JPH0525338B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Summary] This is a processing method for improving the usage of online manuals in which manuals are stored and used in the storage device of a computer system.

When you specify the required command example on the manual displayed on the terminal device, if necessary, after modifying the parameters etc. according to the instructions,
A command corresponding to the command example is generated and processed as a command input from the terminal device.

This method saves the effort of re-entering commands determined by referring to the manual, and at the same time reduces input errors.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an online manual processing method in a computer system.

A method of storing a manual in a computer's storage device and reading it out to a terminal device for use when necessary is known as an online manual.

[Conventional technology]

Users of many computer systems generally need to understand how to use them by reading the required manuals before using them. (parameters) etc., it is often necessary to refer to example commands written in the manual each time and enter the necessary information accordingly.

In recent years, computers have been increasingly used from terminal devices such as workstations installed near each user, and so-called online manuals have come into use.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a computer system.

The processing device 1 is connected to a terminal device 2, and, for example, the input/output management unit 5 of the processing device 1 identifies a command input through an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse of the terminal device 2, and performs a specified processing function. For example, by calling the utility section 7 for file processing, a path for exchanging information between the utility section 7 and the terminal device 2 is set, and the required processing can proceed.

In a system that provides an online manual, a manual 4 is stored in a storage device 3, such as a magnetic disk storage device.

When a user wants to read a manual, he inputs a predetermined command to call the manual from the terminal device 2, and when the input/output management section 5 identifies it, the manual processing section 6 is started.

The manual processing section 6 first reads, for example, the table of contents of the manual from the storage device 3, outputs it to the terminal device 2 via the input/output management section 5, and displays it on a display device of the terminal device 2, such as a CRT display device.

The user selects an item with a desired explanation from the displayed manual table of contents and inputs, for example, the item number assigned to that item.

When the manual processing unit 6 receives the item number via the input/output management unit 5, it reads the first page of the explanation item corresponding to the specified number in the manual 4, and
It is displayed on the terminal device 2 in the same way as the table of contents.

Thereafter, the manual processing unit 6 reads the required page of the explanation from the storage device 3 and displays it on the terminal device 2, or displays the explanation of another item in the same manner as described above, according to the instruction input from the terminal device 2. I can do it.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

When the user refers to commands in the manual as described above, if the manual is online, the user displays the manual on the terminal device 2 and reads the explanation as described above.

The user memorizes the commands found,
If necessary, it is necessary to write down the command and operate the keyboard of the terminal device 2 to enter the command again, which may be more inconvenient than a hard copy manual, which poses a problem in terms of work efficiency for the user. .

[Means for Solving the Problems] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention.

In the figure, 2 is a terminal device, 3 is a storage device, 1
0 is a processing device; 11 of the processing device 10 is an input/output management unit that controls information exchange with the terminal device 2;
2 is a manual processing unit that displays a specified part of the manual 14 on the terminal device 2; 13 is a manual processing unit that receives a predetermined instruction from the terminal device 2 from the manual processing unit 12, generates and outputs a command corresponding to the specified command example; This is a command generation part.

[Effect]

A user of the computer system inputs a predetermined instruction from the terminal device 2 to cause the manual processing unit 12 to read out a required portion of the manual 14 and display it on the terminal device 2.

When inputting a command using a command example in the manual, the user operates the input device of the terminal device 2 to input the desired command example on the displayed manual, for example by placing the cursor at the first character position. and enter the specified key.
specify.

The manual processing unit 12 that received this information,
The command specified by the character position on the display screen of the terminal device 2 is identified from the part of the manual that has been read out, and is notified to the command generation unit 13.

The command generation unit 13 outputs specified command example data to the terminal device 2 via the input/output management unit 11 so as to display it in a predetermined area on the display surface of the terminal device 2, and can modify the displayed command example data. Make it.

When a predetermined key input indicating completion of modification is received, a command string is generated based on the command example data as a modification result, and the command string is sent to the input/output management section 11 as a command from the terminal device 2. Since the command is passed, the input/output management unit 11 executes the control specified by the command.

As described above, the command reference operation of the online manual becomes extremely convenient, and the user's work efficiency can be improved.

〔Example〕

In the processing device 10 of FIG. 1, the input/output management section 11 and manual processing section 12 have the same functions as the conventional input/output management section 5 and manual processing section 6, respectively, except as described below.

By inputting a predetermined instruction from the terminal device 2, the user of the computer system causes the manual processing section 12 to read out a required portion of the manual 4, and displays it on the terminal device 2 in the same manner as in the past.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the state of manual display on the terminal device 2. In FIG. 2a,
Reference numeral 20 indicates a display surface of a display device or the like. On the display surface 20, explanatory text of the manual and line drawings, if necessary, are displayed in display areas 21 and 23, and example commands are displayed in the display area 22. be.

Here, in the manual 14 to which the present invention is applied, for example, in order to easily distinguish between the command example part and other explanatory parts,
The beginning of each line of the data in No. 4 is an identification character, and the command example part is indicated by, for example, "00", and the lines other than the command example start with a character other than "00".

When referring to a command example in a manual and attempting to input that command, the user operates the input device of the terminal device 2 to enter the desired command example on the displayed manual, for example by moving the cursor to that command. Place it at the first character position (cursor 24 in the diagram)
(indicated as) by pressing a predetermined key.

At this time, the cursor position and key information are input from the terminal device 2 to the processing device 10 as usual, and the manual processing section 12 that received this information reads out the line specified by the character position on the display surface of the terminal device 2. If the line is a command example line starting with "00" as described above, the command generation unit 13 is notified.

If the designated line is not a command example line, for example, a warning message is output to the terminal device 2.

When a command example is specified, the command generation unit 13 outputs a copy of the specified command example data to the terminal device 2 via the input/output management unit 11. For example, as shown in FIG. The command is displayed in a predetermined command area 25 such as at the bottom of the display screen.

In this state, the command generation unit 13
In accordance with the input, the command example displayed in the command area 25 is corrected on the display screen, and if necessary, the function is provided to process editing such as adding commands.

When the user completes the necessary modifications to the command example, he/she inputs a predetermined key indicating the end of modification. Therefore, the command generation unit 13 generates a command string by processing such as converting the corrected command example data into a character code for internal processing, and sends it as a command from the terminal device 2 to the input/output management unit 11. give it to

Therefore, the input/output management unit 11 processes this command in the same way as a command input from the terminal device 2, and
Executes such as starting the process specified in the command.

In the above description, the command example is modified in the predetermined command area 25, but the command example being displayed in the manual (for example, in the display area 22) may be directly modified.

As described above, the online manual command reference operation becomes extremely convenient and the user's work efficiency can be improved, and since it becomes easy to confirm the contents of the manual by executing it, it is expected that the quality of the manual will be improved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in a computer system having an online manual, command examples in the manual can be easily referenced, the user's work efficiency is improved, and command examples in the manual can be easily referenced. There is a significant industrial effect in that quality is improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the principle configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a display surface, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of a conventional configuration. In the figure, 1 and 10 are processing units, 2 is a terminal device, 3 is a storage device, 4 and 14 are manuals, 5,
11 is an input/output management section, 6 and 12 are manual processing sections, 13 is a command generation section, 20 is a display screen, 2
1, 22, 23 are display areas, 24 is a cursor, 2
5 indicates a command area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A manual is stored in the storage device 3, and the manual processing section 12 receives a request from the terminal device 2, and
In a computer system that displays the manual on the terminal device, a command generation unit 13 is provided, and the manual processing unit 12 inputs the portion of the manual displayed on the terminal device 2 from the terminal device and displays the manual. When a predetermined instruction specifying a command in The system is characterized in that it is configured to generate a command that has undergone necessary modifications according to the specified specification for the notified command, and to output the generated command from the terminal device as an input to the computer system. Online manual processing method.