JPH04273322A - Hierarchical menu selecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and quickly select the menus which are frequently used by users among those hierarchical menus. CONSTITUTION:A storage (buffer) 8 stores the menus which are frequently used by the users among those hierarchical menus stored in a stack 7. The menus stored in the buffer 8 are always displayed on a CRT display 1. The display positions of these menus are registered by a menu processing part 6 and then designated by a mouse 2. The processing contents of the pointed menu are carried out. Thus the menus used frequently are always displayed and can be easily and quickly selected with direct designation of them.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] This invention is used for interactive computer terminals, and when the computer displays a list (menu) of the next possible actions or programs, the user can select this. Regarding the technology for

0002

2. Description of the Related Art As computer processing becomes more multifunctional, menus in which processing items are arranged in a table format also become hierarchically structured. The hierarchical menu is retrieved from the storage device in order from top to bottom and displayed on the CRT display. For example, as shown in FIG. 5(1), [A], [B
], [C], and [D], when the operator specifies [A] with a pointing device such as a mouse, the commands below [A] are displayed as shown in (2) in the same figure. menu [A-1], [A-2]
[A-3] is displayed, and when you specify [A-3], the lower level [A-3-] is displayed as shown in (3) in the same figure.
1] [A-3-2], [A-3-3], [A-3-4]
command menu will be displayed.

0003

[Problem to be solved by the invention] Therefore, FIG.
), when executing the command [A-3-4], it is necessary to go through the display process of Figure 5 (1) → (2) → (3) as shown above, and [A-3- If you want to repeatedly execute the command 4), the operation becomes cumbersome. Therefore, instead of selecting menus in order from the top, you can directly select a menu at a lower level by pressing down on a certain key combination on the computer's keyboard (for example, "GRPH" key + alphabet key). There is a method.

[0004] This is called a shortcut key, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between this shortcut key and the menu to be selected, so the operator must memorize the shortcut key corresponding to the menu he or she wants to select, or use the shortcut key each time. It was necessary to check the correspondence between shortcut keys and menus, and quick operation could not be expected. Furthermore, in order to press a shortcut key, the user must temporarily remove his/her hand from the mouse, which impairs the comfortable operability of using only the mouse.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a hierarchical menu selection device that allows a desired menu to be selected from among hierarchical menus with simple and quick operation. The purpose is to

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration. That is, the hierarchical menu selection device of the present invention selects a specified menu from among the hierarchical menus retrieved from the first storage device and displayed in order from the top to the bottom, from the first storage device to the second storage device. The menu includes means for transferring the menu to a storage device, means for constantly displaying the menu transferred to the second storage device, and means for executing processing of the menu based on designation of a display position of the transferred menu. It is characterized by

[0007]

[Operation] The operation of the structure of this invention is as follows. When a menu is designated from among the hierarchical menus that are displayed in order from top to bottom, the menu is transferred to the second storage device and displayed at all times. Then, when that menu is directly designated, the processing for that menu is executed. Therefore, next time you select that menu,
There is no need to display hierarchical menus sequentially from top to bottom.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a hierarchical menu selection device. In the figure, numeral 1 is a CRT display that displays a menu, 2 is a mouse used to specify menu selections, and 3 is a mouse position detector that detects the position coordinates of mouse 2 when a switch provided on mouse 2 is clicked. part, 4 is linked to the movement of mouse 2.
Cursor displayed on RT display 2 (or
5 is a display memory.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a menu processing unit that executes menu processing specified by the mouse 2 and drag processing to be described later. For example, a processing table (not shown) is built in to execute menu processing. The processing table is composed of mouse position coordinates, menus, and items for processing contents, and is created by a programmer who writes the processing.

Reference numeral 7 is a stack for storing hierarchical menus, and 8 is a buffer for holding a menu selected from among the hierarchical menus. As shown in FIG. 2, the hierarchical menu stored in the stack 7 is a list formed by connecting boxes 9 (referred to as menu boxes 9) storing menus, and there is a menu list for each hierarchical structure. A leading portion 10 of each menu box 9 indicates an area in which a symbol (tag) indicating the beginning of the menu box 9 is stored.

Next, the operation of the hierarchical menu selection device described above will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step S1, the mouse 2 enters an input waiting state, and when the switch of the mouse 2 is clicked, the mouse position detection section 3 detects the position coordinates of the mouse 2 at that time (step S2). The detected position coordinates are given to the menu processing section 6.

[0012] In step S3, the menu processing unit 6 determines a menu corresponding to the detected position coordinates from the processing table. In step S4, it is determined whether the clicked position of the mouse 2 is in the tag area 10 at the head of the determined menu. If it is not the tag area 10, the process advances to step S5, and the processing contents of the menu registered in the processing table are executed. For example, if a higher-level menu is specified, a lower-level menu is taken out from the stack 7 and displayed. If the click position of mouse 2 is tag area 10 of the menu, step S6
Proceed to.

In step S6, the menu processing unit 6 copies the menu from the stack 7 to the buffer 8. The contents of the buffer 8 are always read out to the display memory 5 and stored in the C
displayed on RT display 1. In step S7, it is determined whether the switch of mouse 2 is turned off,
If not yet (if it continues to be clicked), the display position of the menu copied to the buffer 8 is moved in accordance with the movement of the mouse 2. This is called drag processing, and the operator moves the selected menu to an arbitrary position by moving the mouse 2.

When the menu movement is completed, the operator releases the click on mouse 2 and turns the switch OFF.
It becomes F. In step S8, the mouse position detection unit 3 detects the position coordinates of the mouse 2 at that time. The detected position coordinates are given to the menu processing section 6. In step S10, the menu processing unit 6 determines whether the position coordinates are within the top menu area. The top-level menu continues to be displayed on the CRT display 1 unless the processing is finished, and when the selected menu is superimposed on the top-level menu, the contents of the buffer 8 are cleared in step S8 and the selected menu is CRT display 1
Erase from the top (step S11).

[0015] When the selected menu is moved to a location other than the top menu area, the process advances to step S12, and its position coordinates are registered in the processing table. Thereafter, when the position of that menu is designated with the mouse 2, the processing contents of that menu registered in the processing table are executed.

A case in which the above operations are performed on the hierarchical menu shown in FIG. 5 according to the conventional example will be further explained. First, when the top menu [A] displayed on the CRT display 1 shown in FIG. 5(1) is specified with the mouse 2, the lower menu [A-1],
[A-2] and [A-3] are taken out from the stack 7 and displayed. Next, click [A-3] in the displayed lower menu.
] is specified with the mouse 2, the bottom menu [A-3-1], [A-3-2],
[A-3-3] and [A-3-4] are displayed.

[0017]Here, when the tag area 10 (see FIG. 2) of the bottom menu [A-3-4] is clicked with the mouse 2, the bottom menu [A-3-4] is copied to the buffer 8 in step S6. be done. When the mouse 2 is moved while clicking on the tag area 10, the lowest menu [A-3-4] copied to the buffer 8 is also moved in conjunction with this (step S8). Then, as shown in Figure 4(1), CR
When the user moves to the end of the T-display 1 and releases the click, that position is registered in the processing table in the menu processing section 6. The lowest menu [A-3-4] continues to be displayed at that position until the contents of the buffer 8 are cleared by the process in step S11 (see FIG. 4(2)).

Thereafter, by directly specifying the lowest menu [A-3-4] displayed as shown in FIG. 4(2) with the mouse 2, the processing of that menu [A-3-4] executed. In addition, if you want to delete the bottom menu [A-3-4] from the CRT display 1, click the tag area 10 of the bottom menu [A-3-4] with the mouse 2 again and click the top menu [A-3-4]. ] to [D].

In the above embodiment, the drag process is determined based on whether or not the tag area 10 at the top of the menu box 9 is specified, but this specified area is not limited to the tag area 10. For example, a separate area for drag processing may be provided at the rear end of the menu box 9, and a determination may be made based on whether or not that area has been specified. Also, instead of erasing the selection menu resident on the CRT display 1 by overlapping it on the top menu as described above, the tag area 10 of the selection menu can be erased using another switch on the mouse 2. This processing method can also be set arbitrarily, such as by specifying it.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, according to the hierarchical menu selection device of the present invention, a specified menu from among the hierarchical menus that are sequentially displayed from the top to the bottom is stored in the second storage device. , and display it all the time, and by directly specifying it, you can execute the process for that menu.The next time you want to select that menu, you will have to select it from the top to the bottom, as before. There is no need to display hierarchical menus again in sequence, and menu selection can be performed quickly and easily with simple operations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a hierarchical menu selection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the format of a hierarchical menu.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the hierarchical menu selection device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of operation by the hierarchical menu selection device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating selection of a hierarchical menu according to a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...CRT display 2... Mouse 5...Display memory 6...Menu processing section 7...Stack 8...Buffer

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A specified menu from among the hierarchical menus retrieved from a first storage device and displayed in order from the top to the bottom is transferred from the first storage device to a second storage device.
means for constantly displaying the menu transferred to the second storage device; and means for executing processing of the menu based on designation of a display position of the transferred menu. A hierarchical menu selection device characterized by: