JPH0683921A - Interactive component arranging method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the arranging method for interactive components which give a user no feeling of incompatibility by enumerating all substitute plans which meet restriction requirements of the operation order of the interactive components to be arranged and selecting the substitute plane which has the largest calculated value of satisfaction among them. CONSTITUTION:A screen operation order table 200 holds the restriction requirements of the operation order of the interactive components. A linear arrangement plan enumerating part 1800 enumerates all linear arrangement order plans which meet the requirements in a substitute plan table 1900. A two-dimensional arrangement plan enumerating part 2000 enumerates plane arrangement plans for the respective plans in a substitute plan table 2100. A satisfaction extent calculation part 2200 finds various characteristic values of the width and height of a screen, the area of a margin part, etc., for the respective plans and calculates the extent of satisfaction as an observed value by fuzzy inference. At this time, rules and grade values to be collated are held in a calculation rule table 2300 and a function storage area 300. The calculated extent of satisfaction is a value after defuzzification by a gravity center method and higher and higher as its value is larger and larger. A substitute plan transmission part 2400 selects the plan having the largest extent of satisfaction and transfers it to a screen layout table 400.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tool for supporting the development of an application program running on a window system installed in an information processing device such as a personal computer or a workstation, and particularly in the case of a dialog with a user. Various interactive components (OK / CANC) to be placed inside the displayed dialog box, child window, etc.
Push button such as EL, radio button to select one item from multiple items, toggle, option menu, text (text input screen), list to select item from table, scale ( (Slider) etc.)
Regarding the placement method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of arranging various kinds of interactive parts as described above, a method in which the creator manually performs this is known (BF Webster, translated by Takeuchi et al .: "The Next Bo
ok ", pp261-307, Toppan (1990.6)).

This is because the creator directly selects a necessary one from various dialog component sets graphically displayed in the window and places it at a desired position inside a dialog box or the like to be created. This is a method of repeating the operation. It is a direct and flexible method and is widely used as a useful tool.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems.

First, since the placement is not performed automatically, a lot of manpower is required for the creation. In particular,
A large application program contains many dialog boxes, all of which must be created manually, which lengthens the development period.

Secondly, the standard of component placement that does not make the user feel uncomfortable is not always clear.
If the creator changes, different parts may be placed. In particular, when a large number of dialog boxes are created by multiple workers, the created dialog boxes become inconsistent. Therefore, the user can be confused.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of arranging interactive parts, which solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention enumerates all alternatives that satisfy the constraint condition of the operation order of the interactive parts to be arranged, and the user feels uncomfortable with each of them. As a standard for component placement, a calculation rule for satisfaction is quantitatively given, and an alternative plan with the highest satisfaction is selected from them, and a screen layout determination function for setting a target component placement is provided.

In order to realize the above-mentioned screen layout determining function, in the present invention, the screen operation order storage means, the one-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration means, the one-dimensional arrangement alternative storage means, the two-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration means, the two-dimensional arrangement. An alternative plan storage unit, a satisfaction calculation rule storage unit, a membership function storage unit, a satisfaction calculation unit, an alternative selection unit, and a screen layout storage unit are provided.

[0010]

The screen operation order storage means holds the operation order constraint conditions for the interactive parts to be arranged. The one-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration means enumerates all alternatives in the arrangement order that satisfy this constraint condition in the one-dimensional arrangement alternative storage means.
The two-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration means lists, for each of the one-dimensional arrangement alternatives, the alternatives regarding the plane arrangement in the two-dimensional arrangement alternative storage means. The satisfaction calculation means, for each of the two-dimensional layout alternatives, the screen width, height,
Various characteristic values such as the area of the blank area are obtained, and this is used as an observed value to match the satisfaction calculation rule (fuzzy rule),
Calculate satisfaction by fuzzy reasoning. The matching rule and the grade value are the satisfaction calculation rule storage means,
It is held in the membership function storage means. The calculated satisfaction level is a numerical value that has been defuzzified by the center of gravity method. The larger this value is, the higher the satisfaction level is. Therefore, it can be said that the component layout has no discomfort for the user. The alternative selecting means selects the alternative having the highest degree of satisfaction and holds the component arrangement in the screen layout storing means.

