JP2853282B2 - Help message display method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus provided with a multi-window system, and particularly to a detailed description of a specific menu when a specific menu is selected from a pop-up menu. The present invention relates to a help message display method for displaying a help message in real time.

[Prior Art] A plurality of different contents are displayed simultaneously by dividing a display screen and displaying a plurality of different contents at arbitrary positions on the display screen in respective display areas called windows which can be displayed in an arbitrary size. In an information processing system provided with a multi-window system (which may be simply referred to as a window system) that allows the user to view a program, a process content (menu) is selected on a part of the display screen in response to the start-up of the application program. A list of menu items for instruction is displayed.

The list of the menu items displayed on the display screen is generally called a pop-up menu.

The user selects a desired menu from the pop-up menu and instructs the information processing system to start a corresponding program, and executes processing of the menu.

In this type of conventional multi-window system, when a specific menu is selected from a pop-up menu, a detailed description of the selected menu, that is, a menu help message (hereinafter simply referred to as a help message) is displayed on the screen. It was never done.

In order to request the help message at the time of selecting a pop-up menu, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-150928, a message is displayed in response to a predetermined key operation such as a "help key" on a keyboard. Is opened, and a help message is displayed in the window.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

As described above, in the related art, in order to obtain a detailed description of a specific menu item (hereinafter, simply referred to as a menu) selected by an instruction means (a keyboard or a pointing device such as a mouse) from a pop-up menu, Requires keyboard or pointing device operation.

In general, menus of this type are often represented by abbreviations, and it is rare that the user correctly understands the processing contents of all menus.

For this reason, it is often necessary to check the processing content of the selected menu, forcing the user to spend unnecessary thinking time as to whether to check the menu content,
There is a problem that a help message request operation for confirming menu contents is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to provide a detailed description of a specific menu selected and designated to a user in real time when a pop-up menu is selected.

[Means for solving the problem]

The help message display method of the present invention includes a display means for displaying a screen (FIGS. 1, 3 and 3) and a display screen storage area (FIG. 1, FIG. 21, FIG. 21) for storing image information of a pop-up menu display screen. 24, a help screen storage area for storing image information of a help screen (FIGS. 22, 24), and a help message storage area for storing (a text information of) a help message relating to an item of a pop-up menu. (Fig. 1 and Fig. 7)
In response to selection of an item of the pop-up menu displayed on the display means (FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 2), the selected item A pop-up menu selection control means (FIG. 1, FIG. 12, FIG. 12) for starting a corresponding program;
The help screen image read from the help screen storage area is displayed on display means (FIGS. 1, 3 and 3), and a help message corresponding to the selected item is displayed in the help message storage area (FIG. 23). , FIG. 23) and display control means (FIG. 1, FIG. 11, FIG. 11) for displaying on the displayed help screen.

[Action]

Pop-up menu selection control means (FIG. 1, FIG.
FIG. 12) and the display control means (FIG. 1, FIG. 11, FIG. 11)
Display means for pop-up menu (Fig. 1, Fig. 7, Fig. 3)
To be displayed.

When the operator selects one item of the pop-up menu using a pointing device, a keyboard, or the like, pop-up menu selection control means (FIG. 1, FIG. 7, FIG.
2) reads out the help screen image information from the help screen storage area (FIGS. 22 and 7) and stores the help message corresponding to the selected item in the help message storage area (FIGS. 23 and 7). Read from Figure 24).

The display control means (FIGS. 1 and 7) displays the help screen on the display means (FIGS. 1 and 3) based on the read image information of the help screen. Control is performed so that the issued help message is displayed in the displayed help screen.

The operator refers to the help message for the selected item to determine whether or not the item is the desired item. If the item is desired, the operator confirms the selection. By repeatedly selecting an item and viewing the help message, a desired item can be selected.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system for explaining a first embodiment of a help message display system according to the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a central processing unit, 2 is a storage unit, 3
Is a display means, and 4 is an instruction means.

The central processing means 1 has a display control means 11 and a menu selection control means 12, and has a multi-window system.

The storage means 2 has a display screen storage area 21 having a help screen storage area 22 as an image storage area corresponding to a window.
And a help message storage area 23 for storing text information of a help message provided in an area different from the display screen storage area 21.

The display means 3 is a CR having a multi-window display screen.
It is composed of a display device such as a T display device, and has a menu display area and a help message window as a help message display area at specific positions.

The instruction means 4 is composed of a pointing device such as a keyboard 41 or a mouse 42, and moves a cursor on the screen of the display means 3 to give instructions for menu selection and other information processing to the central processing means 1. Has functions.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a help message window for displaying a help message provided on the screen of the display means 3.

A display screen 31 has a help message window 32 for displaying an image stored in the help screen storage area of the storage means 2 at a specific position on the display screen 31.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a list of pop-up menu lists displayed on the display screen.

The pop-up menu 33 is displayed when the operator starts the process, for example, by using the pointing device 42 of the instruction unit 4.
When the display of the pop-up menu is requested by simultaneously pressing the left and right buttons of the mouse, the image data of the pop-up menu is written to the display screen storage area 21 of the main storage unit 2.

The image data of the pop-up menu written in the display screen storage area 21 is displayed on the screen of the display means 3 via the display control unit 11 as shown in FIG.

