JP2001222354A - Icon display controller and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a work icon according to functions of each sub-system and to facilitate editing such as addition, deletion, modification of the work icon on a menu picture of the sub-system. SOLUTION: A CPU 2 judges whether or not a prescribed master file is accessed by the sub-system of a started system. When the master file is accessed, whether it is referred to by being simply read or updated, whether it is read and updated by the sub-system is discriminated and different numerical values according to the contents of access to the master file are added in a relation table as weights. On the other hand, a name and a frame of the prescribed master file are displayed on a base of the menu picture and the work icon of a menu item with larger weight to each master file is arranged at a position closer to the frame in which the master file name is described or inside the frame.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an icon display control device for automatically arranging work icons indicating subsystems on a display screen at positions corresponding to respective functions, and
It relates to the storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art On a display screen of a personal computer (PC) or the like, a menu item such as a tool bar or an icon representing the start command is displayed in order to call and start one system from a plurality of systems. I have.

For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when a tool bar of a “menu” is selected, a plurality of systems are displayed in a pull-down display. When one of the plurality of systems is selected, a plurality of subsystems are further displayed. Pull down is displayed. And from multiple subsystems
Selecting one subsystem activates the desired subsystem.

[0004] Alternatively, when one system is started, an icon of a subsystem is displayed. For example,
In the menu screen of the type shown in FIG. 11, the user can freely set the arrangement position, name, and number of the icon of the subsystem. Also, as shown in FIG. 12, the positions of the icons linked to the subsystems are set in advance, and some of the subsystems can be determined based on the arrangement positions of the icons incorporated in the diagram on the screen as to how the subsystems are related. is there.

[0005]

However, FIG.
In the tool bar format shown in (1), the registered menu items are automatically arranged.However, the arrangement method is the character code order of the registered names in the menu, and the menu arrangement itself includes the contents of the subsystem and other sub-menus. It does not take into account the interrelationship with the system.

[0006] Further, the arrangement of the icons shown in FIG. 11 has a problem that, although the position is determined by the user, it is merely an enumeration of menu items and is not a meaningful arrangement as a business system. Alternatively, the icon shown in FIG.
Although the arrangement itself is meaningful, it has the disadvantage that menu items cannot be added arbitrarily.

An object of the present invention is to display each work icon relatively on the menu screen of a subsystem in accordance with the function of each subsystem, and to facilitate editing such as addition, deletion and change of a work icon. That is.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
An icon display control device for arranging and displaying a plurality of work icons on a display screen, wherein the icon is separated and displayed at a predetermined position on the display screen with a plurality of related items related to the plurality of work icons as a background. First display means (for example, CPU 2 in FIG. 1; steps S1 to S2 of the menu screen display processing in FIG. 6) and weight value setting means (for example, CPU 2 in FIG. 6) for setting a weight value for each related item for each work icon CPU 2 in FIG. 1; step S in the automatic arrangement processing in FIG.
11 to S25) and, based on the weight value for each related item of each work icon in the previous period set by the weight value setting means, arrange each work icon in association with the display position of each related item as the background. And second display means (for example, CPU 2 in FIG. 1; steps S27 to S28 in the automatic arrangement processing in FIG. 7).

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an icon display control device for arranging and displaying a plurality of work icons on a display screen, wherein the first display means is associated with the plurality of work icons. A plurality of related items are displayed separately at predetermined positions on the display screen as a background, the weight value setting unit sets a weight value for each of the related items for each of the work icons, and the second display unit includes: Based on the weight value for each related item of each work icon set in the previous period set by the weight value setting means, each work icon is arranged and displayed in association with the display position of each related item as the background.

Therefore, since the work icons are displayed in association with the related items displayed as the background, what program or data each work icon is linked to can be identified from the position of the work icon. . In addition, related items as backgrounds and work icons are individually set and arranged at predetermined positions, so operations such as addition, deletion, and change of related items and work icons are simplified, and work efficiency is improved. I do.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present embodiment will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the icon display control device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, an icon display control device 1
Comprises a CPU 2, an input unit 3, a display unit 4, a RAM 5, a storage device 6, a storage medium 7, and a communication control unit 8, and each unit excluding the storage medium 7 is connected by a bus 9.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2
Develops an application program specified from a system program stored in the storage device 6 and various application programs corresponding to the system into a program storage area (not shown) in the RAM 5 and is input from the input unit 3. R or various instructions or data
The processing is temporarily stored in the AM 5, various processes are executed according to the application program stored in the storage device 6 in accordance with the input instruction and the input data, and the processing results are stored in the RAM 5 and displayed on the display unit 4. indicate. Then, the processing result stored in the RAM 5 is stored in a storage destination in the storage device 6 designated by the input unit 3.

