JPH04295968A - Display method for new object in information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To constitute the processor so that in the case an object is generated newly in a state that a free area for placing the object does not exist in a window, a fact that a function for the new generation is carried out is informed by always displaying an icon of the new object on a window visible part immediately after the execution so that it can be confirmed immediately. CONSTITUTION:Whether an object is placed in a window or not is detected, it is placed in a free area in which any object is not placed, and in the case objects are placed in all areas, a position in which a new object is placed is determined by reducing a size of the area. Also, the new object is placed in a starting point of a visible part in the window, and the arrangement of the existing object is moved to other part than the visible part in the window.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for displaying new objects in an information processing apparatus, such as a personal computer, for improving the operability of the apparatus.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 7 and 8 are, for example, an external view of an information processing device described in the manual of Apple Inc.'s personal computer MACINTOSH, and a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional information processing device. Or figure 1
4 is a diagram for explaining the operation when objects (hereinafter referred to as objects) such as directory folders and files are newly created in this conventional example.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of the apparatus, which includes a control section 1a such as a central processing unit, a storage section 1b such as a semiconductor memory, and an auxiliary storage device 1c such as a disk;
is a display device for displaying information, 3 is a keyboard for inputting information, 4 is a mouse for inputting information, 4a is a mouse button, 5 is a pointer that indicates the position of the mouse, 6 is an input means, and 7 is a display A window showing the contents of the disc displayed on the screen of the device 2, 8 an icon showing an object existing on the disc, 9 an icon showing an object newly designated to be created by the user, and 10 a menu.

[0004] Such an information processing apparatus inputs commands from the input means 6 and performs operations such as new creation, movement, and copying of directory folders and files stored in the auxiliary storage device 1c on the display means 2. It processes information.

Next, the operation will be explained. The operator issues various commands to the information processing device by operating the keyboard 3 or mouse 4. First, the operation of creating a new directory folder as an object in this device will be explained. In FIG. 9, three icons 8 of objects existing in the auxiliary storage device 1c are arranged in a window 7 indicating the auxiliary storage medium on a display device 2 such as a display, and there are empty spaces in the window where no icons are arranged. Region 7a exists.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 10, the operator moves the pointer 5 using the mouse 4 or keyboard 3,
When you open Menu 10 and select the "New Folder" function registered in Menu 10 and instruct to create a directory folder as a new object, the program and object that calculate the object position will be displayed as shown in Figure 11. Area 7 where the program is started and no other icons 8 exist in the window 7
An icon 9 of the newly created directory folder is displayed in a.

Next, as shown in FIG. 12, the operation when there is no free space in the window 7 where no icon is placed will be described. When there is no free space in this way, as in the case where there is free space, if you instruct the "New Folder" function from menu 10 as explained in Figure 10, the program that calculates the object position will check the existence of the object. Search for an area that does not contain the data, and paste the newly created directory folder into it, as shown in Figure 13.
It is calculated so that it is placed outside the window 7 that is displayed to the operator.

Since the newly created directory folder icon 9 is outside the window 7, the program that displays the object to be started next does not display the newly created object, but issues a new creation instruction as shown in FIG. Show the same status as before. In this state, the icon 9 indicates a new object to the operator.
Although it is not displayed in the window 7 whether or not the object has been generated, if the operator enlarges the window 7 using the input means 6 such as the mouse 4 to check, the program that displays the object will be as shown in Figure 14. It is displayed that an icon 9 indicating a new object has been generated.

[0009]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] Since the method for displaying a new object in a conventional information processing device is as described above, it is difficult to create a new object when there is no free space in the window to place the object. In such cases, the operator cannot know that a newly created function has been executed immediately after the function is executed, and may change the size of the window or scroll the display position within the window to prevent the newly created function from being executed. There was a problem in that it was necessary to check the objects that were created.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and even when a new object is created when there is no free space in the window to place the object, the operator can It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for displaying a new object in an information processing device that is easy to use and has good operability, allowing immediate confirmation that a function has been executed.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A method for displaying a new object in an information processing device according to the present invention includes inputting a command from an input means, and displaying an operation of the object stored in a storage means on a display means. In an information processing apparatus that processes information on a window, when a new object is generated, the generated object is displayed in a visible range within the window.

