JP2002373007A - Method and device for displaying information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that operation is complicated and related information can not be simultaneously watched since it is necessary to switch the display of signal name and real address and the display/non-display of comment by the programming software of a PLC. SOLUTION: When a symbol 1 expressing a parameter is displayed on a screen and that symbol is touched with a mouse cursor 3, a Tiphelp window 2 is displayed so that information 21, 22 and 23 related to the parameter can be displayed on this window 2. Since the information related to the parameter can be watched even without switching display, operation is not complicated and a wide program display area can be secured.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for displaying information related to parameters, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for displaying information suitable for use in program development of a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art PLC (Programmable Logic Controlle)
The program of r) is composed of instructions and devices. In PLC programming software, a device is represented by a signal name and a real address. A comment may be added to this device to facilitate understanding of the program.

In such PLC programming software, it is necessary to increase the amount of programs that can be displayed on one screen as much as possible in order to easily grasp the program on the display screen. For that purpose, the display area of the real address and signal name is made common, and these displays are switched.
In addition, the display / non-display of the comment can be switched.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a device display method. FIG. 5A is a display example when a real address is displayed.
I00001 and the like represent a real address. Also, a comment is displayed below the real address. “I / O comment” and “comen” represent comments.

FIG. 1B shows an example in which signal names are displayed.
“SignalA” and “SignalB” are signal names. Also in this display example, a comment is displayed below the signal name.

When a comment is displayed, the display area of the program may be significantly reduced. Therefore, the display / non-display of the comment can be switched.
FIG. 11C shows an example in which a comment is not displayed. Since the comment is not displayed, the display area of the program increases,
The flow of the program can be easily grasped.

By switching the display method as described above, all information can be referred to and the display area of the program can be widened. Therefore, the flow of the program can be easily grasped.

[0008]

However, such a method of displaying information has the following problems.

Since the signal name and the real address display cannot be simultaneously displayed because they are allocated to the same area, it is necessary to know the allocation address corresponding to the signal name or, conversely, the signal name corresponding to the allocation address. Therefore, there is a problem that the display must be switched one by one, and the operation becomes complicated.

If the comment is not displayed, the meaning of the signal name and the like becomes unclear, making it difficult for the program to grasp. Therefore, when switching to the comment display, the display of the original program changes, and there is also a problem that the program is difficult to grasp.

[0011]

In order to solve such a problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a symbol 1 representing a parameter is displayed on a screen, and when the symbol 1 is selected. Information related to this symbol (21, 22, 2
Display window 2 where 3) is displayed,
The window 2 is erased when the selection of the symbol 1 is released. No complicated switching operation is required.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a movable cursor 3 is displayed on a screen, and when the cursor 3 contacts or approaches a symbol 1 representing a parameter, the symbol is displayed. It is determined that the selection has been made. Operate in the familiar way.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, information to be displayed in the window 2 can be selected. Since only necessary information is displayed, it is easy to see.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the selection detecting section 4 for detecting that the symbol 1 representing the parameter displayed on the screen has been selected or deselected, and the parameter and the information related thereto are stored. A parameter data correspondence table 6 and a window display section 5 for displaying a window. When the selection detecting section 4 notifies that the symbol 1 representing the parameter has been selected, the window display section 5 Information relating to the selected parameter is acquired with reference to Table 6, and a window 2 displaying the information is displayed, and the selection detecting unit 4 notifies that the symbol 1 representing the parameter has been deselected. Then, the window 2 displaying the information related to this parameter is deleted. Eliminates complicated operations.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the movable cursor 3 displayed on the screen contacts or approaches the symbol 1 representing a parameter, the selection detecting section 4 changes the symbol. It is determined that the selection has been made. Operate using familiar procedures.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth or fifth aspect, a display information selecting section 8 is provided,
The display information selecting section 8 can select and display information related to the parameters displayed in the window 2. Since only necessary information is displayed, it is easy to see.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a method for displaying information according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a signal name of a device,
2 is a tip help (TipHelp), 3 is a mouse cursor. The chip help 2 is a kind of overlap window, and includes a signal name 21, a real address 22, and a comment 2
3 is displayed.

The chip help is a help window displayed on a screen displayed when necessary. In this example, usually only the signal name of the device is displayed,
The chip help 2 is displayed when necessary, and the signal name 21, the real address 22, and the comment 23 are displayed therein.

That is, when the mouse cursor 3 is brought into contact with the display of the signal name 1 on the screen, the tip help 2 is displayed over the original screen, and when the mouse cursor 3 is separated from the signal name 1, the display of the tip help 2 is displayed. Disappear. Therefore, only the detailed information of the signal that the user wants to know can be displayed, so that the display area of the program is not narrowed.

Further, since the unnecessary information is not displayed, the correspondence between the signal name and the real address or the comment is not confused. Further, even if the chip help 2 is displayed, the display of the program originally displayed does not change, so that the understanding of the program is not hindered.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the processing of this embodiment. In FIG. 2, the position of the mouse cursor is monitored, and when the mouse cursor touches a symbol representing a parameter such as a signal name, the signal name,
Get real address and comment. Then, a chip help is displayed, and the acquired signal name, real address, and comment are displayed therein.

FIG. 3 shows the flow shown in FIG. 2 more specifically. The same elements as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 3, the display position of the mouse cursor 3 is constantly monitored to check whether the display of the parameter 1 such as the signal name is touching on the screen.

When the mouse cursor 3 touches the display of the parameter 1, the displayed parameter 1 is selected. Then, a signal name, a real address, and a comment corresponding to this parameter are obtained from the signal name / real address / comment correspondence table, and a tip help 2 displaying these information is displayed near the mouse cursor 3.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the information display device according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 4 denotes a selection detecting unit which constantly monitors whether the mouse cursor 3 is in contact with a symbol 1 of a parameter such as a signal name, and when the mouse cursor 3 contacts the symbol, the parameter is selected. Judge that
When the user leaves, it is determined that the selection has been released, and the contents are notified to the window display unit 5.

The window display section 5 displays the chip help 2. When the selection detecting section 4 notifies that the symbol of the parameter has been selected, the information related to the parameter is acquired from the parameter data correspondence table 6, and the chip help displaying the information is displayed on the display 7. When the selection detecting unit 4 notifies that the selection of the parameter has been released, the chip help is deleted.

The parameter data correspondence table 6 stores a signal name as a parameter and information such as a real address and a comment corresponding to the signal name, and retrieves information such as a real address corresponding to the signal name using the signal name as a key. You can do it.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a display information selection unit which selects and sets information to be displayed in the chip help displayed by the window display unit 5. As a result, it is possible to display only necessary information on the chip help according to the situation.

In this embodiment, the information displayed in the chip help 2 is a signal name, a real address, and a comment.
Although the symbols of the parameters originally displayed are signal names, the present invention is not limited to them and may be arbitrary parameters. In short, when the mouse cursor 3 touches the parameter that was originally displayed, the tip help 2 is displayed,
Anything that displays more detailed information may be used.

Although the parameters are selected with the mouse cursor 3, the present invention is not limited to this. In short, any means may be used as long as it can select one or more of the symbols representing a plurality of displayed parameters. Alternatively, it may be determined that the user has been selected if they come close to each other without contact.

Further, in these embodiments, the present invention has been described as being used in software for PLC programming development, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can be applied to a case of displaying a parameter or data having a plurality of accompanying data.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description,
According to the present invention, the following effects can be expected. According to the first aspect of the present invention, a symbol 1 representing a parameter is displayed on a screen, and when the symbol 1 is selected, a window 2 on which information (21, 22, 23) related to the symbol is displayed.
Is displayed, and the window 2 is deleted when the symbol 1 is deselected.

Since information related to the selected parameter can be referred to without switching the display, a complicated operation is not required and the operability is improved. Since there is no need to provide a display area for this information, an important display area such as a program display area can be widened.

Further, since only the information related to the selected parameter needs to be acquired and displayed, the operation efficiency of the software is improved, and the software can be operated at high speed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a movable cursor 3 is displayed on a screen, and when the cursor 3 contacts or approaches the symbol 1 representing a parameter, It is now determined that a symbol has been selected. Since it can be operated by a method that is familiar with a personal computer, there is an effect that operability is improved.

According to the third aspect of the invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, information to be displayed in the window 2 can be selected. Since only necessary information can be displayed according to the situation, there is an effect that visibility is improved and operation efficiency of software can be improved.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the selection detecting section 4 for detecting that the symbol 1 representing the parameter displayed on the screen is selected or deselected, and the parameter and the information related thereto are displayed. It has a stored parameter data correspondence table 6 and a window display unit 5 for displaying a window. When the selection detection unit 4 notifies the selection detection unit 4 that the symbol 1 representing the parameter has been selected, the window display unit 5 The information relating to the selected parameter is obtained by referring to the data correspondence table 6, the window 2 displaying the information is displayed, and the selection detection unit 4 deselects the symbol 1 representing the parameter. When notified,
The window 2 displaying information related to this parameter is deleted.

Since information relating to the selected parameter can be referred to without switching the display, complicated operations are not required, and the operability is improved. Since there is no need to provide a display area for this information, an important area such as a program display area can be widened.

Furthermore, since only the information related to the selected parameter needs to be obtained and displayed, the operation efficiency of the software is improved, and the software can be operated at high speed.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, the selection detecting section 4 is adapted to detect when the movable cursor 3 displayed on the screen contacts or approaches the symbol 1 representing a parameter. It is now determined that a symbol has been selected. Since it can be operated by a method that is familiar with a personal computer, there is an effect that operability is improved.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth or fifth aspect of the present invention, a display information selecting unit 8 is provided, and the display information selecting unit 8 relates to parameters displayed in the window 2. Information can be selected and displayed. Since only necessary information can be displayed according to the situation, there is an effect that visibility is improved and operation efficiency of software can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a conventional method for displaying parameters and information related thereto.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 signal name 2 chip help 21 signal name 22 real address 23 comment 3 mouse cursor 4 selection detector 5 window display 6 parameter data correspondence table 8 display information selector

Claims (6)

[Claims] A symbol representing a parameter is displayed on a screen, a window displaying information relating to the parameter is displayed when the symbol is selected, and a window is displayed when the symbol is deselected. A method for displaying information, wherein the window is deleted. 2. A movable cursor is displayed on the screen,
2. The information display method according to claim 1, wherein when the cursor touches or approaches a symbol representing the parameter, the symbol is determined to be selected. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information to be displayed in said window can be selected.
How to display the described information. 4. A selection detecting section for detecting that a symbol representing a parameter displayed on a screen has been selected or deselected, a parameter data correspondence table storing parameters and related information, and a window. And a window display unit for displaying the parameter, when the selection detection unit is notified that the symbol representing the parameter has been selected, by referring to the parameter data correspondence table. A window in which information related to the parameter is obtained is displayed, and when the selection detection unit notifies that the symbol representing the parameter has been deselected, the information related to the parameter is displayed. An information display device characterized by deleting a window that is open. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection detecting section determines that the symbol is selected when the movable cursor displayed on the screen contacts or approaches the symbol representing the parameter. 4. The information display device according to 4. 6. A display information selecting section, wherein information related to a parameter displayed in the window can be selected and displayed by the display information selecting section. Information display device as described.