The input unit 3 includes a keyboard provided with cursor keys, numeric input keys, various function keys, and the like, and a pointing device such as a mouse. The input unit 3 sends a key press signal of the keyboard and a mouse position signal to the CPU.
Output to 2.

The display unit 4 is a CRT (Cathode Ray Tub).
e), composed of a liquid crystal display screen, etc.
Displays the display data input from.

A RAM (Random Access Memory) 5 is a C
When the PU 2 executes the various application programs, a work memory area for temporarily storing the input instructions, input data, processing results, and the like input from the programs and the input unit 3, various information shown in FIGS. Is temporarily stored.

The storage device 6 has a storage medium 7 in which programs, data, and the like are stored in advance, and the storage medium 7 is constituted by a magnetic or optical storage medium or a semiconductor memory. The storage medium 7 is fixedly provided in the storage device 6 or is detachably mounted. The storage medium 7 includes the system program, various application programs corresponding to the system, and various processing programs. The data, document data, and the like processed in the above are stored.

The program, data, and the like stored in the storage medium 7 are partially or wholly received from another device such as a server or a client from the communication control unit 8 via a transmission medium such as a network line. The storage medium may be configured to be stored, and the storage medium 7 may be a storage medium of a server constructed on a network. Further, the program may be transmitted to a server or a client via a transmission medium such as a network line and installed in these devices.

The communication control unit 8 has a modem (MODEM: MO
dulator / DEModulator) or terminal adapter (T
A: Terminal Adapter) and controls communication with an external device via a communication line such as a telephone line or an ISDN line. The modem modulates the digital data processed by the CPU 2 into an analog signal in the frequency band of the telephone line in order to communicate with an external device such as a personal computer via the telephone line,
Further, the terminal adapter is a device for demodulating an analog signal input via a telephone line into a digital signal. The terminal adapter converts an existing interface into an ISDN in order to communicate with an external device such as a personal computer via an ISDN line. This is a device for converting to an interface corresponding to.

First, when one system is selected by an instruction input from the input unit 3, the CPU 2 arranges icons which are work icons of each subsystem in the system by a menu screen display process described later. The displayed menu screen 20 is displayed.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a menu screen 20 of the subsystem of the sales management system. "Customer" on the left of the base screen 21, "Supplier" on the right, and "Product" frame 2 below
2 to 24 are set. "Customers", "suppliers",
“Product” is a master file name of the sales management system. That is, the business application program (business application) of each subsystem executes various processes using these master files. On the menu screen 20 in the present embodiment, each icon 25a is determined by the distance between these frames and the icons 25a to 25g.
This indicates which information the subsystem corresponding to .about.g executes a task close to.

When displaying the menu screen 20, the CPU 2
First, the base menu specification 30 is stored from the storage medium 7.
(Refer to FIG. 3), the frames 22 to 24 of each master file are arranged at predetermined positions, and the base screen 21 is displayed.
Generate The base menu specification 30 is a table that stores the position where the frame of each file is arranged on the base screen 21.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of the base menu specification 30, and base1.bmp is a file for storing the position of the frame of the master file to be arranged on the base screen 21 of the sales management system. Similarly, the master file in each system and its location can be set in each file (base2.bmp, base3.bmp, etc.) according to the system to be started.

Then, the CPU 2 arranges icons 25a to 25g corresponding to the respective subsystems on the base screen 21 on which the frames 22 to 24 of the master file are arranged. FIG.
Is a diagram showing a menu item specification 40 in which link information between icons 25a to 25g and subsystems is stored. In FIG. 4, the menu item is the name of the subsystem added to each icon, and the address of the subsystem in the storage medium 7 in which the subsystem is stored is stored in the column of the subsystem. The arrangement method indicates whether the corresponding icon is arranged by the automatic arrangement method of the present invention or by a manual method of arranging the icons at a position designated by the user.

In the automatic arrangement method, the CPU 2 determines the arrangement position of each of the icons 25a to 25g by an automatic arrangement process described later so that the business application of each subsystem has three master files (customer MT, supplier MT, product MT). MT)
Is determined by weighting how much access is made to.

The weight is added in accordance with the content of accessing each master file by the business application of the subsystem. For example, when the business application simply reads and references the master file, the weight for the file is set to +1. When the business application updates the contents of the file, the weight to the file is set to +3, and when the file is read and referred to and updated, the weight to the file is set to +4.