[0012] Furthermore, when displaying a newly generated object in the visible range within the window, the window is divided into grids of a certain size, and it is detected whether or not the object is placed within the grid. However, if objects are placed in a grid where no objects are placed, if objects are placed in all grids, the size of the grid is reduced and the placement position of the new object is determined. be.

[0013]Furthermore, when displaying a newly generated object in the visible range within the window, it is placed at the starting point of the visible area within the window, and the existing object is moved to a position other than the visible area within the window. It is.

[0014]

[Operation] The method for displaying a new object in an information processing apparatus according to the present invention displays the new object in a visible range within a window.

[0015] Furthermore, when displaying in a visible range within a window, it is possible to detect whether or not an object is placed within the window, and place a newly generated object within a grid where no object is placed. , if objects are placed in all grids, reduce the size of the grid and determine the position of the newly generated objects to display the newly generated objects within the visible range of the window. do.

Furthermore, when displaying a newly generated object in the visible range within the window, it is placed at the starting point of the visible area within the window, and the existing object is placed at the starting point of the visible area within the window. By moving to , the new object is displayed within the visible range of the window.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, as the configuration for implementing the method of the present invention, the configurations shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 are adopted as in the conventional example. FIG. 1 shows the structure of state management data used by a control program in an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 20 is a data format of window information that is prepared for each window and is used to manage the inside of the window, and 30 is an object information data format that is used to manage objects such as directory folders, documents, and application programs that exist within the window.

The data format 20 of the window information includes a window ID 21 that uniquely identifies the window.
, the absolute coordinates (X, Y) 22 of the window display starting point position in the display device 2, the size of the visible part of the window (
H, V) 23, size of objects placed in this window (H, v) 24, size of interval at which objects are placed in the window (hereinafter referred to as alignment) (H, V) 25, window Information such as the total number 27 of objects to be placed in the window, a pointer 28 pointing to the address where information about the object is stored, and a window name 26 for managing windows are stored.

[0019] Furthermore, the above object information data format 3
0 includes a forward link 31 to data that stores information about the previous object in the window and a backward link 32 to data that stores information about the next object in the window.
, object ID33 that uniquely identifies the object
, icon position relative coordinates (X, Y) 34 of object window name, object name 35 for managing objects, etc. are stored, and this object information data is forwarded by the number of objects placed in the window. The link 31 and the rear link 32 form a chain and are connected.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an object placement position calculation program according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
Hereinafter, as in the conventional example, as shown in FIG. 3, in a state where there is no free space in the window where no icon is placed, the menu 10 is displayed as explained in FIG.
The operation of calculating the icon placement position of a newly created object when the "new folder" function is specified will be explained. Note that the operation when there is a free area as shown in FIG. 9 is the same as in the conventional example.

First, in step 41, the target coordinates (X, Y)
Let be the alignment size (H, V) for arranging the object. In step 42, the target coordinate Y and the window size V are compared. If the target coordinate Y is smaller than the window size V, the process goes directly to step 45; if it is larger, an empty icon display position cannot be found with that alignment size, so the process goes to step 43 and sets the alignment size 25 to 1/2. Try again, step 4
4, the target coordinates (X, Y) are set to the new alignment size 25, and step 45 is entered.

Next, in step 45, the target coordinates X and the window size H are compared. If the target coordinate X is smaller than the window size H, proceed directly to step 4.
7, and if it is larger, no free space is found at that vertical alignment position, so the process goes to step 46, where the alignment size H is added to the target position Y and the alignment size H is reset, and the process goes to step 47.

In step 47, the icon position (X, Y) 34 of the object information 30 is checked for the number of objects 27 in the window information 20, and the icon position (X, Y) 34 of the object information 30 is checked to determine if an icon starting point exists within the alignment with the target coordinates as the starting point. Find out if there are any. If the icon exists, the process returns to step 42 and calculates the icon placement position again; if the icon does not exist, the process proceeds to step 48, where the target coordinates are used as the coordinates at which the new object will be placed and the process ends.

