JP2000276338A - Method and system for visual programming, and recording medium for visual programming - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the retrieval efficiency of program components needed for program generation by displaying use example information on program components for connection to be used and merging program components for connection selected out of the displayed program components for display with prescribed program components. SOLUTION: A history retrieval part 14 retrieves a program, wherein all program components registered in a retrieval result table and program components specified as connection components are merged and used, from a program storage database 17 by a program information matching means 29. Then a component program extracting means 28 extracts only the retrieved program components and components regarding program components that a user specifies. The user selects a component use example to be used from the presented program components. A component merging means 30 refers to the component use history information that the user specifies through a retrieval result management part 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a visual programming method for creating a program by combining a plurality of program parts while displaying the program parts using a computer having input means, storage means and display means. And a recording medium for visual programming.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in contrast to the conventional character-based program creation, a visual programming method of assembling program parts and creating a program by graphical operation without performing character input from a keyboard has been realized. Is being built.

[0003] The visual programming system provides a means for enabling a user to use a program component without knowing how to use the component in detail. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-212354 discloses a method of supporting programming of a user by applying a use example registered in advance to a program of the user being created.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-330215 discloses a programming / editing method in which a component is divided into two types, a software component and a software component arranging component, and whether or not the component can be visually arranged is visually indicated by its display shape. I have.

By the way, in recent years, it has become possible to use not only components in the same computer but also program components existing in computers connected via a network by using a distributed object technology or the like. In such an environment, the number of usable parts is enormous, and a great deal of labor is required to find the parts required by the user.

Therefore, in a conventional visual programming environment, the following method is provided as a method of searching for program components. (1) a method of visually retrieving a product classified by use field, function, or the like in a list display or a hierarchical structure display, (2) a method of retrieving by name,
(3) A method for searching based on function summary information in natural language.

[0007]

However, in the programming method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-212354, since the entire existing program is applied to the program being created by the user, the unused portion is added to the program. However, there is a problem that it takes time to delete an unnecessary part.

[0008] Also, in the conventional visual programming method,
(1) The method of performing a visual search depends on the ability of the user, and thus has a problem that the efficiency is low and it is difficult to find a target part. (2) The method of searching by name has a problem that the search cannot be performed unless the name of the target component is known in advance.
(3) The method of searching based on the function summary information in natural language has a problem that many keywords that match various keywords and are not intended for program creation are searched, and the search efficiency is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem. The present invention improves the efficiency of searching for program components required for program creation, and refers to an example of using the searched program components. It is an object of the present invention to provide a visual programming method and system capable of improving program efficiency and a recording medium for visual programming.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a visual programming method according to the present invention combines a plurality of program parts using a computer having input means, storage means and display means, In the visual programming method for creating a program, a connection program component that can be connected to a designated program component designated by the input means based on an input / output type is searched from program component information stored in the storage means; Searching the program information stored in the storage means for a program in which the specified program part and the searched connection program part are combined; displaying the searched connection program part on the display means; using the searched program part Displaying the usage example information of the connection program parts to be displayed on the display means; Among the displayed connection program parts in the program component selected connection by said input means to be combined with the specified program component; characterized.

A visual programming system according to the present invention is a visual programming system for creating a program by combining a plurality of program components: component storage means for storing program component information; program storage means for storing program information. And; input information;
Input means for designating and selecting; display means for displaying information; input / output type of the designated program component designated by the input means from the program component information stored in the component information storage means A part search means for searching for a connectable program part based on the program information stored in the program storage means; and the specified program part and the connection program part searched by the part search means are connected. Program search means for searching for a program; component display control means for displaying the connection program parts searched for by the component search means on the display means; use of connection program parts used in the program searched by the program search means Usage example display control means for displaying example information on the display means; Among the displayed connection program parts to indicate means, and a program processing means for coupling the program parts for the selected connection by said input means and said designated program component; characterized in that it has.

A computer-readable recording medium on which the visual programming program according to the present invention is recorded is
A recording medium recording a program for visual programming for creating a program by combining a plurality of program parts using a computer having an input unit, a storage unit, and a display unit: a program stored in the storage unit Searching for a connection program component connectable to the designated program component designated by the input means based on the input / output type from the component information; and selecting the designated program from the program information stored in the storage means. A procedure for searching for a program in which the part and the searched connection program part are combined; a procedure for displaying the searched connection program part on the display means; and a use information of the connection program part used in the searched program. Displaying on the display means; a connection program displayed on the display means; Of grams part, and a procedure for the program component selected connection by the input means coupled to said designated program component; and characterized by causing a computer to execute.