Then, the CPU 2 weights the subsystems by the automatic arrangement processing, and then, the relation table 50 (see FIG. 5) showing the relation between each file and the subsystem.
Create In the association table 50, menu items to which the automatic arrangement method is applied are displayed, and weights assigned according to the number of times the business application of the subsystem accesses each master file in each menu item are displayed. I have. Note that the relationship table 50 shown in FIG. 5 shows a state in which the processing of the three subsystems, including sales management, inventory management, and order management, has been completed by the automatic arrangement processing.

The CPU 2 determines the vertical and horizontal relative positions of the icons to be arranged based on the weight values displayed in the association table 50. In other words, the weight is calculated for each file at a preset magnification, and the calculated numerical values are added to determine the coordinates. For example, the base screen 21 shown in FIG.
In the case of setting the magnification in the horizontal direction, the customer 22 is located on the left side and the supplier 23 is located on the right side, so that the greater the weight for accessing the customer MT, the further to the left the supplier MT
The setting is such that the icon is arranged on the right side as the weight for accessing to is larger.

On the other hand, on the base screen 21 shown in FIG. 2, only the product file frame 24 is arranged in the vertical direction. Therefore, the arrangement of the icons in the vertical direction is based on whether or not the subsystem accesses the product MT, and if so, how much the product MT is accessed.

When an instruction input from the input unit 3 edits an icon on the menu screen 20 such as deleting or adding an icon, the CPU 2 calls the menu item specification table 40 from the storage device 6 and displays the menu item specification table 40 on the display unit. 4 and input unit 3
The editing process described below is executed in accordance with the instruction input from, and each menu item is edited.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 6 to FIG.
It is a flowchart explaining the menu screen display process, automatic arrangement | positioning process, and edit process which PU2 performs.
Here, the programs for realizing the functions described in these flowcharts are stored in the storage medium 7 in the form of readable program codes.
The PU 2 sequentially executes an operation according to the program code. Further, the CPU 2 can also sequentially execute the operation according to the above-described program code transmitted via the transmission medium. That is, an operation specific to this embodiment can be executed using a program / data externally supplied via a transmission medium in addition to the storage medium 7.

First, the menu screen display processing executed by the CPU 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6, when the system is started in accordance with an instruction signal input from the input unit 3, the CPU 2 calls up the base menu specification 30 from the storage medium 7 (step S1), generates a base screen 21, and generates a work memory in the RAM 5. The area is developed (step S2).

Next, the CPU 2 reads the menu item specification 40 from the storage medium 7 (step S3),
It is expanded in the work memory area in the RAM 5 and it is checked whether there is an unread menu item (step S4). If there is an unread menu item, the CPU 2 determines from the arrangement method of the menu item specification 40 whether or not the automatic arrangement method is set for the menu item (Step S).
5) If automatic placement, automatic placement processing is executed for the menu item (step S6).

On the other hand, if the manual method is set for the menu item in step S5, the layout coordinates are read from the menu item specification 40, and the icon of the menu item is expanded on the RAM 5 in the base screen 2.
1 (step S7).

Then, the CPU 2 reads the menu item specification 40 developed in the work memory area in the RAM 5 and determines whether there is any unread menu item. If there is no unread menu item in step S4, all the icons arranged on the base screen 21 developed in the RAM 5 are detected, and it is determined whether or not there is a menu item whose coordinates overlap (step S8). If there is no overlapping menu item, the base screen 21 on which each icon is displayed is output as the menu screen 20 to the display unit 4 and displayed (step S10).

If there is a menu item with overlapping coordinates, the icon of the menu item is moved to an adjacent non-overlapping position (step S9), and the base screen 21 on which each icon is displayed is output to the display unit 4 as the menu screen 20. (Step S10), and the menu screen display processing ends.

Subsequently, in the menu screen display processing,
The automatic placement processing executed by the CPU 2 in step S6 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In FIG. 7, the CPU 2 calls and analyzes a subsystem corresponding to a menu item from the storage medium 7 (step S11), and determines whether or not there is a business application in the subsystem (step S1).
2).

In step S12, if there is no business application in the subsystem, the CPU 2 ends the automatic arrangement processing. If there is a business application, the CPU 2 determines that the business application
It is determined whether or not to access T, and if so, what kind of processing the business application performs on the customer MT (step S13). If the business application does not access the customer MT, the process proceeds to step S17.

In step S13, when the business application reads the customer MT and simply refers to the customer MT, the CPU 2 sets the “customer” in the relevancy table 50 to “customer MT”.
Is added to the weight of (step S14). When the business application updates the content of the customer MT, +3 is added to the weight of “customer” in the relevancy table 50 (step S15), and the business application reads and updates the customer MT. In this case, +4 is added to the weight of “customer” in the relevancy table 50 (step S16).

