JP2007011586A - Method for managing message resource for software - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate inconsistencies due to, for example, failures to add messages to a document or correct them. <P>SOLUTION: A message resource management system 200 (enclosed by broken lines) has a message class generation device 201 and a message document generation device 202. A message resource definition file 203 is provided as a file for storing information on message resources. The message resource definition file 203 is written in XML format, and the used programming language is Java (R). The message class generation device 201 reads in the information in the message resource definition file 203 to generate a message management class 204 for managing common parts of message management as templates. The message document generation device 202 reads in the information in the message resource definition file 203 defining the message resources to generate a message document 205. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a software message resource management method.

  When executing a program, for example, if a message is output to an output device such as a display screen or a file when an error occurs, if the message content is described directly in the program, the program will be rewritten if the message is changed later. It becomes difficult to manage messages such as necessity. That is, since messages used in software products usually need to be listed in a functional specification or manual, messages having the same contents are managed by the same ID. When modifying the message contents, all messages with the same ID used in the program must be modified. When the message is directly described in the program, it is necessary to search for a correction location and to check whether the content of the message with the same ID is different. In particular, in the case of large-scale software, if all messages used in the program are investigated and written in the document without omission, a huge amount of work is required.

  Therefore, it is considered to externalize the message resource in which the message resource is arranged outside the program. As a conventional example relating to externalization of message resources, a technique described in Patent Document 1 below is known. Although a specific method is not described in Patent Document 1, generally, first, a message template in which a variable element such as a file name and a specific symbol are inserted at a position where the variable element is embedded is output. And decompose. A series of message templates and corresponding keys are described in a file different from the source file, and the message template is extracted by designating the key on the program side. Then, the message is assembled from the message template and the list of embedded characters when the program is executed.

  Depending on the system, a library for assisting externalization of message resources may be provided, particularly from the viewpoint of internationalization of message resources. For example, in the case of Java language, a mechanism called resource bundle is prepared.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of message management using resource bundles. A property file 100, which is a message file used in a program, is created in the format of “key = message template”, and a key such as ID001 is designated in the source file 110, whereby a message template corresponding to the key, for example, “ A message such as “An I / O error has occurred in the file with ID001 = {0}” is acquired. The document 120 is manually generated based on the property file 100 (130). For this reason, human error is unavoidable. For example, it is possible to forget to add a message to the document file 120, or the document file 120 and the output result of the program may be different. The synchronization between the document file 120 and the program is described in Patent Document 2 below.

JP 7-182149 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-139055

  As shown in FIG. 1, when a message resource is separated from a source file 110 and described in an external file (property file) 100, a key value associated with the message is used to extract a specific message in the program. (For example, “ID001”) needs to be designated as indicated by an arrow. In the above-mentioned resource bundle, the key value “ID001” described in the property file 100 is specified, and the message resource “I / O error has occurred in the file of {0}” is acquired. The C language also has a UNIX message catalog mechanism. Similarly, a message resource is specified by specifying a character string in the program.

  By the way, it is assumed that an incorrect value (character string), for example, “ID01” is specified as a key value for acquiring a message resource. Even if there is such an error, it is not syntactically wrong as a character string, so it does not cause a compile error when translated into machine language. Therefore, after translation into machine language, it was discovered that an error occurred indicating that resources could not be acquired when the program was actually executed and the message acquisition process was reached, and it was the first time that the specification was incorrect. Will be.

  When a message is created from a message template and an embedded list, a standard library such as Java MessageFormat or C language sprintf is usually used.

  These do not have a check function for the number of embedded characters in the message template and the number of given arguments, and will not cause a compilation error if the number or type of the specified arguments are incorrect. Therefore, an unintended message may be created. Even if a routine for checking the number of embedded characters and the number of arguments at the time of assembling a message is created, the routine is not checked unless the processing is executed by a program.

  In the case of an abnormal error message, there are situations where it is difficult to execute by a machine test, and there is a possibility of overlooking the message with a built-in defect.

