JP2575664B2 - Screen control method - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a screen control method, and more particularly to a screen control used in a system for guiding input and correction of data to be displayed with a certain series of screen transitions. About the method.

[Conventional technology]

In order to improve a man-machine interface between an information processing apparatus and an operator who handles the information processing apparatus, a screen transition that guides an operator's work procedure to a target editing screen by using a menu screen is generally used.

In such a screen transition, it is assumed that the screen transition order and the screen format are not changed later but are constant, and it is necessary to recreate the guidance menu in accordance with an increase in operator selection work. And the number of menus is steadily increasing.

Furthermore, since the screen transition order and the screen format are tightly coupled, there is a disadvantage in that, even when only the screen format is changed, a portion related to the screen transition that does not need to be changed is also corrected.

In order to eliminate such inconveniences, a method of defining a screen format and a screen transition order independently of each other is disclosed in, for example, IBM, System Journal, Vol. 20, N.
o.4 (1981) by Joyo Sulin, System Productivity Facility, pp. 388-407 (System Produ
ctivity Facility by PHJoslin, IBM System Jousnal
VOL 20, NO.4 1981). According to this method, the menu screen,
A combination of input characters, execution program, and execution command name is defined, and the next screen is displayed based on the above definition when the operator inputs characters for the actual transition instruction to the next screen. I have to.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing connections between screens of a system having a certain series of screen transitions, and menu screens A, B, D,
E, F, G and edit screens C, H, I are shown. Fig. 13
FIG. 11 is a more specific view of FIG. According to this, the selection menu A includes the package specification, the module specification, and the variable specification, and the package specification includes the package list B,
Package specification C, module specification D is made up of module external specification list E, module declaration list F, and variable specification is made up of variable specification list G, variable specification H, and variable detailed specification I. I have.

Fig. 12 shows a screen display example of the selection menu (Fig. 12 (a))
And a screen transition definition table (FIG. 12 (b)). This screen transition definition table contains the screen name, input characters, the program name for displaying the next screen when the next screen is the edit screen, or the next screen This is a table in which command names for displaying the next screen in a certain case are defined. In the example shown in FIG. 12 (b),
When the input character is "P", it is a B screen display command
It is defined to execute each command of BSCR, DSCR which is a D screen display command when the input character is "M", and GSCR which is G screen display command when the input character is "V". Accordingly, when the operator selects a specific character from the screen of FIG. 12 (a) and inputs it from a keyboard or the like, a program or command corresponding to the selected character is started,
Screen transition will occur.

By doing so, it is easy to change the subsequent transition screen of the menu screen.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-described conventional example, handling of the editing screen is not always easy.

This is based on the premise that screen transitions on the menu screen require selection of a screen to be displayed generically, and that on the edit screen, each edit command is displayed independently, and a completely different version is used for each edit tool unit. This is because number management is performed.

For example, in the edit screen of the variable specification H shown in FIG. 13, since the variable is composed of a plurality of elements, the edit screen of the detailed variable specification I is required. It is performed on the specification screen, and individual elements are performed on the variable detailed specification screen.

Regarding the edit screen of the package specification C, since the package integrates a plurality of modules, variables, data types, and constants, a list of modules in the package, a list of constants in the package, a list of data types in the package, a list of data types in the package, Each menu screen of the internal constant list is required.

That is, the screen transition in the conventional example refers to the screen transition definition table based on the menu screen name and the input characters as shown in FIG. 14 (a), and determines whether the next screen is the menu screen or the edit screen. The command or program is executed in response to this, but the screen transition definition table manages only the screen transition related to the menu screen.
When a transition screen is provided next to the edit screen, the image transition processing must be performed in a program that displays the edit screen as shown in FIG. 14 (b). As a result, it is necessary to manage screen transitions in the screen transition definition table and a plurality of programs, which complicates the management.

Also, when a change occurs in the transition screen of the edit screen, unlike the case of changing the menu screen, it is necessary to modify the edit screen display program, which causes an increase in development man-hours and maintenance man-hours.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a screen control method that can freely handle screen transition even in the case of an edit screen.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a screen control method for executing a process such as data editing while transiting between a plurality of screens including a menu screen and an edit screen. Stored in the definition table, the transition destination screen name from each display screen is stored in the screen definition table independently of the content of the work on the display screen,
The present invention proposes a screen control method for searching for a transition destination screen name in the screen definition table when a screen transition instruction is input on each display screen, and transitioning to a screen having the screen name when stored.

According to the present invention, more specifically, in order to achieve the above object, more specifically, work items of each display screen are stored in a screen definition table, and a transition destination screen name from each display screen is set for each data display area. Stores in the screen definition table independently of the content of the work on the display screen, dynamically stores the corresponding information of the transition destination screen and the screen transition instruction information in the corresponding screen information table for each screen, and determines the storage order of the transition destination screen. A screen control method for dynamically storing a tree structure in a stack table and performing screen transition on a tree structure dynamically defined based on a screen definition table, a corresponding screen information table, and a stack table is proposed.