In the visual programming method and system and the recording medium for visual programming according to the present invention, by searching for and displaying connection program components that can be combined with a designated program component, program components that cannot be used for program creation can be obtained. It is excluded from the selection candidates, and the search efficiency can be improved. Also, by displaying and referring to the usage example information of the connection program component, the usage example can be incorporated to improve the program creation efficiency.

[0014] In the visual programming method and system and the recording medium for visual programming according to the present invention, the use example information selected by the input means may be set in the connected connection program components. In this case, the use example of the connection program component can be easily incorporated, and the program efficiency can be further improved.

Further, in the visual programming method and system and the recording medium for visual programming according to the present invention, the connection program parts to be searched for include:
A connection program component that can be combined with the designated program component by type conversion may be included. In this case, when the input / output type of the designated program component is different from the input / output type of the retrieved connection program component, the connection program component may be combined with the designated program component via a type conversion program. .

In this case, not only the connection program components having the same input / output type but also the connection program components that can be combined with the designated program component by type conversion can be searched, and the range of selection of the connection program components can be searched. Can be expanded.

The "use example information" refers to the constant value specified in the input / output port of the searched connection program component, the component connected to the port, the connection program in the program information stored in the storage means. This is information on specific use of input / output files and data used with the parts. In this specification, an “input / output port” refers to an interface of a program component or an input / output interface of a program component graphically displayed on a screen. It is preferable to combine the retrieval based on the component name, the function, and the like for the search of the connection program component for facilitating the retrieval.

When retrieving a connection program component, it is preferable to specify an input / output port of the designated program component by the input means and to search for a connection program component that can be connected to the port in order to facilitate the search.

When displaying the retrieved connection program parts on the display means, it is preferable to display the retrieved connection program parts in the order of the most frequently used in the program information stored in the storage means.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show an outline of a visual programming method according to an embodiment. On a screen where a user creates a program, program components are graphically displayed by icons or the like. The input and output ports of the part are also displayed graphically. Parts and parts
Are connected by a link connecting the ports,
This creates a program. Only ports having the same data type can be directly connected by a link.

Information on a program created by a user using parts is stored in a program storage database. At this time, information such as a method of cooperation between components designated by the program creator and designation of attributes of the program components is also stored in the program storage database.

When a program is created, as shown in FIG. 1, a user selects a program part A on a screen where a program is being created. The part A has input ports A-1, A
-2 and an output port A-3. Next, in order to search for a part that can be connected to the part A and includes “keyword 1” in the function, the user selects the part A on the screen shown in FIG.
Is selected, and "keyword 1" is input in the field of the search condition function. As the component information, information on a name, a function outline, and an input / output data format is managed by a component information database. Therefore, in addition to the function outline information and the search method using the name in the natural language, the search can be performed by the input / output type.

As a result, it is assumed that parts B, C and D have been searched. Next, the parts A and B-A and C-
A created program including A and DA is searched from the program storage database. As a result, it is assumed that the program P is searched. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, from the program P, a portion that matches the search condition (a hatched portion in FIG. 3)
Only the combinations that are most frequently included in the work history of the program P, that is, those that are used most frequently are presented to the user in order.

Even if the user's request does not match the input / output type of the program component, if the user's request can be satisfied by combining with the type conversion program component, the type conversion program A composite program component combined with the component is presented to the user as a search result.

The search results are presented to the user by a method such as list display or sequential display. At this time, if a file or a constant value is found in the input / output data of the corresponding program part by referring to the past use history, the file or constant value used as an input file in the past together with the corresponding program part is retrieved. Presented to the user as a usage example.

Assume that the user has selected component C as the program component to be used. Assuming that the port A-1 of the component A and the port C3 of the component C have the same data type (input / output type), the ports A-1 and C-3 are automatically connected. When the user refers to the use history (example of use) of the component C and specifies the file F1 used in the port C-1,
As shown in FIG. 4, the file F1 selected by the user is automatically connected to the port C-1 and used as a part of the program. Thus, a program can be created by the visual programming method.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The visual programming method is executed by a CPU constituting a general computer, a main storage device, an external storage device, a mouse and a keyboard as input means, and a display as display means. The visual programming method can be executed by a computer using a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a floppy disk recording the program.

As shown in FIG. 5, the CPU includes a dialogue processing unit 11, a parts search unit (parts search unit) 12, a search result management unit 13, a history search unit (program search unit) 14, and a parts connection unit (program processing unit). (Means) 15 as a function. The interaction processing unit 11 includes a search key designation unit 21,
Component presentation means (component display control means) 22 and component selection means 23, component use example presentation means (use example display control means)
24 as a function. The component search unit 12 has a type information conversion unit 25 and a type information matching unit 26 as functions. The search result management unit 13 has a search result management unit 27 as a function. The history search unit 14 has a partial program extracting unit 28 and a program information matching unit 29 as functions. The component coupling unit 15 has a component coupling unit 30 as a function. The external storage device includes a component information storage database (component storage unit) 16,
Program storage database (program storage means) 1
7.

As shown in FIG. 6, the user creates a program by combining program components registered in the system in advance. Each program part A,
C and D have ports which are interfaces for input and output. Referring to the program parts C and D,
Ports C-1 and C-2 on the left side of the program part C and ports D-1 and D-2 on the left side of the program part D are input ports, and are input from constant values, other program parts A and C, the file F1, and the like. Accept the input of. Ports C-3 and C-4 on the right side of the program component C and port D-3 on the right side of the program component D are output ports and output to other program components A and D and the file F2. Each port has data type (input / output type) information and performs input / output only for the type of each port. The user connects ports having the same type to instruct the flow of data. Links L1, L between the coupled ports
2, L3.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, a user who creates a program using the present system first operates the input means and sets the search key designating means 21 of the interactive processing unit 11.
Depending on the data type, function,
A name is designated (S1 in FIG. 7, S9 in FIG. 11). When searching for a program part to be used by connecting to a program part (specified program part) already displayed on the screen, specify the input / output port of the specified program part with the input / output means to input / output data format (Input / output data type) can be specified. The information specified by the user is registered in the search information table 31 shown in FIG.

Next, the component search unit 12 causes the type information collating unit 26 to output the “name”,
A program part matching the "function" and having the same input / output data type is searched from the part information storage database 16 (S2). Even when the input and output types of the program parts to be searched do not match, the type information conversion means 25 performs the type conversion on the program parts that can be matched by the type conversion. Information on the searched program component is managed by the search result management unit 27 of the search result management unit 13. The information of the program component read from the database 16 is stored in the component information 32a of the search result table 32 shown in FIG.
Is stored as the component information table 33 shown in FIG.

Next, the history search unit 14 uses the program information collating means 29 to execute the program storage database 17.
For all the program components (connection program components) registered in the search result table 32, the program used by combining the program components with the program components (designated program components) designated as the “connection components” (S3 in FIG. 7, S10, S1 in FIG. 11)
1). Then, the partial program extracting unit 28 extracts only the part relating to the retrieved program component and the program component designated by the user from the retrieved program (S13). The extracted information is stored in the search result management unit 1
3, the search result table 3 as shown in FIG.
2 is stored and managed as the component use history information table 34 (S14). In the item of “component use history information” (use example information) of the search result table 32, an array of component use history information is stored. The “value” field contains a constant value or the names of connected components and ports.

The search result management unit 13 stores the part use history information table 3 registered in the part use history information for all the program parts registered in the search result table 32.
4 is registered in the item of “number of uses” in the search result table 32. Next, the retrieved program parts are presented to the user by the part presentation means 22 in the order in which the program parts are used most often, and are displayed on the display (S
4). Here, the user operates the input means and specifies the program component by the component selecting means 23 (S
5).

The part use example presenting means 24 uses, for each presented part, a constant value designated for each port when the program part was used in the past and the connected program part / port. This is presented as an example (S6). The user can refer to the component usage example displayed on the display. Next, the user selects a component usage example to be used from the presented program components by the component selection unit 23 (S7). The selected program part is shown on the display screen as part of the program being created by the user. In addition, by selecting a component usage example, the user can set input / output files and data used in the past together with the selected program component in the program being created by the user.

As shown in FIG. 13, when the user selects a program component from the search result, the component combining means 30
The component information is acquired from the search result management unit 13 (S15),
The program component (the component C in FIG. 4) is added to the program being created by the user (S16). Next, referring to the search information table 31, if the information is set to the input port, the input port type of the search information table 31 is set to the input port of the component A as shown in FIG. Port A-1 having the type shown in FIG.
Is connected to the program part / port C-3 designated as the input port (S18). Next, when information is set in the output port of the search information table 31, the port having the type set as the type of the output port of the information search table among the output ports of the part A is set in the search information table. A connection is made with the program part / port designated as the output port 31 (S8 in FIG. 7, S18 in FIG. 13).

When the user selects a part usage example (S1
In (7), the component combining unit 30 refers to the component use history information specified by the user from the search result management unit 13 (S1).
9). Then, for the port name (C-1 in FIG. 4) set in the component use history information table 34, the component C
The port C-1 is connected to the program component / port set in the “value” of the component use history information table 34 and the file F1 (S20, S21, S23).
If a constant value is set in the “value”, the constant value set in the port C-1 of the component C is set (S2).
2).

As described above, according to this visual programming method, even when the name of the program part to be used is not known, it is possible to search for a valid part by searching, and to provide an effective search means. Also,
Because the search includes the input / output data format, only the connection program components that can be combined with the specified program component are searched and displayed. Program components that cannot be used for program creation in that context are not searched, and the search accuracy is improved. , Improve efficiency. Furthermore, since the use example information is displayed and referred to together with the search result of the connection program component, and the input file and the input data can be obtained from the past use history, the program creation efficiency can be improved.

[0038]

According to the visual programming method and system and the recording medium for visual programming according to the present invention, the search efficiency of the program components required for creating a program is improved, and the use example of the searched program components is improved. The program efficiency can be improved by reference.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen display when a program is created by a visual programming method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen display when a program component is searched, following the screen display of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a combination of two program components that match a search condition is extracted from a stored program, following the screen display of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where a program is created by the visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing a visual programming system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen display of a program created by the visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an outline of a visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a search information table displayed on the screen by the visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a search result table displayed on a screen by the visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a component information table displayed on the screen by the visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing steps related to a program search in the visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a component use history information table displayed on a screen by the visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a use process of an example of using a program component in the visual programming method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Dialogue processing part 12 Parts search part (parts search means) 13 Search result management part 14 History search part (program search means) 15 Parts connection part (program processing means) 16 Parts information storage database (parts storage means) 17 Program storage database (Program storage means) 21 Search key designation means 22 Parts presentation means (Parts display control means) 23 Parts selection means 24 Parts usage example presentation means (Usage example display control means) 25 Type information conversion means 26 Type information collation means 27 Search result Management means 28 partial program extraction means 29 program information collation means 30 parts coupling means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A visual programming method for creating a program by combining a plurality of program parts using a computer having an input means, a storage means, and a display means, wherein the program part information is stored in the storage means. ,
A connection program component that can be connected to the designated program component specified by the input means based on the input / output type is searched, and the connection program component searched for the designated program component from the program information stored in the storage means. Searching for the connected program part, displaying the searched connection program part on the display means, displaying the usage example information of the connection program part used in the searched program on the display means, A visual programming method, characterized in that, among the displayed connection program components, a connection program component selected by the input means is combined with the designated program component. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein setting the use example information selected by said input means in the connected connection program parts.
2. The visual programming method according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The connection program component to be searched for, wherein the connection program component that can be combined with the designated program component by type conversion is included.
Visual programming method described. 4. A visual programming system for creating a program by combining a plurality of program parts, a part storage means for storing program part information, a program storage means for storing program information, and information input and designation. Input means for performing selection and selection; display means for displaying information; from program component information stored in the component information storage means, based on an input / output type of a designated program component designated by the input means. Component search means for searching for a connectable program component that can be combined with the program information, and a program in which the designated program component and the connection program component searched by the component search means are combined from the program information stored in the program storage means. By means of a program search means for searching for Component display control means for displaying the searched connection program parts on the display means, and use example display control means for displaying use example information of the connection program parts used in the program searched by the program search means on the display means And a program processing means for connecting the connection program component selected by the input means with the designated program component among the connection program components displayed on the display means. 5. A recording medium recording a program for visual programming for creating a program by combining a plurality of program components using a computer having an input unit, a storage unit, and a display unit, From the program part information stored in the means,
A step of searching for a connection program part connectable to the designated program part specified by the input means based on the input / output type; and a step of searching for the connection between the designated program part and the program information stored in the storage means. A step of searching for a program combined with a program part, a step of displaying the searched connection program part on the display means, and a step of displaying use information of the connection program part used in the searched program on the display means Recording a visual programming program for causing a computer to execute a procedure and a procedure of coupling the connection program component selected by the input unit with the designated program component among the connection program components displayed on the display unit. Computer readable recording medium.