. However, if the propagation is performed unconditionally 41 ', 4
2 ', 43', 51 ', 52', 53 'are also affected.

Thus, unconditional propagation does not always produce the desired result. The view hierarchy is originally a framework for supporting the management of the display area of the view, and it is often desirable that the position of the display area of each view is propagated, but in many cases, the color is a group of users, Propagation should occur only in a group hierarchy that is a consciously defined relationship.

If the mode of propagation can be selected according to the type of hierarchy, that is, the type of relationship between the user interface building parts, the attribute is propagated in the group hierarchy, but not propagated in the view hierarchy. By doing so, the above problems can be avoided.
It is possible to realize a form in which the attribute does not propagate to 1 ', 42', 43 ', 51, 52', 53 ', but in an environment in which the attribute propagates unconditionally to all relationships, a plurality of users・ It is impossible to perform selective update of attributes for interface building parts with a single operation.
Setting selective attributes for some of many user interface building components has been a chore of complexity.

This is solved by the invention according to claim 3.

(3) Invention of Claim 3 A system for interactively constructing and utilizing a user interface on a screen by arranging a plurality of user interface constructing parts prepared in advance on the screen. Two relationships, one for managing the display area between the parts for building the user interface and one for which the management of the display area is irrelevant are used, and both relationships are defined and used in any order. A user who is capable and propagates the state to other user interface building components by using the above relationship when the state changes to a certain user interface building component. In the interface control method, different types of state propagation modes are provided according to the types of relationships.

[0049]

[Action]

(1) The invention according to claim 1 The basic principle of the user interface control system of the present invention is independent of the relationship for managing the display area between a plurality of user interface construction parts and the management of the display area. In the user interface control method that uses two relations with relations, by defining both relations in multiple orders in an arbitrary order so that they can be used, even if there is no relation in display area management It is intended to reduce the complexity of these operations by making it possible to organize and operate the user interface building components of the above.

(2) The invention according to claim 2 The basic principle of the user interface control system of the present invention is to manage the display area between a plurality of user interface construction parts and the management of the display area. In the user interface control method in which two relationships with irrelevant relationships are used and both relationships can be multiply defined in an arbitrary order, it is possible to change the state of a user interface building component. When this happens, the above-mentioned relationship is used to propagate the state to other user interface building components, thereby performing attribute setting operation for multiple user interface building components as if building a single user interface. It is possible to set it as if it was an attribute setting for a component for use, and it is possible to use many users regardless of the relation in display area management. The purpose is to reduce the complexity of attribute setting operations for the interface construction parts.

(3) The invention according to claim 3 The basic principle of the user interface control system of the present invention is to manage the display area between a plurality of user interface construction parts and the management of the display area. Can be used by defining two relations in an arbitrary order by using two relations with an unrelated relation, and when changing the state of a certain user interface construction component. In the user interface control method that propagates states to other user interface building components using the above relationships, by providing different types of state propagation modes according to the types of relationships. , Attribute setting operation for a plurality of organized user interface building components is as if attribute setting for a single user interface building component Avoid indiscriminate attribute setting when performing as if
The purpose is to reduce the complexity of the operation of selectively setting the attributes for the interface building component.

[0052]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An example in which the function of organizing user interface construction parts in the state shown in the lower part of FIG. 1 is realized by software will be described. The upper part of FIG. 1 is an example of a structure used when managing the user interface building components organized as in the lower part of FIG. 1 using the user interface control method of the present invention. 11, 21, 22, 31
, 34, 41-48 user interface building components, view 11 'to 11
On views 21 ', 22', 31'-34 ', 41'-4 corresponding to 21, 22, 31-34, 41-48
When placing 8'on 11 ', consider the situation where the following relationship is defined. 41 'and 42' are children on the 31 'view hierarchy, 43' and 44 'are children on the 32' group hierarchy and are children on the 21 'view hierarchy, 45' and 4 '.
6'is a child on the 33'view hierarchy, 47 'and 48' are children on the 34'group hierarchy and are children on the 22'view hierarchy, 31 'and 32' are on the 21'view hierarchy. , 33 'and 34' are children on the group hierarchy of 22 'and children on the view hierarchy of 11', 21 'and 22' are children on the view hierarchy of 11 '. These relationships can be expressed in a tree structure like the upper part of FIG. Here, 11, 21, 31, and 33 are parents on the view hierarchy, and 22, 32, and 34 are grouping objects that are virtual parents on the group hierarchy.

(1) Embodiment of the invention described in claim 1 In order to realize this with software, a data structure for each user interface construction component is created and a number is given as an identifier as in the lower part of FIG. .. There are various known tree structure representation methods in software. For example, considering the order in the children for one parent and considering them as siblings, and considering three types of pointers: a pointer from the parent to the eldest son, a group of pointers connecting the siblings in a row, and a pointer from the child to the parent, each data A tree structure can be represented by providing three pointers per structure. Here, each of the pointer groups connecting the siblings in a line extends from the brother to the younger brother, and the pointer held by the child who does not have the younger brother stores a special value indicating that the younger brother is not present. The pointer to the parent of the data structure having no parent and the pointer to the eldest son of the data structure having no child are processed in the same manner.