[Action]

In the present invention, since the relationship between screens is fixedly arranged in advance and the screen is not transitioned based on the priority of the tree structure, only the transition destination screen name is stored in the screen definition table. It is possible to transition to a desired screen regardless of the display contents. In particular, screen transition methods are limited to tree structure transition methods (next <to child>, previous <to parent>, next <to siblings>, first <to root), and the relationship between screens transitioned by screen transition Is dynamically stored as a tree structure, so that it is possible to quickly transition to a desired screen without passing through a useless route.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The present invention is based on the premise that the operations and screen transitions on the menu screen and the operations and screen transitions on the edit screen are not different and should be handled in the same manner.

For example, in FIG. 13, the menu screen has a hierarchical structure that transitions from the selected menu A to more detailed menus B, D, and G, and from the menu D to more detailed menus E and F. Editing specification screen H
The problem is solved by focusing on the hierarchical structure that transitions to the more detailed variable specification screen I from.

FIG. 2 shows a hierarchical structure in which the entire screen transition is expressed as one tree structure from such a viewpoint. The connection between the screens is recognized as the screen transition, and the menu screen and the edit screen are not distinguished. It is understood that it is sufficient to handle the movement between the hierarchies.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an apparatus used in an embodiment of the present invention. An interactive terminal device 4 used by the operator to select a screen, a stack table storing the names of the screens that have transitioned, work items executable on each screen and names of the transition destination screens are defined. Screen definition table 2,
A corresponding screen information table 3 for associating a selection screen selected by the operator to make a next transition from the interactive terminal with data displayed on the screen and storing the selected screen is connected to the screen control unit 5. ing. The screen control unit 5 performs screen transition and editing based on commands and data input from the interactive terminal 4, and displays the edited result on the interactive terminal 4.

The operation of the present invention will be described with reference to the screen of FIG. 13 described above as an example. Each screen is made up of a plurality of display locations (fields).
As shown in FIG. 5A, it is assumed that the field is composed of several fields F1, F2,.

The details of the screen definition table 2 in FIG. 1 are shown in FIG.
201 and the next transition destination screen 202 are defined. here,
The work item 201 is an operation that can be executed on the screen and is shown as a soft key on the screen, and by defining a required work item, each work item can be handled in a general-purpose manner. . By adding or deleting a work item on each screen by performing such a definition, it is only necessary to change the definition of the work item corresponding to the screen.

Also, the relocation destination information 202 is the next transition destination screen name 2 of the screen.
03 is defined for each field 204 in the screen, and the order of this definition is as follows in the tree structure shown in FIG.
The order of the node priorities belonging to the node of the screen is set.
Note that no definition is made for a field having no transition destination. In FIG. 3 (c), the field F2 of the screen A
Is defined as screen B, when field F3 is specified, screen D is specified, and when field F4 is specified, screen G is defined. This is seen in the tree structure in FIG. As shown in FIG.
It can be seen that each node of D and G exists.

The corresponding screen information table shown in FIG. 3 (b) is a table for storing an operator's selection instruction. In this table, the screen display data 30
1. Each area has a correspondence No. 302 for associating this data with transition destination information of the screen definition table, and a selection flag 303 for storing a screen transition instruction selected by the operator. In this example, the selection flag is "1" corresponding to the package specification and the variable specification, indicating that these are selected.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the types of screen transitions in the present invention, and includes four types of "first surface", "next surface", "front surface", and "continuation surface".
This shows the relationship between the screens when the type is screen A and screen B and screen G are selected as the next transition screen.

First, the “initial surface” is a screen of a root node in a screen transition captured as a tree structure, and is a screen displayed first when the system starts up, that is, a screen A. The “initial surface” is the “initial surface” for any screen and can be changed from any screen.

The “next screen” is a transition from the screen selected and designated on a certain screen to the next screen, and the transition from the “next screen” to the next and subsequent screens is a “continuation screen”. According to FIG. 4, the transition from the screen A to the screen B is “next surface”, and the transition from the image B to the screen G is “continuation surface”.

Further, “front” means the screen one level above in the tree structure, that is, the screen of the parent node, and does not mean the screen shown in the previous state. In FIG. 8, the “front” is the screen “A” for both the screen B and the screen G.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the screen transition processing. When the system is started, the first screen is first displayed (step 11), and then the command type is inputted by the command input from the operator (step 12). Check (Step 13) and follow the next step (Step 2) according to the command.
0), front side processing (step 30), continuation side processing (step 4)
0), initial surface processing (step 50), editing processing (step 6)
0) will be performed.