Since each means operates as described above, the parts placement can be automated, and the parts placement can be consistently obtained without any discomfort to the user.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the system configuration of an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a workstation to which the interactive component placement method of the present invention can be applied.

The information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 10, a memory 20, a hard disk 30, a flexible disk 40, a printer 50, and a keyboard 6.
0, a mouse 70 and a display 80. These are connected via a bus 90.

The CPU 10 may be composed of a conventional microprocessor, or may be a fuzzy circuit including conventional functions.
It may be configured by a microprocessor.

A memory 20, a hard disk 30, a flexible disk 40, a printer 50, a keyboard 60,
Mouse 70 and display 80 comprise well-known conventional devices.

An operating system program equipped with a window system as a base for improving operability is stored in the memory 20 together with one or more application programs selected by the user to execute. The application program that employs the interactive component placement method of the present invention is also stored in the memory 20 together with the operating system program if the user selects it for execution. Due to the relationship between the capacity of the memory 20 and the size of the application programs, these application programs are transferred from the hard disk 30 to the memory 20 as needed.

As the hard disk 30, for example, a 40 megabyte hard disk is used. The basic function of the hard disk 30 is to store programs and data which are used by operating system programs and can be easily transferred to the memory 20 when needed.

The flexible disk 40 provides a removable storage function for inputting programs and data to the system and a medium function for storing the programs and data in a form that can be easily carried for use in other systems. To do.

The display 80, keyboard 60, and mouse 70 all provide the system with interactivity. The window system program existing in the memory 20 displays the window on the display 80. The user operates this window by inputting the keyboard 60 or the mouse 70 to control the window or the operation of the application program.

The system of FIG. 1 further includes a printer 50. The printer 50 outputs the data created by the system and the data stored in the system as a hard copy.

FIG. 2 is an example of a network diagram expressing the operation sequence of the interactive parts by the user.

The interactive parts have a three-level hierarchical structure as shown in the figure. The parts located at the highest level, the middle level, and the lowest level are called the upper screen, the middle screen, and the lower screen, respectively. Examples of lower-level screens include push buttons, radio buttons, toggles, option menus, text (text input screen), lists, scales, and the like. Examples of middle screens include push buttons, radio buttons, toggles, options menus, texts, lists, scales, and the like. Examples of upper screens include dialog boxes and child windows.

In the illustrated example, the upper screen D is composed of four middle screens (D1, D2, D3, D4). Furthermore, the middle screen D1 is the three lower screens (D11, D1).
2, D13). Other middle screens D2-D
4 is also composed of a plurality of lower screens as shown.

There is a predecessor / successor relationship in each middle screen, which is represented by an arrow. The screen located at the Yao is a preceding screen of the screen located at the arrowhead, and conversely, the screen located at the arrowhead is a succeeding screen of the screen located at the Yao. The fact that the screen A is the preceding screen of the screen B means that the operation on the screen B cannot be started unless the operation on the screen A is completed, and conversely, the screen B is a subsequent screen of the screen A. That means that if the operation on the screen A is completed, the operation on the screen B can be started at any time. In the illustrated example, if the operation on the screen D1 is not completed, the operation on the screen D2 cannot be started, and if the operation on the screens D2 and D3 is not completed, the operation on the screen D4 is executed. It expresses that it cannot start. The same applies to the lower screen. Screen D1, D
In 2 and D4, there is no predecessor / successor relationship between each lower screen, and you can start the operation from any screen.
3 indicates that the operation on D32 cannot be started unless the operation on the lower screen D31 is completed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of various functions constituting the interactive component placement method of the present invention.

In the present invention, first, the layout of the middle screen is determined, its size (width and height) is determined, and then the layout of the upper screen is determined. The layout determination is commonly performed by the screen layout determination unit 100 regardless of the middle screen and the upper screen.

The screen operation order table 200 and the membership function storage area 300 are stored in the screen layout determining unit 10.
The screen layout table 400 is a work storage area for holding the input data necessary for the process 0, and the screen layout table 400 is a work storage area for holding the screen layout determined by the screen layout determination unit 100.

The middle-level screen operation order table 500 and the lower-level screen operation order table 600 are tables in which the preceding and succeeding relationships of operations between the middle-level screens and the lower-level screens are described, and the middle-level screen operation order input unit 700 is provided. The lower screen operation order input unit 800 sets the contents in the screen operation order table 200.

Membership function storage area 9 for upper screen
00, membership function storage area for medium screen 1000
Is a storage area for holding a membership function necessary for determining the layout of the upper screen and the middle screen, respectively. The upper screen membership function input unit 1100 and the middle screen membership function input unit 1200 respectively The contents are set in the membership function storage area 300.

The upper screen layout table 1300 and the middle screen layout table 1400 are storage areas for holding the layouts of the upper screen and the middle screen, respectively. The contents of the screen layout table 400 are set in these storage areas by the upper screen layout output unit 1500 and the middle screen layout output unit 1600.

The overall control unit 1700 controls the activation of each of the above processing units.

A block diagram showing a more detailed structure of the screen layout determining section 100 is shown in a broken line in FIG.

The one-dimensional layout alternative enumeration unit 1800 finds all alternatives of the layout order (one-dimensional layout) that satisfies the constraint condition of the operation order of the middle-level screen and the lower-level screen forming the upper screen and the middle-level screen. Enumerate. All the one-dimensional arrangement alternatives listed here are held in the one-dimensional arrangement alternative table 1900 which is a storage area for work.

The two-dimensional placement alternative enumeration unit 2000 lists, for each of the listed one-dimensional placement alternatives, the alternatives of the planar placement (two-dimensional placement). All the two-dimensional arrangement alternatives listed here are held in the two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 2100 which is a storage area for work.

The satisfaction calculator 2200 calculates the satisfaction of each of the listed two-dimensional placement alternatives by fuzzy inference. In the calculation, the satisfaction calculation rule table 2300 and the membership function storage area 30
The contents of 0 are referenced. The satisfaction calculated here is held in the two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 2100.

The alternative selecting unit 2400 selects one alternative having the highest degree of satisfaction from all the two-dimensional layout alternatives, and transfers the alternative to the screen layout table 400.

The control unit 2500 controls the activation of each processing unit.

5 to 14 show examples of configurations of various tables and storage areas shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 5 shows an intermediate screen operation order table 500.
It is a configuration example of. As shown in FIG. 9A, the total number of a plurality of middle-level screens constituting the upper screen and the entry line No. to the middle-level screen list are held. Further, according to FIG. 7B, the leading and trailing middle screens of each middle screen, the entry line No. to the preceding / succeeding middle screen list, and the total number of a plurality of lower screens constituting the middle screen , Entry line No. to the lower screen list
Hold. Further, as shown in FIG. 7C, the screen numbers of a plurality of preceding and succeeding middle screens of each middle screen are held. The above (a), (b) and (c) will be referred to as a middle screen operation sequence table 500.

FIG. 6 shows a lower screen operation order table 600.
It is a configuration example of. As shown in FIG. 9A, the sizes of a plurality of lower screens that form the middle screen, the total number of preceding and subsequent lower screens of the lower screen, and the entry line No. to the preceding / succeeding lower screen list are held. Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, the screen numbers of a plurality of preceding and succeeding lower screens of each lower screen are held. The above (a) and (b) will be referred to as a lower screen operation order table 600.

FIG. 7 is a structural example of the screen operation order table 200. According to the figure (a), the size of each screen,
The number of preceding and subsequent screens of the screen and the entry line No. to the preceding / succeeding screen list are held. Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, the screen No. of a plurality of preceding and succeeding screens of each screen is displayed.
Hold. The above (a) and (b) will be referred to as a screen operation order table 200.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration of the membership function storage area 900 for the upper screen, the membership function storage area 1000 for the middle screen, and the membership function storage area 300. The configurations of 900, 1000, and 300 are the same, and only the numerical data held is different. In the satisfaction calculation unit 2200, the difference between the width (W) and the height (H) of the screen (W−rH), the area of the blank area of the screen (B), the variation of the height of each line of the screen (D), the screen The following five conditions are used: height of center of gravity (G) and satisfaction of screen (S). (A) to (e) of the same figure correspond to these. As an example, FIG. The membership function required for the difference in screen width and height (W-rH) is NB
(N egative B ig), ZR (Z e r o), PB (P ositive B i
g) three types. In the figure (a), the range of possible values of (W-rH) is divided into several small sections (No. 1, 2, ...).
The grade values of NB, ZR, and PB in each small section are held. The same applies to (b) to (e) of FIG.
These (a) to (e) are used to store the membership function storage area 900 for the upper screen, the membership function storage area 1000 for the middle screen, and the membership function storage area 30.
Let's call it 0.

