JPH06149553A - Term managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily select a required term from various terms used for software development. CONSTITUTION:This device is provided with an interface part 1 for inputting the term data of managing objects, inquiry request to registered term data and presentation of the term data corresponding to the inquiry request, term data storage part 6 for preserving the term data according to a prescribed format, data registration part 2 for registering the term data inputted from the interface part 1 onto the term data storage part 6, compatibility check part 3 for checking the compatibility between data stored in the term data storage part 6 by the data registration part 2, inquiry part 4 and retrieval part 5 for retrieving a prescribed term data from the term data storage part 6 and reporting the retrieved result to the interface part 1 corresponding to the inquiry request inputted from the interface part 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a term management device for terms used in software development.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in software development, in order to promote automation and efficiency of work, a technique of generating a program using software components based on a written specification is used. At this time, the terms used in the specifications must be predetermined terms that have been determined in advance in a development document or the like.

Therefore, if there is no means for knowing the terms that can be used in each step of development, an error such as applying a plurality of terms to the same entity (such as software component) may occur. Conventionally, a method of simply holding a list of usable terms and presenting them to the user (software developer) has been used.

[0004]

In the conventional method of creating a correspondence list of terms and entities for presenting in response to a user's inquiry, a huge amount of lists must be created. There wasn't. Furthermore, it is difficult to find the necessary term from the huge list only by presenting the list of terms to the user, which hinders the efficient creation of specifications.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a term management device which can easily obtain a necessary term from various terms used in software development. With the goal.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, interface means for inputting term data to be managed, requesting an inquiry for registered term data, and presenting term data in response to the inquiry request, and term data. To store the term data in accordance with a predetermined format, data registration means for registering the term data input from the interface means in the term data storage means, and the term data storage means in the term data storage means. Consistency check means for checking the consistency in the stored data, and predetermined term data is searched from the term data storage means in response to an inquiry request input from the interface means, and the search result is the interface means. Inquiry search means to notify .

[0007]

According to this structure, the user executes the data registration means through the interface means to register the terms used in software development. When registration is completed for all terms, consistency check is performed on the registered terms, and the reliability of the registered content is maintained. When an inquiry request is accepted in an inquirable state, the content related to the inquiry is referred from the term data storage means, a search is performed, and the result is presented.

[0008]

DETAILED 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 term management device according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the term management device includes an interface unit 1, a data registration unit 2, a consistency check unit 3, an inquiry unit 4, a search unit 5, and a term data storage unit 6.

The interface unit 1 receives registration data, a search request and a search key item when an inquiry is received, and notifies the user of an inquiry result. The interface unit 1 receives the registration data as the input file 7, and the input file 7
The stored data is output to the data registration unit 2. The interface unit 1 also outputs a search request and a search key item to the inquiry unit 4. Furthermore, the interface unit 1
Receives the inquiry result from the inquiry unit 4 and outputs it as an output file 8. The interface unit 1 has an input function for inputting various instructions from the user,
Also, a display function and the like for notifying the user are provided. The data registration unit 2 registers the data received from the interface unit 1 in the term data registration unit 6 according to a predetermined format.

The consistency check unit 3 checks the consistency in the data in the term data storage unit 6 when the data registration unit 2 completes the data registration in the term data storage unit 6.

The inquiry unit 4 receives a request from the user via the interface unit 1 when the data consistency is confirmed and the inquiry becomes possible, and passes the request contents to the search unit 5. Further, the inquiry unit 4 receives the search result from the search unit 5 and passes it to the interface unit 1.

The search unit 5 performs a search process on the data stored in the term data storage unit 6 in accordance with the search request content (search request and key item) received from the inquiry unit 4, and outputs the search result to the inquiry unit 4. To do. The term data storage unit 6 is for dividing terms used in software development into tables and storing them.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment exemplifies a case where a program is generated from a formal use description based on a state transition model by using a system for automatically synthesizing software components prepared in advance (component automatic synthesizing system).

The terms used here are terms that are used in the specifications such as "instance" and "operation name".
The entity is a "(software) component" and an "argument" given to the "component". Examples of terms used in this embodiment are shown in FIG.

The terms are grouped in a unit called "class", and a class name is given to the "class". "class"
In addition, there is a set of "instance", "operation", and "argument". An "instance" has an instance (name) and an instance argument.

The "operation" includes an operation name, a part name, and a mode argument. The "argument" includes a user argument and a real number argument for the component name. Among these terms, the terms are instance, operation name, and actual argument, and the substance is the component name (component corresponding to it), instance argument, mode argument, and user argument.

In the component automatic composition system of this embodiment, when a specification is described using terms, a program is automatically generated by synthesizing program components corresponding to the terms. Therefore, the user must describe the specifications using predetermined terms. The following describes how the present invention can be used to register terms and how the registered terms can be referenced.

First, FIG. 3 shows the processing at the time of data registration.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First,
When a data registration request is input from the user via the interface 1 (step A1), the process waits for the input of the type of the input data. The data types include "class", "instance", "part", "argument", and the like.

Here, it is assumed that a "class" registration request is input (step A2). For example, when the input file 7 representing a timer, a key, and an inverter is input as the “class”, the data of the input file 7 is passed to the data registration unit 2 via the interface 1. As shown in FIG. 4, the data registration unit 2 registers the input class name in the class definition table 9 of the term data storage unit 6 (step A3).

It is also assumed that an "instance" definition request has been input (step A4). When registering the "instance", the "class" is specified and the instance name is input. For example, a timer is specified for "class",
It is assumed that a cooking timer and a heat retention timer are input as an instance. As shown in FIG. 5, the data registration unit 2 registers the instance name in the instance definition table 10 of the term data storage unit 6 in association with the designated class name.

When the instance name is registered, the device enters the instance argument registration waiting state. As an instance argument, for example, the cooking timer instance argument COTIM
Is entered. The data registration unit 2 converts the input instance argument COTIM into the instance definition table 10
Register in association with the cooking timer inside. Similarly, when the instance argument KWTIM is input to the heat retention timer, the data registration unit 2 causes the instance definition table 10
Register with.

Further, when the user inputs an instance name for another class (key, inverter, ...) And an instance argument corresponding to each instance is input, the data registration section 2 performs the same process as described above. , Instance definition table 1 of term data storage unit 6
Register to 0.

It is also assumed that a "parts" definition request is input as a data registration request in step A1 (step A6). When registering "parts", "class"
Is designated, and the component name indicating the software component is input. For example, it is assumed that a timer is specified for "class" and timset, timstrt, and timchg are input as component names. As shown in FIG. 6, the data registration unit 2 registers the component name in the operation name definition table 11 of the term data storage unit 6 in association with the designated class name.

When the part name is registered, the device enters a mode argument input waiting state. As the mode argument, for example, the part name ti
Mode arguments PLUS and MINUS are input to mchg. The data registration unit 2 receives the input mode argument PLU.
S and MINUS are the component names in the operation name definition table 11.
Register in association with timchg. At this time, since a plurality of mode arguments (two in this case) have been input, the number of rows corresponding to the component name timchg in the operation name definition table 11 is increased according to the number of input mode arguments. In contrast, the part name tims
When no mode argument is input to et and timstrt, the mode argument corresponding to the component names timset and timstrt in the operation name definition table 11 is NULL as shown in FIG.

When the mode argument is registered, the apparatus waits for the operation name input and accepts the input of the operation name corresponding to the component name and the mode argument. For example, operation name definition table 1
When the operation name time set is input for the combination of timset + (NULL) in 1, the data registration unit 2
The time set is registered in the operation name in the row of the component name timset in the operation name definition table 11. The operation name is similarly defined for other combinations of components and mode arguments.

Further, it is assumed that the "actual argument" definition request is input as the data registration request (step A8). When registering "actual arguments", the target "part" is specified,
User arguments are entered. For example, suppose timset is specified for "part" and 60 seconds and 5 seconds are input as user arguments. As shown in FIG. 7, the data registration unit 2 registers the user argument in the actual argument definition table 12 of the term data storage unit 6 in association with the designated component name (step A9).

When the user argument is registered, the device enters the actual argument input waiting state. As an actual argument, for example, user argument 6
An actual argument of 1 minute is input for 0 sec, and an actual argument of 5 seconds is input for a user argument of 5 sec. The data registration unit 2 registers 1 minute in the actual argument in the row of the user argument 60 sec and 5 seconds in the actual argument in the row of the user argument 5 sec with the component name timset in the actual argument definition table 12. Similarly, for other component names, user arguments and actual arguments are registered to define the components.

Thus, while the data type is specified,
Data corresponding to each of the tables 9 to 12 is registered. Data registration is performed as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7, and when the end of data registration is instructed (step A10), the process shifts from the data registration unit 2 to the consistency check unit 3.

The consistency check unit 3 checks the consistency of the data stored in the term data storage unit 6 (step A11). The consistency check unit 3 is, for example, empty (NU
LL) is not allowed, and there is no space in the term, and there is no duplicate data name.