When a menu selection instruction is performed by moving the cursor over a desired menu by operating the mouse, the menu selection control unit 12 of the central processing unit 1 controls the storage unit 2 and displays the selected menu. The text information of the corresponding help message is stored in the help message storage area 23.
And is converted into image information and written to the help screen storage area. The image information of the help message written in the help screen storage area is displayed in the help message window 32 of the display means 3 under the control of the display control means 11.

Also, if you move the cursor over another menu,
Under the control of the menu selection control means 12, the help message relating to the previous menu, which was previously displayed in the help message window 32, is cleared, and the help message relating to the newly designated menu is displayed in the help message window 32 in the same procedure as described above. Is displayed.

For example, when the cursor is moved over “TEdit” in the pop-up menu 33 shown in FIG. 3, as shown in FIG.
"Edit text" which is a description (that is, a help message) explaining the contents of "dit" is displayed in the help message window 32 in real time.

By viewing this help message, the operator can
You can check the processing contents of the pop-up menu "TEdit".

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, when the cursor is moved over “PSW”, the help message window 32 is displayed under the control of the menu selection control unit 12 in the same manner as described above. The "Edit text" help message for the previous menu "TEdit" is cleared, and the "Open process status window (PSW) showing the process status" help message for the menu "PSW" is displayed. Is done.

Thereafter, in response to the selection of a new menu, the help message of the menu is displayed in the help message window 32 in real time.

The help message window 32 can be moved to an arbitrary position on the screen of the display means 3, and the size of the window can be changed, so that the help message window 32 can be displayed at a position and size that are easy for the user to see.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 1 for displaying a help message in a help message window in real time according to the present invention.

In the figure, first, when a menu display request is made by an operator operating a pointing device such as a keyboard 41 or a mouse 42 which constitutes the instruction means 4 (step 1, hereinafter, displayed as in S-1) The menu selection control means 12 of the central processing means 1 writes the pop-up menu as image information in the display screen storage area 21 of the storage means 2 (S-2).

The pop-up menu image information written in the display screen storage area 21 is displayed as a pop-up menu list on the display screen of the display means 3 under the control of the display control means 11 (S-3).

The operator looks at the displayed list of pop-up menus and operates the indicating means 4 to move the cursor on the screen of the display means 3 in order to select a desired menu. The menu is instructed by placing the cursor on a specific menu for executing a target process.

When detecting that the cursor is placed on a specific menu (S-4), the central processing means 1 clears the help screen storage area 22 of the storage means 2 (S-5).

When the help screen storage area 22 is cleared, the help message displayed in the help message window 32 of the display unit 3 is deleted.

A new help message corresponding to the specified specific menu is written as image information from the help message storage area 23 to the cleared help screen storage area 22 (S-6).

The new help message written in the help window storage area 22 is displayed in the help message window 32 of the display means 3 (S-7).

Thereby, the operator can know the contents of the pop-up menu in detail by only selecting and selecting a specific menu from the list.

In the above embodiment, the help message window 32, which is a window dedicated to the help message operated on the multi-window system, is used to display the help message.

However, the present invention is not limited to displaying a help message on such a dedicated window, but also providing a help message display area at a fixed position on the screen of the display means and displaying the help message there. You may do so.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system for explaining a second embodiment of the help message display system according to the present invention.

In the configuration shown in FIG.
, A help screen storage area 24 is fixedly provided.

In this configuration, the help message storage area 24 of the display screen storage area 21 of the main storage means 2 stores an image of a help message relating to a specified specific menu from the help message storage area 23.

The image information of the help message written in the help screen storage area 24 is displayed at a fixed display position on the display screen of the display means 3.

The operation of this embodiment is the same as that of the flowchart of FIG. 6 except that the “help message window” in S-7 is replaced with “fixed display position on the display screen”.

In this embodiment, the help message window storage area 22 in the first embodiment is not required, and the processing for displaying the help message in the window can be omitted, so that the load on the display control means 11 can be reduced.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a help message corresponding to a selected menu can be obtained by simply selecting and instructing a specific menu from a list of menus displayed on a display unit. Is displayed in real time on the screen of the display means, so that the operation of the instruction means for displaying the help message is unnecessary, and the operator does not need to think about whether to confirm the menu contents. No time wasted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a help message display system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing system for explaining an embodiment; FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a help message window for displaying a help message provided on a screen of a display means; FIG. FIGS. 4 and 5 are explanatory diagrams of a selected menu and a display state of a help message corresponding to the selected menu, and FIG. 6 is a help message window in the help message window according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system for explaining a second embodiment of the help message display method according to the present invention. 1 ... central processing means, 11 ... display control means, 12 ... pop-up menu selection control means, 2 ... storage means, 21 ...
... Display screen storage area, 22 ... Help screen storage area, 23 ...
... help message storage area, 3 ... display means, 4 ...
Instruction means, 41 ... keyboard, 42 ... pointing device.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A display means for displaying a screen, a display screen storage area for storing image information of a pop-up menu display screen, a help screen storage area for storing image information of a help screen, and a help message relating to items of a pop-up menu Storage means having a help message storage area for storing, in response to selection of an item of the pop-up menu displayed on the display means, pop-up menu selection control means for starting a program corresponding to the selected item; When an item of the pop-up menu is selected, an image of the help screen read from the help screen storage area is displayed on the display means, and a help message corresponding to the selected item is read from the help message storage area and the display is performed. In the help screen Help message display method characterized by comprising a display control means for causing shown.