JPH04319725A - Data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily recognize the relation of respective data groups by displaying plural data group relating to a window. CONSTITUTION:Plural image means 101 to 103 corresponding to plural item names requested to be displayed form respective images out of a prescribed image group in accordance with a previously set image forming method. These images are inputted to an image plotting means 104. The means 104 plots display contents based upon respectively formed different images in a window 105. Namely a control part e.g. recognizes an item to be a positional information designated by a positional information input part and an item selected based upon the display position of each item in an item name display part, obtains a data group corresponding to the item concerned from a data storing part and displays the obtained data group on a data display part. When other data have been already displayed on the data display part, the newest obtained data group is additionally displayed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to interactive data processing devices such as workstations and personal computers.

0002

[Prior Art] Interactive systems perform data processing through dialogue between the user and the system, in which the user instructs the system on processing details, and the system then displays the results on the display screen. The process progresses by repeating these steps.

[0003] In a hypertext system, which is one of such interactive systems, related data can be traced one after another by instructing the processing content of displaying data related to the currently displayed data. , the user can finally obtain the data he or she needs. At this time, it may be convenient to divide a certain data group into several small data groups and display these small data groups in any combination. However, such a data display method or data display device has not yet been realized.

[0004] Iwabuchi, Okuma, et al. applied such hypertext systems to document creation systems.
Miura: Realization of Hypertext in JStar, Information Processing Society of Japan Research Report 88-DPH1-21 (Vol.
．． 88, No. 80), Information Processing Society of Japan, November 1988
It is known that it is described in a document published on the 7th of May.

[0005] As described in this document, "ViewCard" which is one of the hypertext systems
s'' (View Cars) displays multiple related small data groups on one window, each replaced with an icon, etc., and by performing a specific operation on the displayed icon, you can open another window. A method has been taken in which the contents of a small data group corresponding to the operated icon are displayed in the generated window.

However, in the above means, 1
Since one small data group corresponds to one window, it is not possible to display arbitrary small data groups in combination. In addition, as each operation to display each small data group continues, the number of windows increases, which causes problems such as not being able to fully grasp the relationship between each window, and the ability to display several small data groups at the same time. Even if you wanted to see them, there was a problem that they were difficult to see because they were displayed in separate windows.

[0007] In addition, as another means for displaying small data groups within a window, there is a method called "JS
A known example is the one described in the document "Tar Workstation" (p77 to p79), published by Maruzen Co., Ltd., April 25, 1986.

[0008] In this document, “ViewCards”
ViewPoint (JStar
) describes a means for displaying a desired small data group by specifying a desired property sheet from among various property sheets.

However, although it is possible to display a plurality of windows according to the above-mentioned means, since the display is switched one by one, it is difficult to display two or more small data groups in one window at the same time. I couldn't do that.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the display processing of a data group in a conventional hypertext system.
0.

In FIG. 10, in order to display the contents of data 1 in a window in text format, table format, or chart format, a dedicated window is required depending on the display content, so for each display format, Request data 1 (see 1A shown in FIG. 10) and obtain data 1 (see 1B shown in FIG. 10), and based on the obtained data 1, create Text Window 2, Table Window (table window) 3 and Chart Window
Drawing for each window is performed in w (chart window) 4. That is, Text Window
If it is 2, only the table can be displayed, and if it is Chart Window 4, only the chart can be displayed.

[0012] It is also possible to create a window that displays a combination of display contents; for example, a window for text and a table, a window for a table and a chart, a window for a chart and a text, etc. A compatible window was required. Also, changing one location (for example, making the table frame thicker) required modifying the code for each related window.

[0013]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, in the conventional systems described in each of the above-mentioned documents, the display contents of each data group (each display format) are displayed in one window. Therefore, when multiple small data groups are displayed, the number of windows increases accordingly, which causes problems such as not being able to grasp the relationship between each window, and when displaying several small data groups. Even if you wanted to view them at the same time, they were displayed in separate windows, making them difficult to see.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a data processing device that can display a plurality of related data groups within one window.

[0015]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a data processing device that displays a data group corresponding to a requested item name in a window. A plurality of image generation means that generate different images from a predetermined data group according to a preset image generation method, and display contents based on the images generated by each of the image generation means.
and an image drawing means for drawing within one window.

[0016]

[Operation] According to the data processing device according to the present invention, when there is a display request for a plurality of item names, images are generated by each image generation means corresponding to the corresponding item names, and the image drawing means Since the display contents based on the different generated images are displayed in one window, the display contents of multiple related data groups (for example, display contents in different display formats) can be displayed in one window. Can be done.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an explanatory diagram for explaining one embodiment of the basic processing operation of a data processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In the same figure, Text Object
(Text Object) 101, Table Ob
ject (table object) 102, and Ch
art Object (chart object) 10
Each object in 3 includes a data section (not shown) that holds a data group, and a definition for displaying the data group in a predetermined display format, that is, a procedure that includes a definition for how to generate an image for display. It has a procedure section (not shown) in which is written, and when there is an image request, it generates an image to be displayed from a data group according to an image generation method defined within itself.

Common Window Object
t (common window object) 104 is C
ommon Window (common window) 1
05 (nothing is displayed in the initial state), and displays the display contents in the window.

[0020] Here, the basic processing operation will be explained with reference to FIG. 1. Common WindowObj
When ect104 requests an image from each of the above objects (arrows 101A, 102A, 103A shown in FIG. 1), Text Object 101 requests an image in text format, Table Object 102 requests an image in table format, and Chart Object 103 requests an image in text format.
generates each image in chart format.

[0021] And Common Window Ob
project 104 acquires images generated by each of the above objects (arrows 101B, 102B, 1 shown in FIG.
03B) and draws the display contents based on the acquired images in the Common Window 105. This processing content is displayed as a procedure in Common Window.
It is described in Object104.

[0022] In Fig. 1, Common Win
dow 105 has an image 105A in text format.
, a table format image 105B, and a chart format image 105C, but in reality, not only can images be displayed in three display formats, but also in any combination of two display formats. display,
Of course, display in one display format is also possible.

[0023] In this embodiment, the display format is defined as including, in addition to the above display formats, formats that have the same display format but different display content attributes. Even if it is in a table format, it also includes a format in which the table frame is thickened or a format in which certain data is highlighted (for example, data for “A” in table 105B shown in FIG. 1 is highlighted). shall be. Note that to change the attributes of display content, that is, to change the method of generating a certain image, you can change the procedure within the object. This makes it easy to modify the code because it is only necessary to change the procedure within the object to be changed.

[0024] By increasing the number of objects for which an image is generated, it is possible to display the image in a display format corresponding to the number of objects.

Here, the above-mentioned image generating means is shown in FIG.
The image drawing means described above corresponds to the object 104 shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram showing one embodiment of the data processing device. In the figure, the data processing device includes an item name display section 201 that displays each item, and a data display section 2 that displays a data group corresponding to the item name.
02, and a location information input section 2 for specifying each displayed item.
03, a data storage unit 204 that stores data groups corresponding to each item name and each object shown in FIG. 1 above, and a control unit 20 that controls each of the above units and performs predetermined processing.
5.

The control unit 205 recognizes the selected item based on the item as position information specified by the position information input unit 203 and the display position of each item in the item name display unit 201, and displays the corresponding item. A data group corresponding to is obtained from the data storage section 204, and the obtained data group is displayed on the data display section 202. Note that if other data is already displayed in the data display section 202,
Add and display the data group obtained this time.

[0028] Here, referring again to FIG. 1 mentioned above, the control unit 205 controls the Text Object 1
01, Table Object102, Chart
Object103, Common Window O
By executing the procedure described in each object of object104, the CommonWindow
Display contents are displayed at 105.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram showing an embodiment of a workstation implementing the apparatus shown in FIG. In the figure, the workstation includes a display device 301 such as a bitmap display, a data input device 302 such as a keyboard, a mouse 303 as a pointing input device, a main storage device 304, and a control device 30.
5 and an auxiliary storage device 306 such as a magnetic disk.

Here, the item name display section 2 shown in FIG.
01 and the data display section 202 are displayed on the display device 301 as shown in FIG.
The position information input section 203 shown in FIG.
The data storage unit 204 shown in FIG.
The control units 205 shown in FIG. 2 each correspond to the control device 305.

Next, the processing operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 to 9. Note that FIG. 4 shows the flow of processing in this embodiment, and FIGS. 5 to 9 show the display states in the window displayed on the display device 301 (see FIG. 3).

In the initial state, the contents of the window 500 shown in FIG.
There are provided an item name display section 501 (corresponding to the item name display section 201 in FIG. 2) and a data display section 502 (corresponding to the data display section 202 in FIG. 2) labeled with "category:". Note that the size of the window 500 is variable depending on the display content (data amount) displayed on the data display section 502, with a preset size as the limit.

[0033] The item name display section 501 displays text, ta
Three switches 501A called ble and chart
, 501B, and 501C are displayed, and these switches are associated with data for text display (data group), data for table display (data group), and data for chart display (data group). It is being Note that each switch is represented by a rectangle.

[0034] Each of these switches can be turned on/off independently.
Can have a state (on/off state) and the mouse 30
3 to move the pointer (cursor) onto the desired switch, and then click the mouse button provided on the mouse 303 to switch the on/off state. Data corresponding to items in the on state (an “x” is displayed inside a rectangle representing a switch) is displayed on the data display section 502. In addition,
In Figure 5, all switches are in the OFF state, so
Nothing is displayed on the data display section 502.

FIG. 6 shows the display state when the text switch 501A is turned on in this state, and shows the flow of control when the display content shown in FIG. 5 is changed to the display content shown in FIG. This will be explained with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of item names are displayed in the window (S401 in FIG. 4), so the user uses the mouse 303 to move the pointer to the item name display area 50.
1 on the text switch 501A, and click the mouse button (equipped on the mouse 303) there (S402 in FIG. 4). At this time, the text switch 501A is displayed in an on state.

Based on the input position information, the control device 305 recognizes the corresponding item name and the state of the switch (if it is clicked in the on state, it is off; if it is clicked in the off state, it is turned on) (FIG. 4) S403).

Here, if it is recognized that it is in the on state, it requests data to be displayed, and on the other hand, if it is recognized that it is in the off state, it does not request data.

Therefore, in the above example, the text switch 50
Since 1A changes from off to on, the control device 305
requests the main storage device 304 for data for text display (S404 in FIG. 4), obtains data from the main storage device 304 in response to the request, and displays the display content based on the obtained data. It is created and output to the display device 301 (S405 in FIG. 4). The display device 301 displays the display content from the control device 305 on the data display section 502 (S406 in FIG. 4). That is, the display content shown in FIG. 5 is changed to the display content shown in FIG. 6.

Thereafter, the above-described processing is performed based on the state of each switch in accordance with the operation of the switch.

Next, in the state shown in FIG.
When the ext switch 501A is clicked, the control device 3
05 recognizes that the text switch 501A was clicked while it was in the on state, so it has now changed to the off state, and thereby creates display content and outputs it to the display device 301 without requesting data for text display. do. As a result, nothing is actually displayed in the data display section 502 of the window 500, and the window 500 has the display content shown in FIG.

Furthermore, when the table switch 501B, which is in the OFF state, is clicked in the display state shown in FIG. The display content is created by combining the data for displaying the text, and the created display content is output to the display device 301. The display state at this time is shown in FIG.

Next, in the display state shown in FIG. 7, when the table switch 501B that is in the on state is clicked, the control device 305 removes the data for table display from the currently displayed data. to create display content, and output the display content to the display device 301. As a result, only data for text display is displayed, so the display content shown in FIG. 7 is changed to the display content shown in FIG. 6.

Also, in the display state shown in FIG. 7, click the text switch 501A that is in the on state, and then click the chart switch 50 that is in the off state.
When 1C is clicked, the control device 305 creates display content by combining the currently displayed data excluding data for text display and data for chart display, and displays the data. Content display device 30
Output to 1. As a result, the display content shown in FIG. 7 is changed to the display content shown in FIG. 8.

As explained above, by arbitrarily combining the on/off states of the respective switches on the item display section 501, the information required by the user can be displayed all together on one window.

In the above-described embodiment, data is added to the window each time the switch is turned on, so if you try to display a plurality of data at once, the window may become too large. Therefore, in systems where a scroll function can be used, by combining the above-mentioned function of displaying multiple data groups in one window with the scroll function, the window can be kept at a constant size, and multiple data groups can be displayed. Even if you want to display all the data at once, you can view the displayed content by scrolling. An example is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 9, the window includes, in addition to an item name display section 501 and a data display section 502, a scroll instruction section 901 for vertical scrolling and a scroll instruction section 901 for horizontal scrolling. 902 is provided. By instructing these scroll sections, the display contents are scrolled and displayed on the data display section 502.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, a plurality of related data groups are divided into several small data groups, and these are displayed in arbitrary combinations, so the user can Data can be viewed from various angles. In addition, since it can be displayed in one window, there is no need to be aware of which windows are related to each other, which is the case when displaying across multiple windows, so there is no burden on the user. is reduced.

[0049]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, 1
Since multiple related data groups are displayed in one window, any number of data groups can be displayed in one window, making it easy to recognize the relationship between each data group. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining one embodiment of the processing operation of a data processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a data processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a workstation for implementing the apparatus shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the flow of control in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of the initial state of display contents displayed on the display device in the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of display content displayed on a display device in this embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of display contents displayed on a display device in this embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of display contents displayed on a display device in this embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of display contents displayed on a display device in this embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining display processing in a conventional hypertext system.

[Explanation of symbols]

101...Text object, 102...Table/
Object, 103...Chart object, 10
4... Common window object, 105... Common window, 201... Item name display section, 202... Data display section, 203... Position information input section, 204... Data storage section, 205... Control section, 301... Display device, 302...Keyboard, 303...Mouse, 304...Main storage device, 30
5...Control device, 306...Auxiliary storage device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A data processing device that displays a data group corresponding to an item name requested for display in a window, which corresponds to a plurality of item names and differs from a predetermined data group according to a preset image generation method. 1. A data processing device comprising: a plurality of image generation means for generating images generated by the image generation means; and an image drawing means for drawing display contents based on the images generated by the image generation means in one window.