A tree structure can be represented by the above data structure. The creation of the view hierarchy can be realized by configuring the parent user interface building parts for the user interface in a tree structure, while the creation of the group hierarchy corresponds to the grouped object that is the virtual parent on the tree structure. This can be achieved by introducing a data structure and configuring this and the user interface construction parts into a tree structure.

By combining both structures into one tree structure as shown in FIG. 1, both the relationship for managing the display area and the relationship unrelated to the management of the display area are multiplexed in an arbitrary order. Can be made available by defining

(2) Embodiment of the invention described in claim 2 In FIG. 2 which is the same situation as FIG. 1, by setting the color for the grouped object 22,
An example of setting the colors of the user interface building parts 33 ', 45', 46 ', 47', 48 'which are shaded in the figure will be described.

That is, by operating the grouping object 22, a color is set for each of the user interface building parts included in the partial tree structure below the grouping object 22 in the tree structure shown in the upper part of FIG. Is equivalent to the state in which Since the grouped object does not have a display form, the display change does not occur.

In order to realize the function of propagating the state from the grouped object 22 to another user interface building component group by software, for example, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is executed for each user interface. The data structure may correspond to the building component. First, when this processing is performed in the grouped object 22, the processing proceeds to 10, 11, and 12 in the flowchart of FIG. 3, and the color is regarded as one of the display attributes and proceeds to 30. Since there is a child in some hierarchical relationship, the process proceeds to 31 to set attributes for the data structure corresponding to the user interface building component 33 and the grouping object 34 which are direct children on the group hierarchy. Done. That is, it is transmitted. This post-processing proceeds to 14 and ends. 33 and 3 whose attributes were transmitted
In step 4, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is performed again. By recursively transmitting in this manner, it is possible to realize the propagation of the state using the relation.

(3) Embodiment of the Invention According to Claim 3 In FIG. 4, which is the same as FIG. 1, by setting the color for the grouped object 22,
An example of setting the colors of the user interface construction parts 33 ', 47' and 48 'which are shaded in the figure will be described.

That is, by operating the grouping object 22, a part of the user interface building parts included in the partial tree structure below the grouping object 22 in the tree structure shown in the upper part of FIG. 4 is selectively colored. It is equivalent to the state in which the setting of is performed. In particular,
The state is propagated to the children on the group hierarchy, but the state is not propagated to the children on the view hierarchy. Since the grouped object does not have a display form, the display change does not occur.

In order to realize the propagation function of a state in which this can be realized by software, for example, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 may be performed with a data structure corresponding to each user interface building component. First, when this processing is performed in the grouped object 22, the processing proceeds to 10, 11, and 12 in the flowchart of FIG. 5, and the color is regarded as one of the display attributes and proceeds to 20. Since I am a grouping object, the processing is 20, 2
1 and 30, since there is a child in the group hierarchy relationship, the process proceeds to 31 and the data structure corresponding to the user interface construction part 33 and the grouping object 34 which are direct children in the group hierarchy. Attributes are set for the. That is, it is transmitted. This post-processing proceeds to 14 and ends.

The components 33 and 34 to which the attributes have been transmitted perform the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 again.
In the part 33, the processing is 10, 11, 12, 20,
Propagation ends here because the state is not transmitted to the child at 14. In the part 34, the processing is 10,
Proceed to 11, 12, 20, 21, 30, 31, and 14, the state is transmitted to the child again, and the propagation continues. As a result, it becomes possible to transmit a selective state as shown in FIG.

In this way, the user can
By performing different processing depending on the type of relationship between the interface building components, it is possible to realize different types of state propagation depending on the type of relationship between the user interface building components. ..

Here, an example in which only software is used for implementation is shown, but other implementation means can be used as long as information for managing a plurality of relationships can be held. In addition, although the two relationships are realized as one tree structure here, it is not essential to express the whole as one tree structure in this way, and it may be expressed as a plurality of graph structures. obtain. When this graph structure includes a traveling route, there is a possibility that the propagation process will not stop only with the process of FIG. 5, but this is due to the user interface building component that has the propagation process generated by one operation. On the other hand, when the process is performed twice or more, it can be avoided by not performing the process. Specifically, for example, at the start of a series of propagation processes, an identifier for allocating it to another series of propagation processes is assigned, and the user interface construction component side has a process of having the latest identifier. It is possible to regard the subsequent processing as unnecessary when it occurs twice or more in a row for itself.

[0065]

As described in detail above, the user interface control system of the present invention has the following effects.

(1) Effect of the Invention According to Claim 1 In the user interface control system of the present invention, two relationships, a relationship for managing the display area and a relationship irrelevant to the management of the display area, are set in an arbitrary order. Since it is possible to define and use it in multiple ways, the user can freely structure multiple user interface building parts using the relationship defined by himself. It is also possible to freely use the management of the display area using the view hierarchy. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the complexity of operations when handling a large number of user interface building components.

Further, since the relationships other than the view hierarchy can be used, the user interface building parts arranged separately as shown in FIG. 8A are grouped as shown in FIG. 8B. It is possible to handle.

Also when arranging a plurality of user interface construction parts grouped in the same structure as shown in FIG. 9,
The user interface can be constructed by duplicating the grouped user interface construction parts group in a single operation, and the relationship defined as a group is saved even after the creation.・
It is possible to operate as a group not only when creating an interface but also when modifying it.

Further, since the view hierarchy can be freely used, the display area of the child user interface building parts group is changed by changing the size of the user interface building parts 31 'in FIGS. It is also possible to freely use the view hierarchy to control the display area as in the example.

(2) Effect of the invention according to claim 2 In the user interface control method of the present invention, two relationships, a relationship for managing the display area and a relationship irrelevant to the management of the display area, are set in an arbitrary order. In the user interface construction environment that can be defined and used in multiple ways with the user interface construction part, when a state change occurs in a certain user interface construction part, another relation By propagating the state to the user interface building component, it is possible to update the attributes of a plurality of user interface building components with a single operation.

For example, when setting some attributes for each of the user interface building parts 22 and below in the hierarchy of FIG. 2, this is set by the user interface building part 22.
It can be performed by one operation if it is regarded as the setting of the attribute for and the propagation is sequentially performed from 22 to its descendants.

In this way, by propagating various attributes such as position, size, and color, it is possible to facilitate the attribute setting operation for a plurality of user interface building parts.

(3) Effect of the Invention According to Claim 3 In the user interface control method of the present invention, two relationships, that is, a relationship for managing the display area and a relationship irrelevant to the management of the display area are set in an arbitrary order. In the user interface construction environment that can be defined and used in multiple ways with the user interface construction part, when a state change occurs in a certain user interface construction part, another relation In the user interface control method that propagates the state to the user interface building component, by providing different types of state propagation modes depending on the type of relationship, attributes for multiple user interface building components When updating some of the
It is possible to perform a selective update targeting only the interface building component with a single operation.

For example, in the hierarchy of FIG. 4, when the user interface building parts 22 and the user interface building parts 22 and below are grouped together and an attribute for each of them is set by one operation, the attribute is set through the group hierarchy. If you specify the propagation mode so that it propagates through the view hierarchy but not through the view hierarchy, you can selectively update the attributes for multiple user interface construction parts only by the setting operation once for the shaded area. It is possible to

In the above, mainly the effect of simplifying the operation on the screen of the user interface construction environment user at the time of constructing the user interface has been described. -Even when the interface is changed, it has the effect of making it possible to simplify the description of the process.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure corresponding to one of the embodiments of the invention described in claim 1.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure corresponding to one of the embodiments of the invention described in claim 2;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of the invention described in claim 2.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure corresponding to one of the embodiments of the invention described in claim 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of the invention described in claim 3;

FIG. 6 (a) is a diagram showing a display form for explaining the use of a view hierarchy in a method used in a conventional window system, and FIG. 6 (b) is shown in FIG. 6 (a). FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a data structure for managing a hierarchy of views to be displayed in a method used in a conventional window system.

FIG. 7 (a) is a diagram showing clipping of a display area between views having a parent-child relationship as one of the operations of view hierarchy management in the method used in the conventional window system, FIG. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing saving of the relative position of display of views among views having a parent-child relationship as one of the operations of view hierarchy management in the method used in the conventional window system.

8A is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a data structure for managing a graphic object in a method used in a conventional drawing tool, and FIG. 8B is used in a conventional drawing tool. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the data structure for implement | achieving the grouping of the graphic objects in a system.

FIG. 9 shows a difference between a case where only a view hierarchy management is used in a method used in a conventional window system and a case where a method used in a conventional drawing tool is used together when arranging a large number of views. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of controlling a display area of a view using a method used in a conventional window system.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of control of a display area of a view when a part of the views is changed from the state of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example for explaining that there are cases where it is not desirable to unconditionally propagate a state through a defined relationship between views.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 11, 22, 22, 31, 31-34, 41-48 User interface building parts 11 ', 21', 22 ', 31'-34', 41'-4
8'view

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A system for interactively constructing and utilizing a user interface on a screen by arranging a plurality of user interface constructing parts prepared in advance on the screen. In the user interface control method that uses two relations, one for managing the display area and the other for managing the display area, both relationships can be defined and used in any order in multiple order. A user characterized by
Interface control method. 2. A system for interactively constructing and utilizing a user interface on a screen by arranging a plurality of user interface constructing parts prepared in advance on the screen. A user interface control method in which two relationships, that is, a relationship for managing the display area and a relationship unrelated to the management of the display area, are used, and both relationships can be multiply defined in an arbitrary order. The user characterized in that, when a state change occurs in a certain user interface construction part, the state is propagated to another user interface construction part using the above relationship. -Interface control method. 3. A system for interactively constructing and utilizing a user interface on a screen by arranging a plurality of user interface constructing parts prepared in advance on the screen. Two relationships, a relationship for managing the display area and a relationship irrelevant to the management of the display area, are used, and both relationships can be multiply defined in an arbitrary order and can be used. In the user interface control method that propagates the state to other user interface building components by using the above relationship when the state of the user interface building component is changed. A user interface control method characterized by providing different types of state propagation modes according to types.