As shown in FIG. 4, the program that displays the object to be activated next in the layout calculated by calculating the placement position of the icon of the newly created object according to this flowchart is shifted to the already existing icon 8. A new object icon 9 is displayed in a visible part 7 of the window so as to overlap.

Next, as a second embodiment of the present invention, according to the flowchart of the object placement position calculation program shown in FIG. 5, as in the conventional example, as shown in FIG. The operation when the area does not exist will be explained. In this state where there is no free space, as explained in FIG. 10 of the conventional example,
When you specify the "New Folder" function from Menu 10, the program that calculates the object position moves the position of the icon of the newly created object to the visible part of the window and places it before using the Create New Object function. Move the placement position of the icon that was previously displayed.

First, in step 51, the object information 30 corresponding to the newly created object is inserted at the position pointed to by the pointer 28 to the object chain stored in the window information 20, and the process proceeds to step 51. In step 51, it is checked whether the process in step 53 has been performed on all objects placed within the window.

In step 53, processing is performed to set the icon position 34 to the placement position of the object one behind the object of interest. When the processing of step 53 is completed for the number of objects in the window, step 54 is completed.
and expanded the window effective range size (H, V) 24 placed in the window, and enlarged the icon position 34 of the object placed at the end before selecting the new object creation function in step 54. Set to area.

When the placement position of the icon 9 of the newly created object is set according to this flowchart, and the placement position of the icon 8 placed before the function is moved is moved, the program that displays the next activated object is as follows. As shown in FIG. 6, the newly created object icon 9 is displayed in the visible part of the window 7, and a part of the existing icon 8 is displayed in a part other than the visible part of the window.

In the first embodiment described above, an example was shown in which the alignment is reset to 1/2 when a placement position with the same alignment cannot be found, but if the value is smaller than 1,
Similar effects can be obtained with any value.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a new object is created, the newly created object is always placed and displayed in the window, so the operator can immediately after the new creation function is executed. Since the icon of a newly created object on the screen can be recognized in the visible part of the window, there is no need to change the window size or scroll the display position within the window after executing a function, making the information processing device easy to operate. can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of state management data used by a control program for implementing a first embodiment and a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a control program according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a screen before newly creating objects such as a directory folder and a file in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a method of displaying objects when objects such as directory folders and files are newly created in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a control program according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a screen for explaining the operation when newly creating objects such as directory folders and files in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an external view of general information processing.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a general information processing device.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a screen in which there is an empty area when creating a new object in the conventional example.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a screen for instructing creation of a new object and directory folder in the conventional example.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a screen in which an icon of a newly created directory folder is displayed in a window in a conventional example.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a screen in which there is no empty area in which no icons are placed in the window in the conventional example.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a screen when calculating to place a newly created directory folder outside the displayed window in the conventional example.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a screen that displays that an icon representing a new object has been generated in the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Information processing device body 1a Control unit 1b Storage unit 1c such as a semiconductor memory Auxiliary storage device 2 such as a disk Display device 3 Keyboard 4 Mouse 5 Pointer 7 Window 8 Object icon 9 Newly created object icon 10
menu

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: In an information processing apparatus that processes information by inputting a command from an input means and operating an object stored in a storage means on a window displayed on a display means, 1. A method for displaying a new object in an information processing device, characterized by displaying the object in a visible range within a window. 2. In the method for displaying a new object in an information processing device according to claim 1, when displaying the newly generated object in a visible range within the window, the inside of the window is divided into grids of a constant size. Then, detect whether or not an object is placed in the grid, and place the object in the grid where the object is not placed. If the object is placed in all the grids, 1. A method for displaying a new object in an information processing device, comprising reducing the size and determining the placement position of the new object. 3. In the method for displaying a new object in an information processing apparatus according to claim 1, when displaying the newly generated object in the visible range within the window, placing the newly generated object at the starting point of the visible portion within the window; 1. A method for displaying a new object in an information processing device, the method comprising moving an existing object to a position other than a visible part of a window.