JPH04100105A - Flowcharting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To arrange an element in an arbitrary position by providing a means which inputs and displays arrow display position coordinates consisting of the start point, the relay point, and the end point for display of an arrow and determines connection relations between elements by these coordinates and element arrangement position coordinates. CONSTITUTION:An operator uses a mouse to input arrow display position coordinates of the start point, the relay point, and the end point by an input means 101. Connection relations between elements of inputted arrow display position coordinates are discriminated by a connection relation discriminating means to generate data. Data is stored in a storage means 102, and arrow display position coordinate data is sent to an arrow data determining means 104. This means 104 corrects coordinates so that the start point and the end point of arrow display position coordinate data coincide with the outer periphery of elements, and arrow data is generated, and arrow data stored in the storage means 102 is sent to a display means 105 and is displayed on a drawing. Thus, elements are arranged in arbitrary positions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a flowchart creation device that creates a program flowchart for, for example, a programmable logic controller while displaying it on a screen.

[Conventional technology]

As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-155474, conventional flow diagram creation devices input the data of connection relationships between elements (boxes in the flow diagram) and convert this data into data. Generally, arrows (the "line" part in the flow diagram) are displayed based on the flowchart.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In such a method, the arrow display position is calculated from the element arrangement position data and the connection relation data between elements, so there is a restriction that the elements must be arranged along a predetermined grid. be.

That is, there is a problem that elements cannot be placed at arbitrary positions.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a flowchart creation device that can arrange elements at arbitrary positions.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides an apparatus for creating a flow diagram while displaying the flow diagram being created on a display means, which includes the following information: A memory in which connection relationship data, arrow data indicating connections between elements, and data on the shape of the element corresponding to the type of element in the flow diagram and the connection position with the arrow provided along the outer periphery of the element are stored. an input means for inputting the arrow display position coordinates consisting of the type of the element, the arrangement position coordinates of the element, and the coordinates of the start point, intermediate point, and end point of the place where the arrow is to be displayed; and the arrow input by the input means. The connection relationship between elements is determined based on the display position and coordinates, the arrangement position coordinates of the elements of the flow diagram stored in the storage means, the shape of the element, and the connection position data with the arrow provided along the outer periphery of the element. connection relation determining means for determining and storing in the storage means; arrow data determining means for generating arrow data based on the connection relation data between the elements and the arrow display position coordinates and storing it in the storage means; Types of elements stored in the storage means Arrangement position coordinates of 7 elements
The present invention is characterized by comprising display means for displaying a flow diagram based on arrow data.

[Effect]

The present invention includes means for inputting and displaying arrow display position coordinates consisting of a starting point, a relay point, and an end point for displaying an arrow, and for determining connection relationships between elements from the coordinates and element arrangement position coordinates. Since there is no need for a means to calculate the arrow display position, there are no restrictions on the arrangement position of elements, and it becomes possible to arrange elements at arbitrary positions.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the first section.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a flowchart creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 101 indicates the type of element of the flow diagram.

It is an input means into which the arrow display position coordinates consisting of the arrangement position bar of the element, the start point, relay point, and end point coordinates for displaying the arrow are input, and the data input by this input means 101 is stored in the storage means 102. be done.

In addition to these input data, the storage means 102 also stores data on element shapes and connection terminal images corresponding to element types.

Here, the connection terminal image indicates a connection position with an arrow provided in advance along the circumference of the element.

103 is the arrow display position coordinate inputted by the input means 101. A means 102 is a connection relation determining means for determining the connection relations between elements based on the layout position coordinates of the elements, the shape of the elements, and the connection terminal images stored in the means 102. In addition, the end point data is similarly searched for elements to determine the connection relationship between the elements, and the results are stored in the storage means 102.

Reference numeral 104 denotes arrow data determining means for correcting the display position coordinates of the elements in the connection relationship determined by the connection relationship determination means 103, and the arrow data determining means corrects the display position coordinates of the arrow display position coordinates of the elements. The coordinates are corrected to match the outer circumference, arrow data is generated, and the storage means 10
Store in 2.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a display means for displaying a flow diagram based on the element type, element arrangement position coordinates, and arrow data stored in the storage means 102 .

FIG. 2 shows data stored in the storage means 102 by the input means 101 of FIG. In the figure, C01,...
In each column of element numbers indicated by 1, C0L2 indicates the element type, and [:OL3 indicates the arrangement position coordinates of the element (X,
Y) data is stored.

FIG. 3 shows data of element shapes and connection terminal images stored in the storage means 102 of FIG. 1 corresponding to each type A to D. Connection terminals provided in advance along the outer periphery of the element are classified into input terminals and output terminals. The terminal on the left side of the element shape is the input terminal, and the terminal on the right side is the output terminal.

FIG. 4 shows the data of the arrow display position coordinates input by the input means 101 of FIG. One starting point coordinate P1, one ending point coordinate P. -2 and multiple relay point coordinates P2~
Consists of P.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the connection relationship determining means 103 of FIG. 1. In the figure, 01 is an area indicating the output terminal 21, and Q2 is an area indicating the input terminal 12. In this way, the shape of the element is such that the length (vertical Y direction) is determined by the number of input terminals or output terminals, whichever is greater. width(
mX direction), all elements have the same width.

Based on the arrow display position coordinates (starting point or end point), the element and terminal that include the coordinates are identified by comparing and calculating the arrangement position coordinates of the element and the shape of the element.

FIG. 6 shows connection relationship data stored in the storage means 102 by the connection relationship determining means 103 of FIG. In the figure, in the columns corresponding to the columns of connection wire numbers of C0LII, data of the output connection terminal number is stored in C0L12, and data of the input connection terminal number is stored in C0L13, respectively.

Next, the operation of this flowchart creating device will be explained.

(1) First, the operator specifies (inputs) the type of element and the arrangement position coordinates of the element using the input means 101 using a mouse. The input data is stored in the storage means 102
is stored in

(2) The type of element, the arrangement position coordinates of the element, the shape of the element, and the connection terminal image stored in the storage means 102 are sent to the display means 105 and displayed on the screen.

(3) Repeat steps (1) and (2) above to arrange multiple elements on the screen.

(4) Next, the operator uses the input means 101 to input the arrow display position coordinates (starting point, relay point, end point) using a mouse.

(5) The input arrow display position coordinates are sent to the connection relation determination means, which determines the connection relations between the elements and generates connection relation data. The data is stored in the storage means 102. Further, the arrow display position coordinate data is sent to the arrow data determining means 104.

(6) The arrow data determining means 104 generates arrow data by correcting the coordinates so that the start and end points of the arrow display position coordinate data coincide with the outer periphery of the element, and stores the data in the storage means 102 .

(7) The arrow data stored in the storage means 102 is sent to the display means 105 and displayed on the screen.

(8) Repeat steps (4) to (7) above to display a plurality of inter-element connections on the screen.

As a result of the above, a flow diagram as shown in FIG. 7, for example, is displayed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since elements and arrows can be placed at arbitrary positions, IPII flow diagrams can also be created. Furthermore, since the arrangement position coordinates of the elements and the arrow display position coordinates are determined by specifying the position on the screen using a mouse, it is possible to create a flow diagram with a simple operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a flowchart creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of data stored in the storage means, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of data stored in the storage means. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of data on the shape of the element and connection terminal image, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of data on arrow display position coordinates, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the connection relationship determining means. , FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing connection relationship data stored in the storage means, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a created flow diagram. 101: Input means 102: Storage means 103:
Connection relationship determining means Arrow data determining means 105: Display means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for creating a flow diagram while displaying the flow diagram being created on a display means, comprising: types of elements constituting the flow diagram, arrangement position coordinates of the elements, connection relationship data between the elements; , a storage means that stores arrow data indicating connections between elements, as well as data on element shapes corresponding to the types of elements in the flow diagram and connection positions with arrows provided along the outer periphery of the elements; an input means for inputting arrow display position coordinates consisting of a type of the element, arrangement position coordinates of the element, and coordinates of a start point, a relay point, and an end point for displaying the arrow; and an arrow display position input by the input means. Determining the connection relationship between the elements based on the coordinates, the arrangement position coordinates of the elements of the flow diagram stored in the storage means, the shape of the element, and the connection position data with the arrow provided along the outer periphery of the element, connection relation determining means for storing in the storage means; arrow data determining means for generating arrow data based on connection relation data between the elements and the arrow display position coordinates and storing it in the storage means; 1. A flowchart creation device comprising display means for displaying a flowchart based on stored element types, element arrangement position coordinates, and arrow data.