JPH03136173A - Graphic editing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently restore past desired positional relations at the time of graphic movement by determining the other graphics to be moved in accordance with the change of a desired graphic position. CONSTITUTION:A pointing device 44 is the information input means to which coordinate data and commands for graphic generation and editing, their parameters, etc., are inputted, and a bit map display device 43 is the information output means on which graphics, command menus, etc., are displayed. A memory 42 is the storage means where graphic data and a control program are stored, and a CPU 41 is the control means which controls the information input means, the output means, and the storage means based on contents of the memory 42. The extent of movement of each graphic accompanied with the position change is held and logical relations among graphics are held; and when a graphic to be moved is indicated, the movement object graphic is automatically determined by these logical relations and is moved, and positional relations are efficiently restored. Thus, graphics are efficiently moved and a graphic group of high quality is always obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a graphic editing device, and more particularly to a graphic editing device having a function of changing the position of a graphic.

[Conventional technology] Desktop publishing (DTP) system and CA
A graphic editing device used in D, etc. is provided with a function to change the position of a graphic such as a rectangle, circle, polygon, etc. after it is created. Generally, this function uses a pointing device to select a figure to be moved, and then uses the pointing device to indicate its destination. In order to instruct the destination of the figure, an operation echo that continuously displays the figure to be moved is displayed at the current position of the pointing device. Furthermore, there is also an apparatus that utilizes the function of moving the position of figures and is equipped with a function of properly arranging figures, such as aligning figures and adjusting their spacing, especially from the viewpoint of copying drawings. For example, in the figure spacing function, Figure 2 (a)
In the flowchart shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to rearrange the rectangular figures at equal intervals in the vertical (longitudinal) direction. Further, the alignment function shown in FIG. 2(b) allows the rectangular blocks to be rearranged so that their centers are located on a straight line in the vertical (longitudinal) direction. Note that such spacing and alignment are realized not only in the vertical direction but also in the horizontal (horizontal) direction.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] When the proper arrangement of partial figures in a drawing is performed using such a cleanup function, the surroundings of the target figure are already surrounded by those target figures and the preferred arrangement. There are often shapes that are in a positional relationship. As an example of the function of properly arranging figures, consider a case where equidistant arrangement is performed on a flowchart drawing as shown in FIG. In this example, the spacing between shapes A, B, and C is DU
It shall be aligned to R. However, the position on the figure is fixed. As a result of executing this function, the alignment of figures B and C with the surrounding figures, whose positions have been moved, is destroyed. In other words, the horizontal alignment relationships established between figures B, C, and E are destroyed. Therefore, it is necessary to use the horizontal alignment function again to take figure B and create alignment relationships between C and E.

In view of the above-mentioned points, an object of the present invention is to move a figure that was already in a favorable (appropriate) positional relationship with the target figure to the previous preferred The object of the present invention is to provide a method that can efficiently restore the positional relationship.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The figure editing device according to the present invention maintains the amount of movement of figures whose positions are changed for each figure, and also maintains the logical relationship between figures. When a figure to be moved is presented by the designer, the figure to be moved is automatically determined based on this logical relationship, and the movement is performed using the amount of movement maintained by that figure, thereby efficiently restoring the positional relationship. It is characterized by

[Example] Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a hardware configuration to which the present invention can be applied. In FIG. 4, a pointing device 44 is an information manual means for inputting coordinate data, commands and their parameters for creating and editing figures, and a bit map display 43 is an information output means for displaying figures, command menus, etc. , the memory 42 is a storage means for storing the graphic data shown in FIG. 5 and the control program shown in FIG. This is a control means that performs control based on the following. FIG. 5 shows a method of storing target graphic data to which the present invention is applied. In this embodiment, in order to make it easier to handle block diagrams such as flowcharts and CAD drawings, figures in the drawings are divided into blocks and connection relationships that connect them.

Therefore, connection lines are treated as representing connection relationships. From now on, the connected figures are called blocks. This data value corresponds to the state shown in FIG. 1(b).

(a) is the data description format of each block. Each symbol block is given a block ID, that is, a serial number starting from l. Here blocks 1, 2, 3, 4.
5 are blocks A, B, C, and D in FIG. 1(b), respectively.
, corresponds to H. Next, describe the block type. Types of blocks include rectangles, rhombuses, parallelograms, circles, ellipses, and the like. Data regarding these shapes is held as a block dictionary. Next, describe the position of the block. The position is the center of the circumscribing rectangle of the block. Next, describe the size of the circumscribed rectangle of the block. The description format of these geometric data is not limited to the method described here, and does not limit the method of implementing the present invention.

Furthermore, when the position of each block is changed by the fair copy editing function, the amount of movement (x, y) is stored as vector data. Note that the coordinate system used here uses pixels on the bitmap display as units, and the origin is at the upper left corner of the screen. That is, X is the amount of movement in the horizontal direction, with rightward direction being positive and leftward direction being negative. Similarly, y is the amount of movement in the vertical direction, with downward direction being positive and upward direction being negative. Next, the description style of logical relationships between blocks will be explained. FIG. 5(b) is a description of the connection relationship between blocks. Logical relationships are managed by assigning IDs to each type. For example, the ID of the connection relationship between block A and block B is I, and the ID of the two connected blocks and the coordinates of the start and end points of the connection line are held as the descriptive data. Each block also holds a 1D list of connection relationships it has. Next, the parallel movement operation will be explained based on FIG. FIG. 1(a) is a flowchart as an example of the subject of fair copy editing. Assume that you have performed vertical spacing alignment on this drawing, which is one of the fair copying functions. Here, the standard for spacing alignment is block A, block B
, C is rearranged so that the distance is equal to DUR in the vertical direction.The new distance between the blocks can be determined manually using numerical values, or
An instruction method may be adopted in which the interval between two blocks existing in the drawing is used. As a result of using this spacing adjustment function, this flowchart diagram changes as shown in FIG. 1(b). At this time, the positions of blocks B and C are moved and their respective coordinate data are updated. The position movement amount data of each block is also updated, and block B is (0, Db).
Block C becomes (0, DC). In this case, since the moving directions are both upward, Db and Da are both negative values as shown in FIG. 5(a). Next, execute the parallel movement function. A drafter uses this function to restore proper relationships between blocks that were destroyed when executing a proper placement function that involved positional movement. For example, block D was in a horizontally aligned positional relationship with block B before the proper placement function was executed, but that relationship has now been destroyed. The same applies to block E and block C. When this function is executed, the system first prompts the drafter to specify the block whose position is to be moved. Then, the drafter first indicates block D, which is horizontally aligned with block B. Then, the system examines the logical relationship of block D, detects that the connection function is with block B, and moves block B by executing the optimal placement function; fii (0, Db) is used as the amount of movement of block D. , moves the position of block D. This means that block D has been moved in parallel to block B. Similarly, if block E is instructed to move in parallel, the movement will be performed using the previous movement amount (0, Dc) of block C, which is in a connection relationship with block E, and the horizontal alignment state will be reproduced. . The block parallel movement function described above, in combination with the conventional function of optimally arranging blocks, allows a drafter to selectively use the function to efficiently edit high-quality drawings. The above operation is generalized by the processing procedure shown in FIG. 6th
The figure is a flowchart representing the program stored in the memory 42 of FIG. FIG. 6(a) shows processing related to the implementation of the present invention that is performed when executing a block proper placement command that causes block position movement. In process 61, each target block is positioned and moved corresponding to the appropriate placement command. In the present invention, further in step 62, the positional movement amount D xy of each block moved is set. Next, the block parallel movement processing procedure will be explained using FIG. 6(b).

Execute this function after executing a command that causes block position movement. First, in process 63, the drawing person uses a pointing device or the like to indicate a block Bp to be translated in parallel, and this is recognized. Next, in process 64, the block data description described above is examined for block B,
Search for block B that has a connection relationship with . If there are multiple blocks to be connected, either the designer is allowed to select one, or the newly moved block is designated as Bc based on the amount of movement D xy and the time of movement. For the latter method, the movement occurrence time is set together with Dxy in step 62. Next, in process 65, the value of block BC is used as the amount of movement for parallel movement of target block BP.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, in the present invention, when a figure is moved, it is possible to efficiently move figures that should maintain a constant positional relationship with the moved figure, and it is possible to always obtain a group of high-quality figures. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the parallel movement of figures, which best represents the features of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a method for properly arranging figures in a conventional method. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional method for restoring the positional relationship between figures. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method of storing graphic data. Figure 6 is a control flowchart. 41 is the CPU. 42 is memory. (θ) (b) (η) <b>

Claims (1)

[Claims] A changing means for changing the position information of a desired figure; a holding means for maintaining a logical relationship between the figures; and a changing means for changing the position of the desired figure based on the logical relationship between the figures held by the holding means. 1. A figure editing device comprising determining means for determining another figure to be moved in response to a change in the figure.