As a result of checking the registered data by the consistency checking unit 3, if an error is detected in the data (step A12), a message indicating that the data has an error is displayed via the interface unit 1. (Step A13) The user is notified. In this case, the data is registered, that is, the data is corrected as described above (steps A1 to A10).

On the other hand, if no error is detected by the data consistency check, an inquiry can be accepted for the data stored in the term data storage unit 6 (step A14).

Next, regarding data inquiry processing,
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when an inquiry request is input from the user via the interface 1 (step B1), the inquiry unit 4 is activated to enter a waiting state for inputting a data type to be inquired.

Here, when the target name (instance name) list presentation request from the user is input (step B2),
The inquiry unit 4 is notified. The inquiry unit 5 searches through the search unit 5 all the instance names stored in the instance definition table 10 in the term data storage unit 6 (step B3), and obtains the list of the instance names obtained by the search from the interface unit 1 To display (step B4). FIG. 9A shows an example of the list list 13 of instance names output and displayed when the target name list request is input. This allows the user to
You can know available instance names.

Next, the user needs to know which operation is possible for a particular instance. On this occasion,
As the inquiry request, an instance name in the target name list list 13, for example, an operation name presentation request for “cooking timer” is input (steps B1, B2, B5).

In response to the request from the inquiry unit 4, the search unit 5 searches the instance name registered in the instance definition table 10 (see FIG. 5) for the inquired instance name "cooking timer" (step B6). ).
When the "cooking timer" is obtained from the instance definition table 10, the search unit 5 refers to the class name corresponding to this instance name (step B7). As a result, the class name "timer" corresponding to the instance name "cooking timer" is obtained.

Further, the search section 5 searches the operation name definition table 11 based on the acquired class name and extracts all operation names corresponding to the class name (step B8). The retrieval unit 5 extracts the operation name time set, start, remaining time increase, and remaining time decrease corresponding to the class name “timer” in the operation name definition table 11 and notifies the inquiry unit 4 of it. The inquiry unit 4 causes the interface 1 to display a list of the extracted operation names (step B9). FIG. 9B shows an example of the operation name list list 14 that is output and displayed when an operation name request is input. This allows the user to know all the operation names of the target instance.

If an actual argument for the operation name is required, an actual argument presentation request is input (step B1).
0). In this case, the search unit 5 uses the operation name definition table 11
A part name corresponding to the operation name extracted in step S11 is extracted (step B11). The search unit 5 searches the actual argument definition table 12 for the extracted component name (step B1).
2) The actual argument corresponding to the component name is acquired from the actual argument definition table 12 (step B13). The search unit 5 associates the acquired actual argument with the operation name and outputs them to the inquiry unit 4. The inquiry unit 4 causes the interface 1 to display a list of actual arguments corresponding to the extracted operation names (step B14). FIG. 9C shows an example of a list list 15 of operation names and actual arguments output and displayed when an actual argument presentation request is input.

In this way, by inputting the terms such as instance, operation name, and real constant used in software development through the interface section 1, the class definition table 9 and the instance definition are stored in the term data storage section 6. Table 10, operation name definition table 1
1, stored as the actual argument definition table 12. Also,
From the term data storage unit 6, a predetermined term is retrieved and presented by inputting a presentation request for a required term.
The work load is greatly reduced.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the terms used in software development are registered, and the terms required by the user in each development process are presented according to the registered contents. That is, since the terms that can be used are presented to the user, the user can use the terms correctly when describing the specifications of the program, and the software development work can be performed efficiently and accurately. It will be.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a term management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of terms used in Examples.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a processing procedure at the time of data registration.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a class definition table 9.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an instance definition table 10.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an operation name definition table 11.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an actual argument definition table 12.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a data inquiry processing procedure.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a screen output in response to an inquiry input.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Interface part, 2 ... Data registration part, 3 ... Consistency check part, 4 ... Inquiry part, 5 ... Search part, 6 ... Term data storage part, 9 ... Class definition table, 10 ... Instance definition table, 11 ... Operation Name definition table, 1
2 ... Actual argument definition table.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An interface means for inputting term data to be managed, an inquiry request for registered term data, and presenting the term data according to the inquiry request, and for saving the term data according to a predetermined format. Of the term data storage means, data registration means for registering the term data input from the interface means in the term data storage means, and consistency in the data stored in the term data storage means by the data registration means. A consistency check means for checking, and an inquiry search means for searching predetermined term data from the term data storage means in response to an inquiry request input from the interface means, and notifying the interface result of a search result, Term management device characterized by having .