Next, the CPU 2 determines whether or not the business application accesses the supplier MT and, if so, what kind of processing is to be performed (step S17). The business application is a supplier MT
If is not accessed, the process proceeds to step S21.

If the business application reads and refers to the supplier MT in step S17, the CPU 2 adds +1 to the weight of "supplier" in the relevancy table 50 (step S18). When the business application updates the contents of the supplier MT, +3 is added to the weight of “supplier” in the relevancy table 50 (step S19), and the business application reads the supplier MT. In the case of updating, +4 is added to the weight of “supplier” in the relevancy table 50 (step S
20).

Subsequently, the CPU 2 determines whether or not the business application accesses the commodity MT, and if so, determines the processing contents (step S2).
1). If the business application does not access the product MT, the process proceeds to step S25.

In step S21, when the business application reads the merchandise MT and simply refers to it,
The CPU 2 adds + to the weight of the “product” in the relevance table 50.
1 is added (step S22). When the business application updates the content of the product MT, +3 is added to the weight of “product” in the relevance table 50 (step S
23) When the business application reads and updates the product MT, the “product” in the relevancy table 50 is used.
+4 is added to the weight of (step S20).

When the CPU 2 finishes determining whether the business application accesses all master files, the CPU 2 determines whether the subsystem uses another business application (step S2).
5) If used, return to step S13. If not, the relevancy table 50 of the menu item corresponding to the subsystem is updated (step S26).

Then, the CPU 2 refers to the updated relevancy table 50 and determines the horizontal coordinates to be arranged on the base screen 21 as relative positions from the weight values of “customer” and “supplier” ( Step S27). "Product"
Are determined in the vertical direction from the weight values (step S2).
8) The icons of the subsystems are arranged on the base screen 21 developed in the RAM 5, and the automatic arrangement processing ends.

Next, in the icon display control device 1,
An editing process for adding or deleting a menu item on the menu screen 20 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8, when an editing instruction is input from the input unit 3, the CPU 2 outputs the menu item specification 40 to the display unit 4 and displays it (step S30).

The signal input from the input unit 3 is
It is determined whether the instruction is a menu item deletion instruction or an addition / change instruction (step S31). If the instruction is a deletion instruction, the corresponding menu item is deleted (step S3).
2).

In step S31, if the signal input from the input unit 3 is for adding / changing a menu item, the instruction signal input from the input unit 3 next requests creation / change of a subsystem. Is determined (step S33). If it is not the creation / change of the subsystem, the process proceeds to step S36.

In step S33, if the instruction signal input from the input unit 3 is for creating / changing a subsystem, the subsystem is created / changed in accordance with the instruction signal (step S34), and the menu item specifications are changed. Write or update the subsystem in 40 (step S3)
5).

Next, the CPU 2 determines whether to set or change the arrangement method of the icon of the designated or added menu item (step S36). When setting / changing the arrangement method, the arrangement method is set / changed according to the instruction input from the input unit 3 (step S37).

Then, the CPU 2 updates the menu item specification 40 in accordance with the deletion of the menu item and the change / setting of the arrangement method (step S38). Then, it is determined whether the next signal input from the input unit 3 is the next edit instruction or the end instruction of the edit processing (step S3).
9). If there is a next edit, the process returns to step S31.

If an instruction to end the editing process is input in step S39, the displayed menu item specification 40 is erased from the display screen (step S40). Then, in updating the menu item specification 40, if there is a deleted menu item, the corresponding menu item in the relevance table 50 and the weight value of each master file are deleted, and if there is a created menu item, the related menu item is deleted. After additionally creating a menu item corresponding to the gender table 50, an initial value (0) is set to the weight value of each master file (step S41). Thereafter, the process returns to step S3 of the menu screen display process.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the CPU
Step 2 determines whether the subsystem of the activated system accesses a predetermined master file. When accessing, it is determined whether the subsystem simply reads and refers to the master file, updates the master file, or reads and updates the master file, and weights different numerical values according to the contents of access to the master file. It is added to the relevancy table 50. On the other hand, the name and the frame of the predetermined master file are displayed on the base of the menu screen 20 to generate a base screen 21. The menu item having a larger weight for each master file is described in the frame in which the master file name is described. The icon is arranged at a position close to or within the frame.

Therefore, the degree of access to each master file in the subsystem is quantified and weighted, so that the function of each subsystem can be visually represented by the position of the icon. In addition, since the icons of the respective subsystems are relatively arranged according to the weight value, the editing process of the menu item can be easily executed.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the contents described in the above embodiment, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, three files “customer MT”, “supplier MT”, and “product MT” are set as the master files of the sales management system. Of course, the arrangement position can be changed.

