JPH0277818A - Help information generation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a help function corresponding to the ability and use state of a user by providing a document editing program, a help data registration program, a help processing program, a document data control table, and a held data control table in an information processor. CONSTITUTION:A group of programs such as various application programs 101 like the document editing program 101a, a group of programs such as the help data registration program 102 and help processing program 103, a group of control tables such as the help data control table 104 and document data control table 105, and a group 106 of data such as document data 106a and help data 106b are stored in the hard disk device 13. The program groups 101, 102, and 103 are read out onto a main memory 2 when necessary and executed by a central processing unit 1. Consequently, the user of the information processing unit can generate help information freely.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a help function for improving the operability of information processing devices with high man-machine characteristics such as word processors, personal computers, and workstations. The present invention relates to a help information creation method suitable for realizing the help function of.

[Conventional technology]

As one method for improving the operability of information processing equipment,
2. Description of the Related Art A help function is widely known in which when a user does not know how to operate a device, the user is informed of the operation method by pressing a help key or the like. This help function allows the user to use the information processing apparatus without having to read the manual for the information processing apparatus.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the conventional help function is provided by each information processing manufacturer.
Alternatively, since help information is usually provided by each application software maker, it is not always possible to provide help information that satisfies all users. For this reason, a person who is using the device for the first time may find the help function very difficult to understand and unfriendly, and conversely, a person who has used the device for a long time may find the help function useless. There were quite a few cases where this happened.

As described above, the conventional help function has a problem in that it is difficult to provide help information according to the level of the user.

An object of the present invention is to solve this problem and provide a means by which the user can freely create help information, thereby realizing a help function according to the user's level and usage situation.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is a document editing program that creates and registers document data, and a document editing program that creates and registers document data as help data.
A help data registration program to delete, a help processing program to display help data on a display device in response to a user's request, a document data management table to manage the storage area of document data in a disk, and a document data management table to manage document data as help data. This is achieved by providing a help data management table inside the information processing device.

[Effect]

A user of the information processing device uses a document editing program to create help data (document data) in the same way as general documents, and stores the document data on a disk. At this time, the document data number and the disk storage area address are registered in the document data management table in a corresponding manner. Then, the user uses a help data registration program to register the document data as help data with a designated help data number. At this time, the document data number corresponding to the help data number is registered in the help data management table. Also, at this time, the already registered help data can be changed by calling the previous document editing program. The help data registered in this way is a help processing program that is called up when the user of the device presses the help button, and the document data number corresponding to the help data number corresponding to the situation at that time is managed by the help data management program. Further, the storage position of the document data number in the disk is obtained from the document data management table, necessary help data is read from the disk, and outputted to the display device.

As described above, the device user can freely register and change desired help data.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that this embodiment is an example applied to a document editing device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a document editing device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a central processing unit that executes programs related to document editing and controls peripheral devices.

2 is a main memory, which stores processing programs related to document editing;
and related data are stored. 3 is a video memory. Instructions such as editing, printing, and activation of a help function, as well as document input operations, are performed via the keyboard 4 and mouse 5. A display controller 6 controls a display device 7 that displays a screen for editing documents. The contents of the video memory 3 are displayed on the display device 7. Reference numeral 8 denotes a printer controller 1-roller, which controls the printer device 9 that outputs documents and the like. 10 is a floppy disk controller;
It controls a floppy disk drive device 11 that reads and stores document data and programs on a floppy disk. 12 is a hard disk controller that controls the hard disk device 13 that reads and saves programs related to document editing, document data, and help message data. This is a bus for data transfer.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of help data creation, registration, and help processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining the processing procedure of the help data registration program. 5 and 6 are diagrams showing a document data management table and a help data management table, respectively. Use these drawings below to create help data,
Registration.

and a detailed explanation of the help process.

In FIG. 1, the hard disk device 13 includes various application programs 1 such as a document editing program 101a.
01. Help data registration program 10 detailed below
2. A group of programs such as the help processing program 103, a group of control tables such as the help data management table 1047, document data management table 105, and document data 10
6a, help data 106b, and other data groups 106 are stored. Above program group 101, 102.1
03 is read out to the main memory 2 as necessary and executed by the central processing unit 1.

First, when creating help data, it is performed using the document editing program 101a in the same way as creating general document data (step 111).

Then, the created document data 106a is registered on the disk 13 (step 112). At this time, the document data 106 is stored in the document data management table 105 shown in FIG.
The document data number 401 given to a and the document data 1
06a is registered in association with the storage location 402 in the disk. Thereby, subsequent reading and writing of the document data 106a can be easily performed using the document data number.

Next, the help data registration program 102 is used to register the created document data 106a as help data as is. The help data registration program 102 is
The help data number given in accordance with the operating status of each program in the information processing device is associated with the document data number (step 113), the details of which will be explained with reference to FIG.

Help data W! ! 'The program 102 has functions for registering, changing, and deleting help data, and first, it is determined which of these is to be executed (step 301).
). In the case of new registration of help data, first specify the help data number to be registered (step 302).
Then, by specifying the document data number to be associated with the help data number, the help data number 501 and the document data number 502 are registered in correspondence in the help data management table 104 as shown in FIG. (Step 303).

As a result, when a help request is made by a user, the registered document data can be easily read out as help data by the help processing program 1.3 of FIG. 1 as described below.

That is, a help data number is determined based on the operating status inside the information processing device at that time (step 114), and the help data number is used to obtain the storage location of the help data (document data) from the help data management 5. The help data is read from the disk 13 and displayed on the display device 7 (step 115). For the specific processing contents of the help processing program, please refer to "Help Information Control System" filed on the same date as the present application.

If you want to change the help data that has been registered, please
In the figure, the help data creation program 102 first specifies the help data number to be changed (step 304), and then uses the help data number to create the help data management table 104 and the document data management table 10.
5, the storage position of the corresponding help data (document data) in the disk 13 is determined and read onto the main memory 2 (step 305). And document editing program 10
1a, and after changing the help data (document data), re-storing the help data on the disk 13 (
Step 306).

In addition, when deleting already registered help data, in FIG. The corresponding document data number is deleted (step 308). As a result, when the help processing program 103 operates,
Even if the help data number is specified, no help information can be output.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, the document data created by the user can be used as is as help data, and the help data can be processed as desired, making it ideal for the user. Help functions can be realized.

A second embodiment will be described below. In the previous embodiment, the document data itself was used as help data, but in order to read the document data itself and display it on a display device, character code conversion 2. Dot expansion of isomorphic data and expansion of compressed image data are required. , and conversion to display format data.

etc., the processing load may be large. It is desirable that help data be displayed immediately when requested.
It may be desirable to convert help data into a display data format that minimizes the above processing load. Therefore, when registering help data in the help data registration program 102 in FIG. 3 (step 303) and when re-registering the help data after changing it (step 306), the corresponding help data is displayed in the document data format. Add processing to convert to data format. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the help data management table 104a includes help data number 501. In addition to the corresponding document data number 502, the storage location 601 of the help data 107 converted into the display data format will also be managed. Thereby, the help processing program 103 can obtain the desired help data 107 by referring only to the help data management table 104a in step 115.

As described above, according to this embodiment, relative help data can be registered in the first embodiment so as to be displayed and output at high speed, and a help function that is easier to use can be realized.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the user of the information processing device can freely create help information.
This has the effect that a help function can be realized depending on the user's level and usage situation of the device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of help data registration processing according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of a document editing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure of a help data registration program. Figure 4 is a diagram showing a document data management table, Figure 5 is a diagram showing a help data management table,
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a help data management table in the embodiment of FIG. 2. 1'01a Document editing program 102 Help data registration program 103 Help processing program 13 Hard disk 104 Help data management table 105 Document data management table 106 ...Document data or help data.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An information processing device comprising a central processing unit, a storage device, an input device, and an output device, and having a help function that outputs help information that is effective at the time according to a user's request, comprising: A document editing program that creates and registers data, a first control table that manages the registration location of document data created by the document editing program, and help data registration that registers, changes, and deletes the document data as help data. a second control table that manages the correspondence between the program, help data, and document data; and when a user requests help information, help data matching the situation is transferred between the second control table and the second control table; 2. A help information creation method characterized by comprising a help processing program for extracting data using a second control table and outputting it to an output device. 2. When registering help data with the help data registration program, convert the document data into a format that is easy to output to the output device and register it as help data, and store the help data in the output format in the second control table above. 2. The help information creation method according to claim 1, further comprising data storage location information.