FIG. 9 is a structural example of the screen layout table 400. The screen size, the total number of lines of the screen composed of a plurality of lines, and the entry line No. of the screen row layout table are held according to FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 9B, the total number of screens arranged in each row, i-th
The screen number, position, and size of the (i = 1 to N) th screen to be arranged are held. With the above (a) and (b),
It is called the screen layout table 400.

FIG. 10 shows the upper screen layout table 1
3 is a configuration example of 300. The size of the upper screen, the total number of lines of the upper screen composed of a plurality of lines, and the entry row No. to the row layout table of the upper screen are held according to FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 9B, the total number of middle screens arranged in each row, the screen number, position, and size of the middle screen to be arranged at the i-th (i = 1 to N) th are held. . The above (a) and (b) will be referred to as the upper screen layout table 1300.

FIG. 11 shows the middle screen layout table 1
4 is a configuration example of 400. According to FIG. 9A, the size of each middle screen, the total number of lines in the middle screen composed of a plurality of lines, and the entry row N in the line layout table of the middle screen.
Hold o. Further, as shown in FIG. 9B, the total number of lower screens arranged in each row, the screen number, position, and size of the i-th (i = 1 to N) lower screen to be arranged are held. The above (a) and (b) are referred to as a middle screen layout table 1400.

FIG. 12 shows a one-dimensional arrangement alternative table 19
00 is an example configuration. Total number of ordered screens, i-th
The screen No. of the (i = 1 to N) th screen to be arranged, the size, the total number of alternatives for two-dimensional arrangement, and the entry row No. for the two-dimensional arrangement alternative list are held.

FIG. 13 shows a two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 21.
00 is an example configuration. According to the figure (a), the difference between the width and height of the screen (W-rH), the area of the blank area of the screen (B),
Height variation of each line on the screen (D), height of the center of gravity of the screen (G), satisfaction level of the screen (S), total number of lines of the screen composed of a plurality of lines, entry to the line layout table of the screen Hold row No. Further, according to FIG. 6B, the height of each row, the total number of screens arranged in that row, and the i-th (i = 1)
~ N) Holds the screen No., position, and size of the screen to be arranged. The above (a) and (b) will be referred to as a two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 2100.

FIG. 14 shows the satisfaction calculation rule table 2
3 is a configuration example of 300. Each table row holds one rule. There are four rules used to calculate satisfaction,
Occupies four rows of table. In each rule, the difference between the width and height of the screen (W-rH), the area of the blank area of the screen (B), the variation of the height of each line on the screen (D), the height of the center of gravity of the screen (G) , It is necessary to know the grade value for the five conditions of screen satisfaction (S). This grade value is
As shown in FIG. 8, there are a plurality (NB, ZR, PB, etc.). Which of the plurality of grade values should be referred to is held by the condition and the rule.

The above is a description of the configuration examples of the table and the storage area. Next, the operation will be described.

FIG. 15 is a processing flow in the overall control unit 1700. After determining the layout and confirming the size (width and height) of each of the plurality of intermediate screens that form the upper screen in steps 1705 to 1725,
In steps 1730 to 1745, the layout of the upper screen is determined using the size of each middle screen.

In step 1705, the membership function input unit 1200 for the middle screen is activated to transfer the membership function for the middle screen from the membership function storage area 1000 for the middle screen to the membership function storage area 300. To do.

In step 1710, the lower screen operation order input unit 800 is activated to activate the lower screen operation order table 6
The contents of 00 are transferred to the screen operation order table 200.

In step 1705, the control unit 2500 in the screen layout determination unit 100 is activated to determine the layout of the corresponding middle screen.

FIG. 16 is a processing flow in the control unit 2500.

In step 2505, the one-dimensional layout alternative enumeration unit 1800 is activated to select all the alternatives of the layout order (one-dimensional layout) that satisfy the constraint condition of the operation order of the lower screens constituting the corresponding middle screen. To enumerate.

An example of the processing is shown in FIG. The example shown is
3 is a view showing the middle screen D1 in FIG. As shown in the left column of FIG. 17, the middle screen D1 is composed of lower screens D11, D12, and D13, and there is no constraint condition of the operation order between them. The three sub-screens that can be arranged in the first step are D11, D12 or D13. These are shown in the center column of FIG. The lower screen that can be arranged in the second step is one of the lower screens that were not arranged in the first step. These are shown in the right column of FIG.

The six alternatives listed in this way are stored in the one-dimensional arrangement alternative table 1900.

Returning to FIG. 16, in step 2510, the two-dimensional layout alternative enumeration unit 2000 is activated to list, for each of the one-dimensional layout alternatives, the alternatives related to the planar layout.

An example of an alternative plan arrangement is shown in FIG. In the illustrated example, the arrangement order shown in the uppermost row in the right column in FIG. 17 is taken up. FIG. 18 (a) is a one-line layout without folding, FIG. 18 (b) and FIG. 18 (c) are two-row layout with one folding, and FIG. 18 (d) is a three-row layout with two folding. It is a plan.

The alternatives listed in this way are stored in the two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 2100.

Returning to FIG. 16, in step 2515, the satisfaction degree calculation unit 2200 is activated to calculate the satisfaction degree for each of the two-dimensional arrangement alternatives using the fuzzy rule.

The following four rules are used for calculation.

[0064]

## EQU1 ## if (W−rH) = ZR and B = PS and D = PS and G = PS then S = PB …………………… (1) if (W−rH) = ZR and B = PS and D = ANY and G = ANY then S = PM (2) if (W-rH) = NB and B = PB and D = PB and G = PB then S = PS ... ……………… (3) if (W−rH) ＝ PB and B ＝ PB and D ＝ PB and G ＝ PB then S ＝ PS ……………… (4) Where W: screen Width, H: screen height, r: screen aspect ratio
(Constant), B: the area of the margin of the screen, D: height variation of each line of the screen, G: center of gravity of the screen height, S: satisfaction of the screen, NB: the large negative (N egative B ig ), ZR: Zero ( Z e R o), P
S: positive and small (P ositive S mall), PM : Medium positive (P ositive
M edium), PB: positive atmospheric (P ositive B ig), ANY : an arbitrary (ANY).

FIG. 19 shows W, H, B, D, and G using the alternative shown in FIG. 18D as an example. W and H are the width and height of the screen obtained as a circumscribed rectangle as shown in FIG. B is the area of the blank portion shown by the double frame in FIG. D is the height variation of each line on the screen as shown in FIG. now,
Let the heights of the _1st , _2nd , and 3rd rows be h ₁ , h ₂ , and h ₃ , respectively.

[0066]

## EQU2 ## It is given by D = MAX (h ₁ , h ₂ , h ₃ ) -MIN (h ₁ , h ₂ , h ₃ ). G is the height of the center of gravity of the screen as shown in FIG. W, H, W-rH, B, D and G are set at predetermined positions in the two-dimensional placement alternative table 2100.

The meanings of the above rules (1) to (4) are as follows.

Rule (1): If the width and height of the screen are balanced, the area of the blank area is small, the height variation of each row is small, and the center of gravity is low, the satisfaction is high.

Rule (2): If the width and height of the screen are balanced and the area of the margin is small, the degree of satisfaction is medium regardless of the height variation of each line and the position of the center of gravity. .

Rule (3): The width and height of the screen are not balanced (the width is unusually small compared to the height), the area of the blank area is large, the height variation of each line is large, and the center of gravity is large. If is high, satisfaction is low.

Rule (4): The width and height of the screen are not balanced (the height is unusually small compared to the width), the area of the blank area is large, the height variation of each line is large, and the center of gravity is large. If is high, satisfaction is low.

FIG. 20 shows how inference is performed according to the above rules. The degree of conformity to the four conditions in the antecedent of rule (1) is g ₁₁ , g ₁₂ , g ₁₃ , and g ₁₄ , respectively. The four conditions are "an
Since they are connected by "d", we take the smaller one of these (let's call it g ₁ ), and the degree of satisfaction with rule (1) is
A PB with a grade value g ₁ is obtained (the thick line in the uppermost row in the right column of the figure). The rules (2) to (4) are also processed in the same manner, and it is concluded that the PM has the grade value g ₂ , the PS has the grade value g ₃ , and the PS has the grade value g ₄ . Finally, the above four inference results are integrated by fuzzy logical sum (max) operation. The results are shown at the bottom of the right column in the figure. This is defuzzified by the center of gravity method to obtain the numerical value S ₁ . This numerical value S ₁ is taken as the user's satisfaction with the alternative. S ₁ is set at a predetermined position in the two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 2100.

Returning to FIG. 16, in step 2520, the alternative selection unit 2400 is activated, one alternative having the highest satisfaction is selected, and the data regarding the alternative is transferred to the screen layout table 400.

Returning to FIG. 15, in step 1720, the middle screen layout output section 1600 is activated to transfer the contents of the screen layout table 400 to the middle screen layout table 1400.

This is the end of the process for the first middle screen. In step 1725, it is determined whether or not the processing of all middle screens has been completed. As a result, if all the middle screens have not been processed yet, the process returns to step 1710 to process the next middle screen. If all the middle screens have been processed, the process proceeds to step 1730 to carry out the process for the upper screen.

In step 1730, the upper screen membership function input unit 1100 is activated to transfer the upper screen membership function from the upper screen membership function storage area 900 to the membership function storage area 300.

In step 1735, the middle screen operation sequence input section 700 is activated to activate the middle screen operation sequence table 5.
The contents of 00 are transferred to the screen operation order table 200. At this time, in the screen size column of the screen operation sequence table 200, the middle screen layout table 1 which has been set in advance is set.
Set the contents of the screen size column of 400.

At step 1740, the control unit 2500 in the screen layout determining unit 100 is activated to determine the layout of the upper screen.

The processing flow of the control unit 2500 is shown in FIG.
6 shows. I will recite it here. In step 2505, the one-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration unit 1800 is activated to enumerate all alternatives in the arrangement order (one-dimensional arrangement) that satisfies the constraint condition of the operation order of the middle-level screen that constitutes the upper screen.

FIG. 21 shows an example of the processing. The example shown is
The upper screen D of FIG. 2 is taken up. As shown in the left column of FIG. 21, the upper screen D is the middle screen D1, D
2, D3 and D4, and there is a constraint condition of the operation order as shown in the figure. The middle screens that can be arranged in the first step are D1 and D3, which have no inflow of Yao. These are shown in the second column of FIG. The middle screen that can be arranged in the second step is the middle screen without the inflow of Yao among the remaining middle screens after removing the middle screen arranged in the first step. These are shown in the third column of FIG. The same applies hereinafter.

The three alternatives listed in this way are stored in the one-dimensional arrangement alternative table 1900.

Returning to FIG. 16, in step 2510, the two-dimensional layout alternative enumeration unit 2000 is activated to list, for each of the one-dimensional layout alternatives, the alternatives related to the planar layout.

An example of the alternative is shown in FIG. The example shown is
The arrangement order shown in the uppermost row in the right column in FIG. 21 is taken up. FIG. 22 (a) is a one-line layout plan without folding back, FIG. 22 (b), (c), (d) is a two-line layout plan in which folding back is performed once, FIG. 22 (e), (f), (). (g) is a three-row arrangement plan in which folding is performed twice, and (h) of the same figure is a four-row arrangement plan in which folding is performed three times.

The alternatives listed in this way are stored in the two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 2100.

Returning to FIG. 16, in step 2515, the satisfaction degree calculation unit 2200 is activated to calculate the satisfaction degree for each of the two-dimensional placement alternatives using the fuzzy rule.

The rule used for the calculation is the same as the above, and the explanation is omitted here.

FIG. 23 shows W, H, B, D, and G used for calculation, using the alternative shown in FIG. 22 (c) as an example. These numerical values are the two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 21.
00 is set at a predetermined position.

FIG. 24 shows the state of inference. The membership function obtained as a result of the inference is shown at the bottom of the right column in the figure. This is defuzzified by the center of gravity method to obtain the numerical value S ₂ . This numerical value S ₂ is taken as the user's satisfaction with the alternative. S ₂ is set at a predetermined position in the two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 2100.

Returning to FIG. 16, in step 2520, the alternative selection unit 2400 is activated, one alternative having the highest satisfaction is selected, and the data regarding the alternative is transferred to the screen layout table 400.

Returning to FIG. 15, in step 1745, the upper screen layout output unit 1500 is activated to transfer the contents of the screen layout table 400 to the upper screen layout table 1300.

The above is the description of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0092]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automate the work of arranging the interactive parts, which conventionally relies on human hands. Therefore, it is a powerful support tool when developing a large-scale application program including many dialog boxes.

In addition, the satisfaction calculation rule is set,
Satisfaction for each placement plan is always calculated according to this rule, and the placement plan with the maximum satisfaction is selected from the possible placement plans, so that placement results that are comfortable to the user can be obtained consistently, and the user There is no confusion.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and a workstation to which an interactive component placement method of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a hierarchical network that expresses an operation sequence of interactive components by a user.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of various functions constituting the interactive component placement method of the present invention.

4 is a block diagram showing a more detailed configuration of the screen layout determination unit 100 in FIG.

5 is a middle screen operation order table 500 shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the structural example.

6 is a lower screen operation order table 600 in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the structural example.

7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a screen operation order table 200 in FIG.

8 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a membership function storage area for upper screen 900, a membership function storage area for middle screen 1000, and a membership function storage area 300 in FIG.

9 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a screen layout table 400 in FIG.

10 is an upper screen layout table 1 in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the structural example of 300.

11 is a middle screen layout table 1 in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of 400.

FIG. 12 is a one-dimensional arrangement alternative table 19 shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the structural example of 00.

FIG. 13 is a two-dimensional arrangement alternative table 21 in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the structural example of 00.

FIG. 14 is a satisfaction calculation rule table 2 in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the structural example of 300.

15 is a process flow chart of the overall control unit 1700 in FIG.

16 is a process flow chart in the control unit 2500 in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a one-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration unit 180 in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the process example of the alternative enumeration of one-dimensional arrangement | positioning of a lower screen at 0.

FIG. 18 is a two-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration unit 200 in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the example of the alternative of the middle screen enumerated by 0.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of various characteristic values used in the satisfaction degree calculation unit 2200 in FIG. 4 for calculating the satisfaction degree of the middle screen.

20 is a diagram showing how the satisfaction level calculation unit 2200 shown in FIG. 4 calculates the satisfaction level of the middle screen by fuzzy inference.

FIG. 21 is a one-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration unit 180 in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the process example of the alternative enumeration of one-dimensional arrangement | positioning of a middle screen at 0.

22 is a two-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration unit 200 in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the example of the alternative of a high-order screen enumerated by 0.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of various characteristic values used for satisfaction calculation of the upper screen in the satisfaction calculation unit 2200 in FIG.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing how the satisfaction degree calculation unit 2200 in FIG. 4 calculates the satisfaction degree of the upper screen by fuzzy inference.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... CPU, 20 ... Memory, 30 ... Hard disk,
40 ... Flexible disk, 50 ... Printer, 60 ...
Keyboard, 70 ... Mouse, 80 ... Display, 90
... bus, 100 ... screen layout determination unit, 200 ... screen operation order table, 300 ... membership function storage area, 400 ... screen layout table, 500 ... middle screen operation order table, 600 ... lower screen operation order table, 700 ... Middle screen operation order input unit, 800 ... Lower screen operation order input unit, 900 ... Upper screen membership function storage area, 1000 ... Middle screen membership function storage area, 1100 ... Upper screen membership function input unit 1200 ... Membership function input section for middle screen,
1300 ... High-level screen layout table, 1400 ... Medium-level screen layout table, 1500 ... High-level screen layout output section, 1600 ... Medium-level screen layout output section, 1
700 ... Overall control unit, 1800 ... One-dimensional placement alternative enumeration unit, 1900 ... One-dimensional placement alternative table, 2000 ...
Two-dimensional arrangement alternative enumeration unit, 2100 ... Two-dimensional arrangement alternative plan table, 2200 ... Satisfaction calculation section, 2300 ... Satisfaction calculation rule table, 2400 ... Alternative selection section, 25
00 ... Control unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of arranging various interactive parts to be placed inside a dialog window with a user, such as a dialog box and a child window, in an application program running on a window system. Obtaining the desired part placement by enumerating all alternatives that satisfy the constraint condition of the operation order of parts, calculating the satisfaction for each, and selecting the alternative with the maximum satisfaction. Interactive part placement method characterized by. 2. The satisfaction degree calculation rule is a fuzzy rule, and the satisfaction degree for each alternative of component placement is
The interactive component placement method according to claim 1, wherein this is obtained by fuzzy inference.