Further, in the menu screen 20 shown in FIG. 2, the layout positions of the frames of each master file are set up, down, left and right with respect to the screen, but the layout positions of these frames are specified by specific coordinates. It may be. Also,
The size or shape of the menu item icons or the master file frame may be variable, and the icons may have different colors and shapes between automatic arrangement and manual arrangement.
Further, a numerical value of a weight to be added according to each access content, a condition for adding a weight (read / update / read / update), and the like may be changed.

Further, when the number of master files is one, or when one is selected from a plurality of master files, it is determined whether only the subsystem accesses the file, May be simplified so that the icon of the subsystem is displayed in the frame of the file, and the icon is displayed outside the frame of the file when not accessed.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the frame of the master file is displayed in a circle or an ellipse. When the file of the subsystem is accessed, an icon is displayed in the frame. Is set so that icons are displayed clockwise outside the frame in the order displayed in the menu item specification.

The icons of the menu items are displayed as follows.
The function of the subsystem may be indicated by a distance and a gradation of color by changing the color. For example, a characteristic light color is set for a frame on the base screen of each master file, and each icon displays a primary color close to the color of the file as the file approaches. Alternatively, the colors of each icon are unified, a characteristic dark color is set for each master file, a color gradation is displayed on the base screen, and the degree of access to each file can be determined by the arrangement position of each icon. You may do so.

[0062]

According to the icon display control device of the first aspect of the present invention and the storage medium of the fifth aspect of the present invention,
Since the work icon is displayed in association with each related item displayed as the background, it is possible to identify what kind of program or data corresponding to each work icon from the arrangement position of the work icon. In addition, related items as backgrounds and work icons are individually set and arranged at predetermined positions, so operations such as addition, deletion, and change of related items and work icons are simplified, and work efficiency is improved. I do.

According to the icon display control device of the second aspect, since the background is separated and displayed in a region related to the related item and a region not related to the related item, it is determined whether each icon is related to the related item. Can be indicated by the display position.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when a program corresponding to each work icon processes a related item displayed in the background, a weight corresponding to the processing content is set. , The weighting process is simplified. Further, since the processing for each related item of each program is differentiated by the weight value according to the content, the processing for determining the arrangement position of the icons is simplified.

According to the icon display control device of the fourth aspect, the method of arranging icons can be switched between automatic arrangement and arbitrarily arranged, so that the user can change the display position of the icons according to the usage environment. The change operation can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of an icon display control device 1.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of a menu screen 20.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a base menu specification 30.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a menu item specification 40;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relevancy table 50;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a menu screen display process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an automatic arrangement process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an editing process.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display example when there is one master file.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a menu screen in a tool bar format.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display example of a conventional menu screen on which icons are arranged by a user.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display example of a conventional menu screen on which the function of a subsystem is understood from the position of an icon.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 icon display control device 2 CPU 3 input unit 4 display unit 5 RAM 6 storage device 7 storage medium 8 communication control unit 9 bus 20 menu screen 21 base screen 22 customer frame 23 supplier frame 24 product frame 25 a to g icon 30 Base menu specification 40 Menu item specification 50 Relevance table

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An icon display control device for arranging and displaying a plurality of work icons on a display screen, wherein the plurality of work icons are arranged at predetermined positions on the display screen with a plurality of related items related to the plurality of work icons as a background. First display means for displaying separately; weight value setting means for setting a weight value for each related item for each work icon; each relevant item of each work icon set by the weight value setting means And a second display unit for arranging and displaying each of the work icons in association with the display position of each of the related items as the background, based on a weight value for the icon display control device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, when one related item related to the plurality of work icons is set, the first display unit displays the area related to the related item as a background and the related item. 2. The icon display control device according to claim 1, wherein an area having no icon is displayed separately. 3. The weight value setting means searches for a program corresponding to each work icon, and when the program targets the related item, sets a weight value according to the processing content. The icon display control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the work icons is displayed at an arbitrary position on a background displayed by the first display means, or a weight value set by the weight value setting means by the second display means. The icon display control device according to claim 1, further comprising a switching unit that switches whether to display the icon at a corresponding position. 5. A storage medium storing a computer-executable program for arranging and displaying a plurality of work icons on a display screen, wherein a plurality of related items related to the plurality of work icons are stored. A computer-executable program code for separating and displaying a predetermined position on the display screen as a background, and a computer-executable program code for setting a weight value for each of the related items for each of the work icons Based on the weight value for each related item of each work icon set in the previous period, the computer for arranging and displaying each work icon in association with the display position of each related item as the background is executed. A storage medium, comprising: a program code that can be used;