JPH10254984A - Slip preparing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily design a data print picture for designated slip without requiring any special knowledge for program preparation. SOLUTION: A data selection column 50 is provided for displaying the designated slip in arbitrary format, for which required items such as ruled lines are printed in advance, on a screen 44 of display 12 as an image picture 46 and displaying an item name 54 corresponding to the field name of separately prepared data base file. After print positions are successively designated by a designation frame 52 to be formed when any item name 54 is selected, the format data for printing linked with the data base file are automatically generated from that designated position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a form creation method for printing data on various forms including a slip used for accounting processing, and more particularly to a designated form prepared by a customer side, in which ruled lines and the like are printed in advance. And a method of printing data by adding data to the data later.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of form is printed by handwriting or Japanese type when the number of printed sheets is small.
When it is necessary to print on a large number of forms in the same format, it is a common practice that a programmer assembling the printing program as a part of the accounting processing system copes with it.

[0003]

However, as computer equipment has become cheaper, personal computers have been introduced for accounting even in small business establishments.
There has been a great demand for printers to print a designated form that has been handwritten in the past. However, the formats of the provided forms are various, and even if the formats are the same, it is difficult to perform unified data processing, for example, the number of lines of data to be entered differs for each form.

The present invention has been made in response to the above-mentioned demands, and displays a designated form in an arbitrary format in which necessary items such as ruled lines are printed in advance as an image image, and prints data items on the image image. By simply designating the print position and automatically creating the form printing program, the printing screen for the designated form can be easily created without requiring special knowledge for program creation. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of creating a form that can be designed.

[0005]

FIG. 1 schematically shows the flow of a form creation method according to the present invention. For example, an image of a form to be used is displayed on a screen 44 of the display 12 illustrated in FIG. A step of displaying the image 46, a step of specifying a data printing position on the displayed image image 46, and a step of specifying the data printing position on the actual form from the coordinate position of the image image 46 and the specified printing position on the screen. Calculating the print position of the data in step (a), automatically generating format data for printing from the calculated print position, and printing the print data on a form in accordance with the generated format data. .

The above-mentioned image image 46 is created by, for example, taking in a form to be used using the image scanner 16 shown in FIG. 2, and data to be printed on the form is stored in advance. Selected from the data group. The data group forming the print data is configured in a database format in which a plurality of sets of field names and records whose data contents are specified by the field names are set in advance as shown in FIG. The print location of the data specified on the specified image 46 is specified by the field name.

The item names 54 corresponding to the above field names are displayed in a menu format during the above-described process of specifying the print location, and when a specific item name 54 is selected from the menu, the arrangement position on the screen 44 and the The frame 52 whose size can be arbitrarily changed is the selected item name 5 as shown in FIG.
4 is preferably formed integrally.

Further, the print data specified on the above-mentioned form includes a first group of data in which data of one record is limitedly printed on one form, and a print data specified on one form. On the other hand, a second group of data in which data for a plurality of records may be printed is provided, and after specifying the above-described print locations, the print locations are further classified and designated for each group of data. In the above-described automatic generation process of the format data, the operation of calculating the print position and the print content is performed in accordance with the data format of each group. On the other hand, in the data of the second group described above, when a print position is specified for only one line, a plurality of lines are printed according to the number of records of the data to be printed.

The above-described print data may be indirectly input into the database file 24 via a separately prepared data input screen, or may be the print position specified in the above-described print position specifying step. May be directly input into the database file 24 via an input screen of data having an input range of. Furthermore,
General-purpose data provided by other systems
It is also possible to convert the data into the data format of the database file 24 and input it.

[0010]

As described above, according to the present invention, a designated form in an arbitrary format in which necessary items such as ruled lines are printed in advance is displayed as an image image 46, and a print item and a print position of data are designated on the image image 46. By simply constructing the form, the form data for form printing is automatically generated, so that it is easy to design the print screen for the specified form without requiring special knowledge for program creation. Can be done.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on an example in which the present invention is applied to an accounting slip issuing system such as an invoice or a delivery note. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A document in which fixed items are printed in advance is provided by the other party, and is applied to creation of various forms in which use of the document is compulsory.

A slip issuing system according to the present invention comprises:
As schematically shown in FIG. 2, the function is realized by application software in a general-purpose personal computer, and is realized as one function in a conventional accounting system generally used, or It can be implemented as a standalone function.

As a personal computer to be used, a display 12, a printer 14 and an image scanner 16 are provided as peripheral devices with respect to an apparatus main body 10 having a built-in CPU, and a screen 44 of the display 12 is operated by an instruction device 18 such as a mouse. The above-mentioned position designation and selection operation can be performed by inputting text data using the keyboard 20, and a general-purpose one in which the input data is stored in an external storage device 22 such as a hard disk is used. It goes without saying that the present invention can be carried out in substantially the same manner even with a dedicated device specialized in its functions for processing or other uses.

Here, the slip issuing system includes one or a plurality of database files 24 each having one or a plurality of fields 26 for storing data, as shown in FIG.
By reading and writing the individual data specified by the field 26 and the record 28 while associating the respective database files 24 with each other, arbitrary data processing stored in the database file 24 is performed.

Fields 26 set in the slip processing database file 24 include customer information 30 such as customer name and address, product information 32 such as the name of a product to be traded and its unit price, or invoices and delivery. A transaction information 34 such as a billing date and a transaction product, which is recorded each time one slip like a book is issued, is set as an individual database file 24 or a data table.

Further, as described above, in addition to the system side preparing in advance the field 26 of specific contents to be individually processed as a slip issuing system, the user can appropriately set the data contents without setting the contents in advance. By providing general-purpose fields that can be set and used, all item names that require data processing during slip processing are covered.

Further, for the data specified by each of the above-mentioned field names, the system prepares a general-purpose input screen for the data, and the contents fixed to some extent such as customer information 30 and product information 32 are provided. Is configured so that necessary data can be added, deleted or updated via the input screen before the start of the system and in the case where information increases daily such as the transaction information 34 every time a transaction occurs. Thus, the latest data is held in the database file 24.

The data in the database file 24 is displayed on the display screen 44 of the display 12 according to a format prepared in advance by the system or according to a format newly designed by the user, or by the Printed as various slips such as invoices and delivery notes. If necessary, the relationship between the data on each database file 24, such as the transaction amount for each business partner or each month, is statistically processed, and the results can be displayed in a graph or table format.

According to the present invention, in the above-described slip printing process, the format of the slip is specified by the customer,
In a case where the format itself is printed in advance and data needs to be added and printed later, the designated slip issuing function that enables data printing in accordance with the format has a feature.

FIG. 4 shows the hardware and apparatus main unit 1 shown in FIG. 2 for realizing the above-mentioned designated slip issuing function.
FIG. 2 schematically shows each means constituted by software driven by the control unit 0, and includes a format setting unit 36 and a slip printing unit 38, and operates both in a linked manner.

As shown schematically in FIG. 6, the format setting section 36 converts the slip provided from the customer side into an internal form using the image data input means 40 including the image scanner 16 in step 1, as schematically shown in FIG. , Step 2
Then, as shown in FIG.
Is displayed as an image image 46 at an appropriate magnification such as the actual size on a screen 44 of the printer, and in each step from step 3, the type of data to be printed and It is characterized in that the printing location is manually specified.

The print data designating means 48 designates a print position by using the designating device 18 so as to be superimposed on the slip displayed as the image image 46 on the screen 44 of the display 12. A data selection column 50 for displaying an item name 54 in a selection menu format, for example, to specify the content of data to be displayed;
When one item name 54 is selected from the selection field 50, a designation frame 52 for designating a print position of data to be formed is provided.

Item name 54 displayed in data selection column 50
Is to identify the data in the database file that may be printed on the slip. Use the field name of the database file prepared by the system as it is, or specify the field name by the customer It is determined by giving a different name.

Further, in addition to the system side preliminarily selecting and preparing the item name 54 specified by the specific field name that may be printed on the slip, the user side arbitrarily selects from among all the fields. By enabling selection, only the item names 54 required by the user are displayed in the data selection column 50 only.

When a specific item name 54 is selected from the data selection column 50 using a mouse, the pointing pointer of the mouse is moved to a rectangular designation frame 52 having a grip mark 56 around the periphery as shown in FIG. It changes, and it becomes possible to move freely on the slip displayed on the screen 44.

For example, if “supplier name” is selected as the item name 54, in the invoice illustrated in FIG. 5, the location of the supplier name is specified on the upper left side of the slip indicated by the one-dot chain line. 4. In the position, the designated frame 52
Positioning after shifting. The size and position of the designation frame 52 can be fine-tuned until it is determined, and the determined state can be returned to an undetermined state. Further, the selected item name 54 is displayed in the frame 52. By filling in the form, it is possible to easily confirm which item is currently set on the slip.

In step 5, for each designated frame 52, a format required for printing, such as a character size to be printed, a character interval, a printing position such as right-justified or left-justified within the frame, and the like. Can be set individually,
It is possible to make fine adjustments so that characters such as numbers to be printed later are not printed in a fixed printing portion such as a ruled line 58 that separates each digit previously printed on the slip.

By the way, each data on the database file 24 specified by the item name 54 is individually specified in advance with a data type such as a character type, a numerical type, a date type or a logical type. Also, the date type data stores the year and month and day as one unit, but the date printed on the voucher is required to be printed with the year with the era and the month and day separated. Often done.

Therefore, in the date data such as "Billing date", it is possible to specify which item in the date is to be printed for each specification frame 52. In the case of numerical data, items specific to numerical display, such as the presence or absence of a separator, are displayed in correspondence with the logical value of logical type data.
And the type of print mark such as "x" can be displayed as a designated item.

When two or three pieces of date data whose horizontal width of the designated frame 52 is equal to or less than the set value are continuously set, the date and time may be automatically separated and displayed.
Also, using the database file 24 as described above,
In addition to printing corresponding to the contents of the stored data, it is also possible to print various marks including the same character string, numerical value, or symbol on all the slips.

By the way, the data printed on the slip is
A first group of data that selectively prints only one record in the database file 24 like a supplier name and a print request for an unspecified number of records such as data described in a transaction statement are received. The data is classified into a second group of data that may occur and a third group of data that displays the result of performing an arithmetic process such as summing the data of the first and second groups. The printing procedure is different.

In this embodiment, each item name 54 is described above in step 6 of FIG. 6 every time one designated frame 52 is decided or after all designated frames 52 are decided. Classify into three categories.

On the other hand, automatic format data generating means 6 for printing
0, in the data of the first group described above, in step 7, for example, the position coordinates of the designated frame 52 having the origin at the upper left corner of the slip displayed on the screen 44 are detected, and from the position coordinates, In step 9, the print position on the slip is calculated, and the data in the database file 24 specified by the item name 54 is taken out at that position to create format data for printing.

Next, in the data of the second group, when the print position is specified in step 4 of FIG. 6 using the print data indicating means 48, all the line positions which may be printed are designated. Instead of specifying in the frame 52, the top 1
In addition to specifying the position only for the line, the maximum number of printable lines and the line pitch are specified by numerical values.

By specifying such a printing position, the format data automatic generation means 60 does not exceed the specified maximum number of lines at the specified line pitch with respect to the printing position of the uppermost line. In step 8, format data in which data for the required number of records in the range is repeatedly printed is created.

The maximum printable line is specified directly by a numerical value as described above. In addition, the designated frame 52 for specifying the lower limit of the print position, such as the total amount, is detected and printed up to the line. Format data can be created. The print line pitch can be determined by detecting the vertical width of the designated frame 52 by matching the vertical width of the designated frame 52 with the maximum value of one line on the slip.
Further, instead of setting only one line in the designated frame 52, it is also possible to set all the lines that can be printed in the designated frame 52 in advance.

On the other hand, in the data of the third group, in addition to specifying the print position by the specification frame 52, it is possible to specify an item name 54 to be calculated with each other and an arithmetic expression as required. Therefore, the format data automatic generation means 60 creates format data including the calculation formula of the data specified by the designated item name 54 and the print coordinates of the data calculated by the calculation.

As described above, the format data classified and prepared for each data group is integrated in step 9 and further stored in step 10 before being processed by the data processing means 66 in the next slip printing unit 38. Used for printing used. Note that the automatically generated format data can be newly created according to the above procedure, or the item name 5
4. Prepare a basic program in which print coordinates or the number of repetitions are created using memory variables, and prepare necessary format data by macro-substituting the variables with actually specified values after screen design. It is also possible.

The slip printing section 38 is further provided with a format setting section 36 by print data input means 62 such as the keyboard 20.
A function for manually inputting arbitrary data at a printing position composed of: a function for confirming the content of printing on the display means 42 before printing by the printing means 68; And a function for actually printing.

The data input function uses the format data created as described above, but the database file 2
4 is used only when the print data stored in the storage device 4 is not used, or when data to be stored in the database file 24 is not prepared yet.

When this function is selected, the range of the designated frame 52 is specified as a data input position in the first group of data with the designated slip image image 46 as the background, and in the second group of data. A data entry screen is displayed in which data entry frames are expanded in the range of the maximum number of rows.

When the necessary data for this data input frame is directly entered on the screen 44 via the keyboard 20 and confirmed, the user is asked how to save the input data. When the user designates that the data is to be input, the data is stored in a predetermined association with the field 26 specified by the item name 54 in substantially the same manner as in the case of the data input on the input screen prepared by the system. On the other hand, if the user does not select to save the data, the data is temporarily stored and then enters the printing process, where the printing means 68 based on the input data is used.
Is performed.

The pre-confirmation function of the print contents is to extract the data to be printed from the database file 24 on the image image 46 of the designated slip and display the image data in accordance with the format data. Formatted state such as size and display width is displayed as an image overlaid on the specified voucher displayed as the background,
On the screen 44 of the display 12, the printing state can be checked in advance before printing.

The printing function is performed by the printer 1 of the printing unit 68.
4, it is possible to actually print data on a designated form. That is, necessary print data is extracted from the database file 24 using the supplier name and the slip number as a search key, and displayed as an image on the screen 44 using the print content advance confirmation function as described above. By outputting only the print data portion of the image data as image data to the printer 14, a print operation superimposed on the designated slip is performed. Further, when the printing position is shifted due to the difference between the printers 14, the printing contents are integrated display data, and the printing position on the slip can be finely adjusted in the line and column directions.

The output of the print data to the printer 14 is performed by using format data instead of outputting only the data to be printed as image data after the image data is once developed on the screen 44 as described above. The character data including the control code of the printer 14 can be output to the printer 14 as it is.

In the above-described embodiment, the image data of the designated form is displayed on the screen 44 by using the image scanner 16. However, the present invention is not limited to this. You can also.
It is also possible to reuse a form design screen created using the above-described functions beforehand, change a part of the design screen, and save it as a separate file.

Further, in addition to inputting print data from the keyboard 20 using the input screen, data used by separately prepared spreadsheet software or database software of another data format is separated by, for example, commas between data. C separated
It is also possible to take out the data in a general-purpose data format such as the SV format and convert the data into the data format of the database file 24 or another data format usable for printing a slip.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where only one form is created at one time has been exemplified. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of forms can be continuously created. The plurality of forms can be individual contents. For example, only the total amount is written on the first form, and the details are described on the second and subsequent forms. In this case, the related forms can be created as one.

Further, the plurality of types of forms are given names for specifying the individual contents, and the contents can be displayed in a tree format on the form storage and selection screen, so that the relation between related forms can be displayed. Can be clearly recognized, and retrieval can be easily performed simply by selecting the form name.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart schematically showing a basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a personal computer device used.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a database file.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration for realizing a designated slip creation function.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a designation state of a print item on a screen of a display.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a schematic flow of a format setting step.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 apparatus main body 12 display 14 printer 16 image scanner 18 pointing device 20 keyboard 22 external storage device 24 database file 26 field 28 record 30 customer information 32 product information 34 transaction information 36 format setting section 38 slip printing section 40 image data input means 42 display Means 44 Display screen 46 Image image 48 Print data designating means 50 Data selection field 52 Designation frame 54 Item name 56 Grip mark 58 Ruled line 60 Print format data automatic generation means 62 Print data input means 66 Data processing means 68 Printing means

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A step of displaying an image image (46) of a form to be used on a screen (44) of a display (12), and specifying a print position of data on the displayed image image (46). Calculating the actual print position of the data on the form from the coordinate position of the image image (46) and the specified print position on the screen (44); and printing from the calculated print position. Automatically generating format data for printing, and printing the print data on a form according to the generated format data. At least a part of the data to be printed on the form in the above-mentioned printing process is at least partially It is configured in a database format composed of a set of a plurality of sets of field names and records whose data contents are specified by the field names, A form creation method, characterized in that a print position of data specified on the image image (46) is specified by the field name. 2. An item name (5) corresponding to the field name
4) is displayed in the form of a menu during the above-described process of specifying the print location, and when a specific item name (54) is selected from the menu, the arrangement position and size on the screen (44) can be arbitrarily changed. The form creation method according to claim 1, wherein the frame (52) is formed integrally with the selected item name (54). 3. The print data specified on the form includes a first group of data in which one record of data is limitedly printed on one form, and a print data specified on one form. On the other hand, a second group of data in which data for a plurality of records is likely to be printed is provided, and after specifying the above-described print locations, the print locations are further classified and designated for each group of data. In the automatic generation process of the printing format data described above,
3. The form creation method according to claim 2, wherein the operation of calculating the print position and the print content is performed in accordance with the data format of each group. 4. The form creation method according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of lines of the data of the second group are printed according to the number of records of the data to be printed when a print position is specified for only one line. . 5. The form creation method according to claim 1, wherein the print data is indirectly input into a database file via a separately prepared data input screen. 6. The print data described above is input to a database file (2) via an input screen for data having an input range specified by the print position specified in the print location specifying step.
The form creation method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the form is directly input into (4). 7. The print data according to claim 1, wherein the print data is input after converting data in a general format provided from another system into a data format of a database file (24). Form creation method described.