  The above-mentioned patent document 1 aims to interactively add / change a message defined for each operation separately from a program, and cannot detect a failure related to message construction at the time of compilation. The above-mentioned patent document 2 describes a method in which program resources and documents are managed by revisions and synchronized by revision check, which is different from the method of the present invention.

  An object of the present invention is to manage message resource information with a message resource definition file of a specific format, and to detect a failure related to message construction before executing a program (during compilation).

  It is another object of the present invention to prevent inconsistency due to a lack of addition / correction of a message to a document.

  In the present invention, message resource information is described in a message resource definition file, and a device for generating a message management class from this file and a device for automatically generating a message document are provided.

  The message management class is a mechanism that makes it possible to detect a mistake in the description of the key of the message template and a mistake in the designation of the embedded character in the conventional method at the time of compilation. In the message management class, it is created as one method corresponding to one message. In other words, the message is acquired not by the key based on the “character string” but by the “method” automatically generated for each message. In the case of a character string, even if “xxx” is missed as “xx”, it is syntactically correct. However, when the method xxx () is missed as xx (), “the method xx () is not defined” Results in a syntax error.

  In addition, the padding of the message corresponds to the method argument. In the conventional Object type array, it is not an error if a place where new Object [] {file, name} should be specified, for example, new Object [] {file}, is not an error. If xxx (file, name) is incorrectly specified as xxx (file), a compilation error occurs.

  According to the present invention, when a message resource described outside the program is called from within the program, the message management class is created as one method corresponding to one message. Sometimes an error occurs. Also, by matching the message padding to the method arguments, a compile error will occur if the method name, number of arguments, and argument types do not all match in the message call.

  Therefore, there is an advantage that a defective message can be detected before the program is executed. Further, since the message management class of the program and the document are automatically generated from the same message resource, there is an advantage that there is no inconsistency due to the addition or correction omission of the message to the document.

  A software message resource management technique according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of the message resource management system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the message resource management system 200 (configuration surrounded by a broken line) according to the present embodiment includes a message class generation device 201 and a message document generation device 202. As a file for storing message resource information, a message resource definition file 203 described later is included. In the present embodiment, the message resource definition file 203 is described in the XML format, and a case where Java is used as a program language will be described below as an example.

  The message class generation device 201 reads information in a message resource definition file 203 shown in FIG. 3 to be described later, and generates a message management class 204 that manages a common part for managing messages as a template (template). The message document generation device 202 reads information in the message resource definition file 203 that defines message resources, and generates a message document 205.

  In relation to the message resource management system 200 according to the present embodiment, a program storage unit 211, a processing system 212, an execution file storage unit 213, and an I / O 214 are provided, and from the I / O 214 as a file 215a. Alternatively, the execution result of the program is displayed / outputted by being displayed on the display unit 215b such as a CRT.

  Here, an example of contents in which the message resource definition file 203 is described in the XML format will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a description example of the message resource definition file 203 created by the creator, for example, by handwriting. In FIG. 3, an element 301 is an element that represents one message with the ID as a key. An element 301 is described for each message. A message ID (here, “ID001”) is designated as an attribute of the element 301. An element 302 describes a message template (here, “I / O error occurred in file {0}. {1}”). The element 303 is a description of the embedded characters described in order such as {0} and {1}, and a message explaining the embedded characters such as {0}: file name, {1}: error content, etc. is described. An element 304 describes a cause of occurrence of the message. For example, a description such as “An error occurred during file operation” is made. An element 305 describes a solution (solution) when the message is generated, if necessary. For example, a description such as “Check the status of the file” is made.

  In an element 306, information related to a message and a method for returning a message created by being called is described. In the attribute of the element 306, for example, a method name to be created such as “ioError” is specified. An element 307 describes information related to the argument of the method to be created. As the attributes of the element 307, an argument type 308, an argument name 309, and an argument comment 310 are specified. In this way, the message resource definition file describes all information related to ID001, and is described in XML, for example.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for automatically creating a message management class 600 described later by the message class generating device 201 shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example regarding the description of the message management class 600 generated by the procedure shown in FIG. 4, the source file 610, and the document 620 created by the procedure described later. When the processing of FIG. 4 is started, the outer frame of the message management class is automatically created (step S401), and then the message management class 600 is created from the contents of the message resource definition file 203 (FIGS. 2 and 3) (steps 402 to 402). Step 404).

  That is, in step 402, the method name “ioError” indicated by reference numeral 306 in FIG. 3 is transferred to “public Message ioError...” Of the message management class 600 shown in FIG. In step S403, the content of the reference numeral 302 in FIG. 3 is transferred to the class comment “I / O error occurred in the process of ID001 {0}” of the message management class 600 in FIG.

In step S404, from the element 307 which is parameter information of the above method, the parameter definition “java.io.File file,
"Through cause" and parameter comments "@param file file name" and "@param cause error contents" are created.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the process of reference numeral 307 has been completed. If it has been completed (Y), the process proceeds to step S405. If it has not been completed (N), step S404 is repeated. In step S405, a method implementation is created, and it is determined whether or not the processing of reference numeral 310 is completed. If not completed (N), the process returns to step S402. If completed (Y), the process for creating the message management class 600 is terminated.

  The content of the method implemented in step S405 may be the same method as the conventional external message resource acquisition method described in FIG. This is because method implementation is automatic and there is no risk of human error. Since the input file is only the message resource definition file 203 and XML is used for the definition file, the message class generation device 201 can be implemented by an XSL style sheet or the like.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure in which the message document generating apparatus 202 (FIG. 2) automatically creates the message document 620 (FIG. 6). When the process starts, in step S501, the element 301 and the element 302 in FIG. 3 are described in the ID and message in the first line of the document 620 in FIG. Next, in step S502, a description of the embedded characters in the second to third lines of the document 620 in FIG. 6 is created from the element 303 in FIG. Next, it is determined whether or not the process of reference numeral 307 has been completed. If it has been completed (Y), the process proceeds to step S503, and if it has not been completed (N), the process returns to step S502. In step S503, a description of the factor is created from the element 304 (line 4 of the document in FIG. 6), and in step S504, a description of the coping method is created from the element 305 (line 5 of the document in FIG. 6). Next, it is determined whether or not the process of reference numeral 301 has been completed. If it has been completed (Y), the document creation process is terminated, and if it has not been completed (N), the process returns to step S501.

  Since the input file in this process is only the message resource definition file 203, the message document generation device 202 can be similarly implemented by an XSL style sheet or the like.

  As described above, the message management class 600 and the document 620 shown in FIG. 6 can be automatically created based on the data described in the message resource definition file 203 of FIG. Absent.

  In the message management class 600, a message is acquired by a “method” automatically generated for each message, not by a key by “character string”. In other words, just getting it with a method results in a syntax error.

  On the other hand, the padding of the message corresponds to the method argument. In the conventional Object type array, it is not an error if a place where new Object [] {file, name} should be specified, for example, new Object [] {file}, is not an error. If xxx (file, name) is incorrectly specified as xxx (file), a compilation error occurs.

  As described above, according to the software message resource management method of the present embodiment, the message management class and the document of the program are automatically generated from the same message resource, so that the message is added to or modified from the document. Inconsistency due to leakage or the like can be prevented. In addition, when a message resource described outside the program is called from within the program, a syntax error occurs simply by obtaining it with a method. In other words, if a message or argument is specified incorrectly, an error will occur during compilation. Therefore, there is an advantage that a message failure can be detected before the program is executed.

  The present invention can be used as a software message resource management method and apparatus.

It is a figure which shows an example of the utilization method of a general external message resource. It is a functional block diagram which shows the example of 1 structure of the message resource management apparatus by one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the message resource definition file by this Embodiment. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the process sequence in a message class production | generation apparatus. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the process sequence in a message document production | generation apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure produced | generated by the message document production | generation apparatus by this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 201 ... Message class production | generation apparatus, 202 ... Message document production | generation apparatus, 203 ... Message resource definition file, 204 ... Message management class, 205 ... Message document.

Claims (1)

A method for managing software message resources,
Creating a message resource definition file in which information for a program corresponding to a message resource of software and information for a document are described in one file;
Creating a message management class created as one method corresponding to one message based on the message resource definition file.

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