Each of these processes will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in the next surface processing shown in FIG. 6A, as shown in FIG.
Assuming that the data of the fields F2 and F4 are selected in, the selection flag is set to "1" from the corresponding screen information table.
Find what is (Step 21). In this example, since the selection flags of F2 and F4 are "1", the value of the corresponding screen information table of the screen A is stored at the level 1 position of the stack table as shown in FIG. Then, "1" is added to the stack pointer, and a transition destination screen corresponding to the data whose selection flag is "1", that is, screen B is displayed (step 24). This transition is also shown in FIG. When shifting from the screen B to the screen C (FIG. 8), the value of the corresponding screen information table of the screen B is stored at the level 2 position of the stack table as shown in FIG. Is added to "1".

If there is no data for which the selection flag is "1" despite the fact that the next surface processing is designated, an error message indicating that the next surface does not exist is displayed (step 25).

Next, in the case of front processing, FIG. 6B shows that if the screen C is currently displayed, the value of the corresponding screen information table at the level immediately before the stack table, that is, the B screen information is extracted. (Step 31) The screen B is displayed after the stack pointer is decremented by one (Step 33). This situation is also shown in FIG. In order to exclude the current screen B from the selection target, it is necessary to set the selection flag of the corresponding screen information table of the screen B to "0" (step 32).

Next, in the case of the continuous screen processing (FIG. 6 (c)), if the screen B is currently being displayed, the selection flag for the displayed screen B is set to "0" (step 41). The corresponding screen table of the previous level is searched for the one whose selection flag is "1" (steps 42 and 43), and the selection flag is set to "1".
If there is any, the corresponding transition destination screen (screen G in FIG. 8) is displayed (step 44). If not, an error is judged and displayed to that effect (step 45).

Finally, in the case of the initial plane processing, the value (information of the screen A) of the corresponding screen table whose stack pointer is "0" is extracted from the stack table (step 51), and all the selection flags are set to "0". Every other time (step 52), the first face is displayed.

In this way, screen transition is possible without distinction between the menu screen and the edit screen.

FIG. 9 shows the change of the transition destination according to the present invention when the transition order of the screens is changed, and the menu screen A, the screen B, the screen D, and the screen G are replaced with the screen G instead of the screen G. Shows a case where the screen is changed to a screen J which is a data specification list.

For such a change, the transition destination screen may be set to J for the field name F4 in the screen definition table of the screen A.

FIG. 10 shows another type of transition destination change.
To make the transition from the editing screen H to the screen I to the screen H via the screen K to the screen I, the screen H
May be K as the transition destination screen name corresponding to the field name drop 1 in the screen definition table of FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, according to the present invention, the display screen is stored as a transition from the display screen without distinction between the menu screen and the edit screen, and the transition is performed based on this. Therefore, it is not necessary to create a program for making a screen transition at the time of transition on the edit screen, and it is only necessary to change the definition of the transition destination when changing the transition destination. It is possible in a short time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for realizing the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen transition in a tree structure, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the method of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the screen transition processing, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the details of the screen transition processing in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is an explanation showing the operation of the stack table. FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a transition diagram showing a specific example of the screen transition, FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a modified example of the screen transition on the menu screen, FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a modified example of the screen transition on the edit screen, FIG. 11 is a screen transition diagram of a system having a first-speed screen transition, FIG. 12 is a diagram of a screen display example of a selection menu, FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conventional screen transition, and FIG. 14 is FIG. FIG. 1 ... Stack table, 2 ... Screen definition table, 3 ... Corresponding image information table, 4 ... Interactive terminal device, 5 ... Screen control unit.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Kenroku Nogi 1-280 Higashi Koigakubo, Kokubunji City, Hitachi, Ltd. Basic Research Laboratory Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-61-39118 (JP, A) JP-A-61- 145628 (JP, A) Ken Sakamura, "Computer Architecture Cyber Architectural Architecture" (Showa 60-9-25) Kyoritsu Shuppan PP. 62−63

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A screen control method for executing a process such as data editing while transiting between a plurality of screens including a menu screen and an edit screen, wherein a work item of each display screen is stored in a screen definition table; The destination screen name from each display screen is stored in the screen definition table independently of the content of the work on the display screen, and when a screen transition instruction is input in each of the display screens, the Search for the destination screen name,
A screen control method, wherein, when stored, a transition is made to a screen having the screen name. 2. The screen control method according to claim 1, wherein a work item of each display screen is stored in a screen definition table, and a destination screen name from each of the display screens is stored for each data display area. The correspondence information of the transition destination screen and the screen transition instruction information are dynamically stored in the corresponding screen information table for each screen independently of the contents of the work on the display screen, and the transition destination screen Is dynamically stored in a stack table as a tree structure, and a screen transition is executed on the tree structure dynamically defined based on the screen definition table, the corresponding screen information table, and the stack table. A screen control method characterized in that: