JPH04295923A - Window controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize flexible and easy control over plural windows which are displayed on a display screen at the same time by providing a block control mechanism which controls the windows present on the screen at the same time according to received events and a control flow control mechanism which generates and deletes windows according to the received events. CONSTITUTION:This window controller is equipped with the flow control mechanism 15 which controls the generation and deletion of the windows according to the events received from an event analyzer 13, the block control mechanism 14 which controls the windows present on the display screen at the same time according to the events received from the event analyzer 13, a block window for setting the operation environment of the respective control mechanisms, and a block window attachment function BC attached to the window. This controller features the control over the windows displayed on the display screen at the same time.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a window control device used in a multi-window system.

0002

[Background Art] Conventionally, window management in an object-oriented multi-window system is such that an area reserved on the screen as a window is managed by the multi-window system, and control functions within the window area are created by a programmer. Managed by functions (window control functions). The information block of the window control function placed on the memory accompanying the window at this time is referred to as an accompanying function here.

[0003] Application software specifies an accompanying function when requesting a multi-window system to reserve an area for a window.

[0004] Furthermore, by issuing a system call from among the associated functions, a service regarding an area to be a window is requested from the multi-window system (see FIG. 14).

Furthermore, windows have a parent-child relationship, and a child window can be created within a parent window (see FIG. 15).

Conventionally, there have been the following window display control means in a multi-window system. (a). Switch the internal display of a window in one window on a multi-window. In other words, screen control that previously used the entire screen of a single terminal can now be performed within a single window. (b). Creates and deletes multiple windows at once. (c). An operator determines window control specifications such as display order at runtime by connecting two windows with the mouse. (d). Window control is created by programming each application individually.

Window control on a multi-window system is generally event-driven, so creating an application program on a multi-window requires unique know-how, which is different from the conventional creation of an application program using a single screen. know-how is often useless.

[0008] For this reason, it is very difficult to create an application program that runs on a multi-window system using only the services provided by the system.

In other words, the window display control means (a) described above merely changes the content displayed using the entire terminal screen to be executed inside one window, and is a multi-window display control means. It cannot be said that the system fully utilizes its original functions.

Further, the window display control means (b) includes:
Multiple windows can be displayed at once, but flexible processing such as deleting some of them is not possible.

[0011] Furthermore, the window display control means (c) includes:
Since the operator determines the window display order, window calling relationships, etc. at runtime, relationships between windows can be created flexibly, but the operator is required to have specialized knowledge and sense. That is, the control information of the window finally created and the quality of the system depend on the ability of the operator (end user).

[0012] Therefore, it is suitable for creating non-routine work where individuals create personal systems according to their abilities, but it is not suitable for creating routine work where anyone can do the same thing in the same way. It's fleeting.

Further, the window display control means (d) includes:
Although this is the most primitive method and can be created by maximizing the capabilities of multi-windows, it requires a huge amount of time and effort, and this also causes a significant increase in costs.

[0014]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, conventionally, any window display control means has a utility mechanism that can easily realize control of multiple windows by using a multi-window environment flexibly and easily. did not exist.

[0015] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances.
An object of the present invention is to provide a window control device that can easily control a plurality of windows according to predefined control information on a multi-window system.

[0016]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides an event analyzer that receives events sent from a multi-window system or other application programs, analyzes the contents, and distributes the received events; a flow control mechanism that controls creation/deletion of windows according to events received from the event analyzer; a block control mechanism that controls multiple windows that exist simultaneously on the display screen according to events received from the event analyzer; It has a block window that is created by the mechanism and performs creation/deletion of multiple windows, environment settings for operating the block control mechanism, flow control mechanism, etc., and a block window accompanying function that accompanies the block window. , to realize a window control device that controls multiple windows.

[0017]

[Operation] In the above-described window control device of the present invention, events sent from the multi-window system or other application programs are analyzed by the event analyzer, and the block control mechanism, flow control mechanism,
It is distributed to mechanisms such as block window associated functions. The block control mechanism controls multiple windows that exist simultaneously on the screen according to the contents of the received event,
Also, the flow control mechanism similarly controls the creation/deletion of windows according to the contents of the event, and the block window associated functions attached to the block window control the creation/deletion of multiple windows, block control mechanism, flow control mechanism, etc. Control multiple windows by configuring the environment for the .

By having such a window control function, the functions of the multi-window system can be fully utilized, and multiple windows can be controlled flexibly.
And it can be easily achieved.

[0019]

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 the configuration of a multi-window system incorporating a window control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, numeral 10 is a multi-window system serving as an operating environment for operating the apparatus according to the present invention, and provides window control services in response to system calls issued by application programs.

11 to 17, and BC, C1, C2
, . . . each constitute a component for realizing the window control device according to the present invention, and 11 is an event queue in which events notified from an application program or a multi-window system are accumulated.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a router that distributes events accumulated in the event queue 11 to each window. .

13 analyzes the event received from the event queue 11 via the router 12, and distributes the event to the block control mechanism 14 and flow control mechanism 15, which will be described later, or to other windows or application programs as necessary. It is an event analyzer that passes. In this embodiment, the event analyzer 13 is created as an attached function of a window that is not displayed.

A block control mechanism 14 controls a plurality of windows existing on the screen at the same time according to the window control data 16.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a flow control mechanism that controls creation and deletion of windows according to window control data 16.

Reference numeral 16 denotes window control data, which is window control information determined at the time of creating the application program.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a current state table, which is an area in which the block control mechanism 14, flow control mechanism 15, etc. hold information regarding the current state of the window.

BC is a block window associated function, which is added to a block window to control a plurality of windows.

[0030] C1, C2, ... are window-associated functions provided for each window, and are composed of function information, etc. for performing internal control processing of the corresponding window, and are created by the programmer for each application program. be done.

The application program of this embodiment includes a window that is controlled by the device according to the present invention and a window that is independently controlled by the application program.

FIGS. 2 to 13 are for explaining the operation of the window control device according to the above embodiment, respectively.
Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of flow control, Figs. 3 to 6 are explanatory diagrams of block control, respectively, Figs. 7 to 9 are explanatory diagrams of linking block control and flow control, respectively, and Figs. 10 and 11 are respective illustrations of block control. FIGS. 12 and 13, which are explanatory diagrams for realizing window duplication control, are block diagrams showing control data structures, respectively.

The operation of the window control device according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will now be described with reference to the explanatory diagrams of FIGS. 2 to 13.

First, in order to understand the window control structure of the device according to the present invention, each function will be explained using a simple configuration as an example.

[1]. Flow Control On traditional office computer terminals, a single application runs using the entire screen. That is, if the screen is not multi-window, the previous screen is always erased when displaying the next screen.

The mechanism for realizing this screen operation is "flow control."

In flow control, an already displayed window is erased and the next window is created and displayed. Therefore, only one window is displayed on the screen. Examples of this state are shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b).

[2]. In order to fully utilize the features of block control multi-windows, it is necessary to be able to display multiple windows on the screen at the same time. "Block control" is a process for displaying multiple windows on the screen at the same time.

In this block control, as shown in FIG. 3, first a special window (BW) called a block window is created.

This block window BW is not displayed on the screen.

[0041] Multiple windows W actually displayed on the screen
1, W2, . . . are created as child windows of this block window BW.

The child windows W1, W2, . . . are controlled by the associated function (block window associated function) BC of the parent block window BW.

[0043] When block window BW is created,
The child windows W1, W2, and W3 are automatically created, and when the block window BW is deleted, the child windows W1, W2, and W3 are also automatically deleted. Additionally, the block window attendant function can create and delete child windows individually as needed.

[0044] Three windows (W1, W2
, W3) is displayed in FIG. 4.

The block window BW is not displayed here.

Window associated functions (C1, C2, C
3) is provided with an event processing notification means for sending a processing notification such as completion of processing for an event to a block window associated function BC provided in association with the parent block window BW.

[3]. Block control (leveling) By adding levels to block control, more flexible window control becomes possible.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the first block window BWa to be created is set to level 1, further block windows are allowed to be placed in this level 1 block window BWa as child windows, and this is set to level 2. Let the block window BWb be BWb.

Similarly, level 2 block window B
When a block window is placed inside Wb, it becomes a level 3 block window (BWc).

In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, six windows (W1, W2, W3, Wa, Wb
, Wc) are displayed.

[4]. Coordination of block control and flow control (i) As shown in FIG. 7, a block window BW can be set in the middle of the flow control (see FIG. 2) described in the explanation of item [1] above.

[0052] As a result, as shown in Fig. 8, the screen that displayed only one window (W1) can be changed to
Instantly three-screen windows (Wa, Wb, Wc)
Display control such as changing the display, and further display control such as instantly changing the three-screen window display (Wa, Wb, Wc) to the single-screen window display (W3), or returning to the original window (W1). can.

[5]. Cooperation between block control and flow control (ii) In sections [2] and [3] above, only windows as children of block windows were considered, but as shown in FIG. ]
It is also possible to specify the flow shown in Section 2 (see Figure 7).

By having the mechanisms described in items [1] to [5] above, more flexible window control becomes possible.

[6]. Duplicating block windows Up to section [5] above, we have considered all block windows to be hidden in order to make the control mechanism easier to see, but when actually creating an application program,
As shown in FIG. 10, it is necessary to ``display a child window (field) for data input/output in a fixed position within the window.''

If we consider the window that displays a field as a block window and its child window as a field, it can be handled using the block control we have considered so far.
In this case, the block window must also be displayed on the screen. In other words, one window must have the functions of both a ``window displayed on a normal screen'' and a ``block window.''

A duplex block window, which is a block window and must have the functions of a normal window, is realized by duplicating window-associated functions, as shown in FIG.

When creating a window, first a block window is created, and then a normal window is created. However, it is regarded as a block window for flow function management purposes.

When a duplicated window receives an event notification, it first sends the event to the normal window's associated function (Ci), and then to the block window's associated function (BC).

[7]. Control Data In order to operate the window control mechanism as described above, the following control data is prepared. This data structure consists of a table consisting of an array of items with the same content, and a record, which is each item that makes up the table.

(1) Flow Management Table This flow management table is created for each block window, as shown in FIG. 12, and has records equal to the number of flows in child windows. A pointer to a flow table for controlling each flow is placed in this record.

(2) In switch table block control, since a plurality of windows existing at the same time are managed, it is necessary to decide which of the existing windows should be the input target for the operator.

The switch table has information for determining the next input target window in response to an input target change request event specified by the operator.

[0064] Among the records constituting the switch table, "event for switching input object" and "flow of window to be input next" are registered.

One switch table is created for each block window.

The switch table is effective when, for example, ``a plurality of input fields are placed as child windows in one window, and fields to be input are switched by operating the TAB key''.

(3) Flow Table The flow table is a table for specifying the next window to be created when flow control creates/deletes a window. The records that make up this table include "information required to create a window",
``Events that instruct the deletion of the current window,'' ``Next window to be created,'' etc. are registered.

In particular, a record that instructs the creation of a block window has a pointer to the flow management table one level below to be passed to the block window, and this pointer is passed when the block window is created. The structure of this flow table is shown in FIG.

(5) Current state table In addition to the window control data determined at the time of application creation as described above, a table (current state table) is required to store the state at the time of execution. This current state table contains information such as "the current state of the window that is the input target", "the state of the currently created window in the flow", and "whether the currently created window is a block window". A flag indicating whether or not the block window exists, an ID (identifier indicating the level of the block window), etc. are recorded and are always updated to the latest state.

The window control device according to the embodiment of the present invention operates using the processing functions described in sections [1] to [8] above.

The operation according to the embodiment of the present invention will be explained below by giving an example.

First, the programmer defines window control data 16 specifying the movement of the window when creating an application program. This data includes the previously mentioned "flow management table", "flow table",
Includes "switch table" etc.

[0073] When an application program calls the device according to the present invention, this window control data 1
Pass 6.

When the apparatus according to the present invention is called, the flow control mechanism 15 first creates one level 1 block window and adds a block window associated function BC to the block window (BW). Furthermore,
Data is extracted from the window control data 16 and passed to the block window associated function BC.

Level 1 block window (BWa
The block window associated function (BC) of ) first notifies the block control mechanism 14 that it has been created and requests it to update the current state table 17.

Next, one window is created for each flow by referring to the first record of each flow table. When the creation is completed, the block window (BWa) sends a completion notification to the flow control mechanism 15.

When the flow control mechanism 15 receives the completion notification from the block window (BWa), it updates the current state table 17.

At this time, if there is a block window (BWb) among the created windows, the same operation as above is repeated.

The initial display is thus completed.

Next, an explanation will be given of the operation when an event is sent to an application program using the apparatus according to the present invention by inputting an input by an operator.

First, events are accumulated in the event queue 11. In detail, events include ``those specified by the operator, such as cue inputs and mouse clicks,'' ``those notified by the multi-window system for system display control, window control, etc.,'' and ``those notified by the window control device's window. There are three types: notifications sent by the management mechanism and window processing mechanism to operate the window control device.

[0082] When events are accumulated in the event queue 11, the router 12 takes out the events accumulated in the event queue 11 one by one, determines which window the event should be notified to, and sends the corresponding function. Distribute events to departments.

[0083] Among these, requests for the device according to the present invention are once notified to the event analysis mechanism 13.

When the event analysis mechanism 13 receives an event, it determines whether the event should be notified to the block control mechanism 14 or the flow control mechanism 15, or whether it should be retransmitted to any window. The received events are sorted based on the judgment.

For example, if the event is flow control and instructs switching to the next window, the flow control mechanism 15 is notified of the event.

The flow control mechanism 15 checks the current state table 17 for the above event, specifies the currently displayed window, refers to the corresponding window control data 16, and determines the next window to be created.

Furthermore, "the current window is deleted" and "the next window is created".

When the creation of the next window is completed normally, the flow control mechanism 15 updates the current state table 17.

When the next window to be created as instructed by the flow control mechanism 15 is a block window,
The flow control mechanism 15 first creates a specified block window and adds a block window associated function BC.

The block window associated function BC notifies the block control mechanism 14 and requests it to update the current state table 17.

The block window associated function BC creates child windows in the same manner as in the case of initial display.

Furthermore, when the event received by the event analyzer 13 is an event that instructs to change the input target window, that is, the event received via the router 12 is an event that instructs to change the input target window. When the event analyzer 13 determines that, the event is passed to the block control mechanism 14.

The block control mechanism 14 refers to the window control data 16, the current state table 17, etc., and
Next, determine the input target window, and perform processing such as ``disabling the current input target window (for example, deleting the cursor)'' or ``setting the next input target window to an input-enabled state.'' is executed, and finally the current state table 17 is updated.

By using the window control device having the functions of the embodiments described above, it is possible to flexibly and easily control a plurality of windows displayed simultaneously on the display screen.

By adding, for example, a window specialized only for data processing to the window control device of the embodiment having the above-mentioned functions, it is possible to not only automatically control windows but also apply application programs that include data processing. It is also possible to create

Furthermore, by adding a mechanism for creating window control data during execution to the window control device described above, it is possible to create an application program in which window control information automatically changes during execution.

Furthermore, by applying the above-mentioned window control device to the creation of an interface part of a system operated by an unspecified number of people, such as a cash dispenser or a capture system terminal, a device with higher functionality can be created. This can be easily achieved.

[0098]

Effects of the Invention As detailed above, the window control device of the present invention includes an event analyzer that analyzes and distributes events, and a flow that controls creation/deletion of windows according to events received from the event analyzer. A control mechanism, a block control mechanism that controls multiple windows that exist simultaneously on the display screen according to events received from the event analyzer, and a block control mechanism that is created by the block control mechanism and sets the operating environment of each of the above control mechanisms. By adopting a configuration including a block window and a block window associated function associated with the window, it is possible to flexibly and easily control a plurality of windows displayed simultaneously on the display screen.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an application program for a multi-window system incorporating a window control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of flow control in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of block control in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of block control in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of leveled block control in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of leveled block control in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram when block control and flow control are linked in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram when block control and flow control are linked in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram when block control and flow control are linked in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of block window duplication control in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of block window duplication control in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a control data structure in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a control data structure in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining conventional window control means.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining conventional window control means.

[Explanation of symbols]

10...Multi-window system, 11...Event queue, 12...Router, 13...Event analyzer, 14...Block control mechanism, 15...Flow control mechanism, 16...Window control data, 17...Current state table, BC...Block window attachment Function (function information block attached to the block window), C1, C2,...,...Window attached function (function information block attached to the window).

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claim 1: An event analyzer that analyzes and distributes events, a flow control mechanism that controls the creation/deletion of windows according to events received from the event analyzer, and a display screen according to events received from the event analyzer. It is equipped with a block control mechanism that controls multiple windows that exist simultaneously on the screen, a block window that is created by the block control mechanism and sets the operating environment of each of the control mechanisms, and a block window associated function that is attached to the window. A window control device characterized by: Claim 2: The block control mechanism creates a plurality of child windows using the block window as a parent window, and displays and controls the child windows on the display screen based on the block window associated functions of the parent window. 1. The window control device according to 1. Claim 3: Claim 1, wherein the block window is duplicated to have the functions of a window displayed on the display screen and a block window that is not displayed on the display screen.
Window control device as described. 4. A claim further comprising a switch table for determining the next input target window in response to an event that requests a change in the input target, and means for switching the input target window by referring to the table. 1. The window control device according to 1.