JP3049192B2 - How to save forms - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of storing form information corresponding to form print data in a computer system that prints the form print data and the form information of the form. The present invention relates to a method for efficiently storing format information without being aware of the generation and storage period of the format information at the source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the practical use of form printing by a laser beam printer, it has become possible to add ruled lines and the like and change the character format by overlay in addition to form print data. Information on the overlay, character format, print pitch, and the like is called format information. When printing a form using a laser beam printer or referencing a form from a display screen, it is important to ensure synchronization between the form data and the format used in the form. .

In general, this form is created or changed simultaneously with the creation or change of a business program of a computer system for creating a form. The released form is released.

[0004] In other words, at the source of the form, synchronization between the form and the format used in the form is ensured when the business is released.

However, when a form is stored in a computer system, particularly when the storage period is long, if the business program for creating the form is changed while the form is being stored, the form is used in the form. The format information has also been changed,
Since the format generation changes, it is necessary to also save the format information used in the form when storing the print data of the form. That is, it is necessary to synchronize the print data of the form to be saved with the format information.

As a method for ensuring the synchronization of the format,
The first method of combining the print data of a form and a format without storing the form when saving the form, and saving it as image data. When saving the form print data to a file,
At the same time, there is a second method in which a format file is also stored and a format file is provided for each form.

In the former method, when a form is stored, a large load is required for synthesizing the print data of the form and the format, and since the stored data is in an image data format, the capacity of the stored file is increased. There are drawbacks.

In this case, although there is a means of data compression to reduce the capacity of the stored file, the load for compression and restoration increases. Therefore, it is not suitable for storing a large number of forms or a large number of forms, even though it can withstand storing a small amount of forms.

In the latter method, since files are stored in file units, it is necessary to divide the files to be stored at least every time a business program is changed. Generally, the files to be stored are separated every day. Formats other than the format actually used are also saved at the same time, and there is a disadvantage that the capacity of the saved file increases.
The method of saving files is described in "VOS3 Data Management Function / Hierarchical Control DMF / HSS Description, Hitachi HI
TAC Manual, 6180-3-321 ".

In this case, as a method for solving the problem of an increase in the capacity of the storage file, there is a method of extracting only the format used in the form when storing the print data of the form, and storing only the corresponding format in the storage file. Conceivable.

[0011]

However, when saving a form print data file, a method of saving a form file that extracts only the form used in the form is required every time the form print data is saved. Format information must be extracted, and complicated management is required.

Further, since the file is stored in file units, the same format is redundantly stored every time the file is stored, and the file capacity is wasted. Further, it is necessary to manage the correspondence between the form and the format storage file.

An object of the present invention is to avoid the duplicate storage of the same format information while maintaining the synchronization between the print data of the form to be stored and the format information, and to release the troublesome management of the correspondence between the form and the format storage file. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for saving a form format that can avoid unnecessary storage of format information.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, a form storage method according to the present invention provides a method for storing print data of a form in a form storage file together with format information used in the form to be stored. In addition, the generation information at the time when the form print data is created and the information of the storage expiration date are added to the format information and saved in the format storage file, and at the time of the storage, the format information matching the generation information is already stored in the format storage file. It is characterized in that the format information is stored in a format storage file only if the format information is not stored.

[0015]

According to the present invention, when print data of a form is stored in a form storage file from a form creation source, generation information and a storage expiration date information are added to the format information used in the form and the format storage file is added to the form storage file. Store.

As the generation information of the format, a generation number which is a creation / update number may be used, or a creation / update date and time may be used. If the release interval of the business program is not less than one day, not the creation / update date but the creation / update date, it can be put to practical use.

When the format information is stored, it is determined whether a format that matches the generation information is already stored in the format storage file, and only when the format information is not stored, the format information is stored in the format storage file. At this time, the stored format information can be identified by generation information, and the storage period is the storage period of the print data of the corresponding form. And
If format information that matches the generation information has already been stored in the format storage file, the storage time limit of the format information in the format storage file is compared with the storage time limit of the print data of the form to be saved. When the storage period is later, the storage period of the corresponding format information in the format storage file is replaced with the storage period of the form print data.

Therefore, additional format information is stored only when the format information with the matching generation information is not stored in the format storage file, so that format information of the same generation is not redundantly stored.

Further, the synchronization between the print data of the form to be stored and the format information is completely ensured.

Further, by setting the storage period of the format information to be stored in accordance with the storage period of the print data of the form, when the storage period of the print data of the stored form has passed and becomes unnecessary, The corresponding format information can also be deleted, minimizing the size of the format storage file.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system to which a form storage method according to the present invention is applied. A form creation unit 1 for executing a business program to create form data (print data), and the form data Data file 2 for temporarily storing the form data, a format library 3 for storing format information of various forms, and a form data storage request. According to the form data storage request, the form data in the form data file 2 is stored in the form storage file 4, and the form A form storage unit 5 that adds generation information and storage expiration information to the format information to be used and stores it in a format storage file 6, manages the storage expiration date and generation of the stored form data, and stores the form data whose storage expiration date has passed. The form storage period management unit 7 deletes the form from the storage file 4.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the form data file 4. The form data 8 includes an identification name 9 of the format information used by the form data and a storage term 10 for each form data. 2 are stored.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the format library 5, in which an identification name 11, format generation information 12, and a pointer 13 to format information 14 are stored for each format information.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the format storage file 6. The format identification file 15, the format generation information 16,
Each information of the storage term 17 corresponding to the storage term 10 of the form data 8 and the pointer 18 to the format information 19 are stored.

In this configuration, the form creation unit 1 sequentially outputs form data created by executing a business program to a form data file 2 composed of a spool file or the like.

On the other hand, when storage of the form data is requested, the form storage unit 2 extracts the form data 8 from the form data file 2 and stores it in the form storage file 4 in the same format as that of FIG. .

At this time, if identification information 9 is added to the form data 8 as information for designating the format, the format library 3 is searched using the identification name 9 and matches the identification name 9 of the format. The generation information 12 stored together with the identification name 11 is obtained, and the generation information 12 is added to the form data 8 and stored in the format storage file 6 in a format as shown in FIG.

At this time, the identifier 11 and the format generation information 12
Is used to search the format storage file 7 to check whether or not the format information in which both the format identifier 11 and the format generation information 12 match have already been stored in the format storage file 6. When the format information is stored, the expiration date is 1
When 7 is earlier than the storage period of the form data to be newly stored this time, the storage period 17 is replaced with the storage period of the new form data.

If there is no format information in which the format identification name 11 and the format generation information 12 match, the format information 14 is obtained from the format information pointer 13 of the format library 3 and copied to the format storage file 6. The format information 19 is additionally stored. In this case, a pointer of the format information 19 is set.

On the other hand, the form storage period management unit 7 usually executes the period management once a day, searches the form storage file 4 for form data whose storage period has passed, deletes it,
Format information 19 whose storage period has expired from the format storage file 6
Look for and delete.

By storing the form data and the format information in this manner, it is possible to avoid duplicative storage of the same format while ensuring synchronization between the form data and the format information, and to manage the correspondence between the form data and the storage file. It is completely relieved from the hassle of that.

When the form storage period management unit 7 attempts to delete format information, the format information of the latest generation is not deleted within a certain period even if the storage period has expired. It is possible to prevent a save operation of the same format from occurring.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-296169 discloses a method for managing format, form data, and generation data, which is completely different from the present invention in terms of purpose and configuration.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for saving the form of a form executed by the form storage unit 5. When the form needs to be saved and the form storage unit 5 starts operating, the form to be saved is determined in step 20. In addition to allocating the form data file 2 in which data is stored, a form attribute such as a storage term of the form data and an identification name of a format used in the form data is input, and a record for designating the format is created (step 21) ).

Next, in step 22, the format library 3 is searched using the format identification name 9, the generation information 12 of the corresponding format is obtained, and this generation information 12 is added to a record specifying a format or the like.

Next, at step 23, the format storage file 6
, The format information 19 is searched using the format identifier 9 and the generation information 12. As a result, if it is determined in step 24 that there is no corresponding format, the corresponding format information is copied from the format library 3 to the format storage file 4, and the storage period 10 of the form data 8 is set as the storage period 17 of the format storage file 6. .

However, if it is determined in step 24 that there is a corresponding format, the storage period 17 of the format information is compared with the storage period 10 of the form data in step 26, and the storage period 10 of the form data is later. In step 27, the storage term 17 of the format information is changed to the storage term 10 of the form data 8.

Thereafter, at step 28, a record in which the generation information and the information of the storage term are set is output to the format storage file 6, and at step 29, the form data is inputted from the form data file 2 and stored.

Thereafter, in step 30, if the input form data record exists, after step 21 determines whether or not there is a format specification, step 22 and subsequent steps are executed again.

If it is determined in step 21 that there is no format specification, the process is executed again from step 28. Also,
If it is determined in step 20 that all the form data records stored in the form data file 2 have been processed, the assignment of the form data file 2 is canceled in step 31 and an entry for the form is added to the index of the form storage file 4. And terminate the processing.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the storage term management executed by the form storage term management unit 7.

The form storage period management unit 7 is normally activated once a day, and when the processing is started, first, in step 32, the form storage file management unit 7 is positioned at the head entry of the index of the form storage file 4.

If the positioned entry exists, it is determined in step 33 whether or not the storage term 10 of the form data has expired, and if it has expired, the corresponding form data 8 is deleted in step 34.

Next, at step 35, the next index entry is positioned, and when it is determined at step 36 that the positioned entry exists, the processing from step 33 is repeated.

If it is determined in step 36 that the processing has been performed up to the entry of the last index, the process proceeds to step 37 to position the index in the format storage file 6 at the head entry. If the positioned entry exists, it is determined in step 38 whether or not the storage period 17 of the format information has expired, and if it has expired, the format information is deleted in step 39.

Next, in step 40, the next index entry is positioned. When it is determined in step 41 that the positioned entry exists, the processing from step 38 is repeated.

If it is determined in step 41 that the processing has been performed up to the entry of the last index, the processing is terminated.

In this embodiment, the processing of the form storage file 6 is described after the processing of the form storage file 4, but it goes without saying that the processing order may be reversed. If the format information to be deleted is the latest generation, and if a method of not deleting until a fixed period has elapsed even after the expiration of the storage expiration is adopted, whether the storage expiration is determined to be the latest generation in the storage expiration determination processing in step 38, Further, a determination as to whether a predetermined period has elapsed may be added.

In this embodiment, the format generation information is added in correspondence with the attribute of the form created in the business form and the format identification name included in the form data. Needless to say, a method of independently managing the correspondence between the format information and the generation information of the format without including it in the form data may be used.

[0051]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, at the time of saving form data, the format information used for the form data is added with the generation information and the storage term information to save the format. Since the data is stored in a file, double storage of the same format can be avoided while synchronizing the form data and the format information, and the correspondence management between the form data and the format storage file can be eliminated.

By setting the storage period of the format information to be stored to correspond to the storage period of the form, it is possible to avoid storing the format information that does not need to be stored and to minimize the size of the format storage file. It becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a computer system to which a form storage method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a form data file.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a format library.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a format storage file.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a format storage procedure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure for managing a form retention period;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Form preparation part, 2 ... Form data file, 3 ... Format library, 4 ... Form storage file, 5 ... Form storage part, 6
... Form storage file, 7 ... Form storage term management unit, 8 ... Form data, 9 ... Form identification name, 10 ... Form storage term,
11 ... format identification name, 12 ... format generation information, 14 ... format information, 15 ... format identification name, 16 ... format generation information,
17: format storage term, 19: format information.

(56) References JP-A-63-296169 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 19/00 G06F 17/40

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] In a computer system for synthesizing print data of a form and form information of the form and printing the form data, when the form print data is stored in a form storage file, the form information is used together with the format information used in the form to be stored. The generation information at the time of creating the print data and the information of the storage expiration date are added to the format information and saved in the format storage file, and at the time of the saving, the format information matching the generation information is already stored in the format storage file. A form storage method for determining whether or not the form information is stored in a form storage file only when the form information is not stored. 2. The form storage method according to claim 1, wherein the storage period information is determined in accordance with a storage period of the form print data.