JPH0635688A - Conversational processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily attain the synthesis of user interface functions by performing the constitution of the user interface function by interface parts by the operation description data of the interface parts at the time of the execution of an application program, in a conversational processing system having the plural interface parts which execute the user interface function. CONSTITUTION:The conversational processing system having the plural interface parts which execute the user interface function on the display screen of a display device, is equipped with a partial data storage means 17 which stores the plural interface parts including the operation description data, and an operation description data interpreting means 16 which synthesizes the desired operation description data from the plural interface parts, and assigns the data to the interface parts as a new operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an interactive processing system, and more particularly to the construction of interface parts in an interactive processing system having a plurality of interface parts for executing a user interface function on a display screen of a display device.
It relates to an interactive processing system for facilitating changes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an interactive processing system having a plurality of interface parts for executing a user interface function on a display screen of a display device, when a panel on the display screen incorporating the interface parts is created, those Information about the panel (interface parts)
Converted to a source program to create a source program for the interface component. Then, by compiling this source program and linking it with the main body of the application program, an interface component of the corresponding user interface function in the execution format is created. In this case, even when changing the specifications of the interface parts in the panel on the display screen, change the corresponding part of the source program of the original program, compile again,
Must be linked with the application program itself.

As described above, in constructing the user interface of the computer system, it is necessary to give the operation of the user interface parts for performing the interactive processing between the user and the system as a program, and it is a complicated work to change some specifications. There is a problem that a process is required. On the other hand, in the "dialogue processing composition system" proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-266424, the system side provides parts composed of visual data and behavioral description data of a database, and these are provided. By combining,
To facilitate the construction of the user interface by synthesizing the operation program of the user interface of the computer application system. For this reason, in this interactive processing composition system, an interface component database section that provides a component composed of visual data and behavioral description data, an interface component editor section that describes the components of the interface component database section in combination, An interface synthesis unit that synthesizes a dialogue processing unit based on the description of the interface component editor unit. This allows
The interactive processing unit of the computer application system can be configured by a simple method of combining parts.

Further, in the "software prototype creation support device" proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 254539/1990, a prototype of the man-machine interface of the interactive CAD system is created by graphic input.
For this reason, here, the entered figure is individually registered as a man-machine interface component (menus) of the interactive CAD system in the database and operated according to the specified operation definition, thereby realizing the function as a prototype. To do. Furthermore, the source code of the target system is converted and output.

[0005]

By the way, when a panel on a display screen including a user interface component of this kind of interactive processing program is created, a similar interface in which a part of the panel is changed is often created. But,
Since it is impossible to change only the user interface parts, even if you change part of the specifications of the interface parts on the panel on the display screen, change the corresponding part of the source program of the original program and compile again. Therefore, the complicated work of linking with the application program itself is required.

In this way, when creating a panel of the user interface function of the application program,
For example, if you want to change a part of the user interface control component and combine the operations assigned to multiple components created in the user interface panel to integrate them as a new function, use the original program of the interface component. It is necessary to change the source program of, recompile, and link with the application program itself. The change work is complicated, and there is a problem that work efficiency is poor. Also, in creating the panel of the user interface function of the application program,
It is impossible to dynamically create and change many user interface panels by an application program, and there is a problem that the panel creation of the user interface function is inefficient.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a dialogue process having a plurality of interface parts for executing a user interface function on a display screen of a display device. In the system, the construction of the user interface function by the interface component is performed by the operation description data of the interface component when the application program is executed, and the user interface function is easily synthesized.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a dialogue processing system of the present invention is a dialogue processing system having a plurality of interface parts for executing a user interface function on a display screen of a display device. , Component data storage means (17) storing a plurality of interface components including behavior description data, and behavior description data for synthesizing desired behavior description data from the plurality of interface components and assigning to the interface component as a new behavior And an interpreting means (16).

The dialog processing system further includes a behavior description data transcription means (18) for transcribing behavior description data of the interface component, and also generates an interface component corresponding to the synthesized behavior description data. An interface component generating means (19) is provided.

[0010]

The interactive processing system of the present invention is a system having a plurality of interface parts for executing the user interface function on the display screen of the display device, and the application program operates through the user interface function of the interface parts. To do. The system control unit controls the processing of the user interface function. In the interactive processing system thus configured, the component data storage means (17) stores behavioral description data defining the behavior of the interface component for each user interface function, and the data interpretation means ( In 16), desired behavioral description data is synthesized from the behavioral description data of the plurality of interface components, and is assigned to the interface component as a new behavior. The behavioral description data synthesized here and assigned to the interface component as a new behavior is the behavioral description data transfer means (1
8) is transcribed from the behavior description data of the interface component that realizes the user interface function of the application program, and the interface component generation means (19) generates an interface portion corresponding to the synthesized behavior description data. The interface component synthesized as a new interface component of the user interface function also includes component data storage means (1
It is stored in 7).

As described above, in this interactive processing system, the operation function of the interface component that provides the user interface function can be combined with the operation description data when the application program is executed.
Also, since the operation specification of the user interface function is stored as the operation description data in the interface part storage means (17), the operation of the user interface function between the interface part in the application program created by a certain system and another interface part can be performed. It is possible to create an interactive processing system that can be easily combined and, for example, automatically executes a series of operations of user interface functions combined by a plurality of application programs.

As a result, in the past, the composition of the user interface functions of the separately designed application programs could be performed only at the level of the source program. However, according to the interactive processing system of the present invention, Since the composition is performed based on the behavior description data that defines the behavior of the component, the behavior of the user interface function of the application program can be easily synthesized.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a dialogue processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1
, 11 is an application program main body,
Reference numeral 12 is an interface control unit, 13 is an operating system, 14 is an input / output device control unit, and 15 is an input / output device. As the input / output device 15, a CRT display as a display output device, a mouse as a pointing device, a keyboard as a character input device, or the like is used. The input / output device controller 14 is a driver that controls the input / output devices connected to the hardware devices of the system, and controls the input / output devices such as the CRT display, the mouse, and the keyboard. Operating system 1
3 provides a system environment in which an application program operates, and controls the entire system of the hardware device. The user interface control unit 12 controls each interface component to execute a user interface function when the application program main body unit 11 operates.

Behavior description data defining the behavior of the interface component is registered in the behavior description data file 17, and when the application program is started, the behavior description data interpretation unit 16 registers it in the behavior description data file 17. The specified behavior description data is read, the data is interpreted at the time of execution, the user interface function is constructed, and the user interface function by the interface component is executed. Therefore, the operation description data of the interface component is incorporated in the user interface controller 12. As a result, the user interface function by the interface component when the user interface control unit 12 processes the application program main body unit 11 is executed.

As described above, the main features of the interactive processing system of this embodiment are that the user interface control unit 12 controls the interface component to execute the user interface function of the interface component, and the interface. A behavior description data file 17 that stores behavior description data that defines the behavior of a part, and a behavior description data interpretation unit 16 that interprets this behavior description data.
And a behavioral description data transcription unit 18 that transcribes behavioral description data that defines the behavior of the interface component, and a behavioral description data synthesizing unit 19 that synthesizes the translated behavioral description data as an interface component having a new function.

When the application program is started up, the behavioral description data describing the behavior of the interface component for constructing the user interface function is stored in the behavioral description data file 17 from the behavioral description data file 17.
It is read into the user interface control unit 12 via 6. The user's transcription operation for the interface component is transmitted from the input / output device 15 to the user interface control unit 12 via the input / output device control unit 14 and the operating system 13.

The user interface control unit 12 exchanges the behavioral description data corresponding to the interface component in which the behavior is caused with the behavioral description data interpreting unit 16 to transfer the behavioral description data to the display panel of another user interface function, and Notify the application program body 11. A change in appearance of the interface component on the display screen is fed back to the input / output device 15 via the operating system 13 and the input / output device control unit 14. At this time, the screen data of the display of the input / output device 15, the data of other panels, and the like are combined as operation description data for generating a new interface component and stored in the operation description data file 17. That is, in this case, the behavioral description data is transcribed by the behavioral description data transcribing unit 18, and is synthesized by the behavioral description data synthesizing unit 19 as the behavioral description data of the interface component of the new function and stored in the behavioral description data file 17. It As a result, the operation of the user interface function of the interface component can be easily combined without relinking with the application program body 11.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of synthesizing the behavioral description data of the interface component created from the execution operation of the application program in the interactive processing system of this embodiment. In FIG. 2, 21 is an application window, 22 is an interface part button A,
Reference numeral 23 is an interface component button B, and 24 is an interface component button C. 25 is a display window,
Reference numerals 26, 27 and 28 are sub-windows for displaying the behavioral description data set in the interface parts. Further, reference numerals 32, 33, and 34 respectively represent operation description data set for the button A, the button B, and the button C of the interface parts.

Now, the application window 21 is opened, and the operation description data of the button A of the interface component 22 arranged in the application window 21
When displayed in the sub-window 26 of the behavior regulation data change sheet, the behavior description data 3 is displayed as shown in FIG.
2 is displayed. In the behavioral description data 32 set for the button A, the name of the interface part is "ButtonA" (first line), and the kind of the part is "PushButton" that calls a command when clicked (second line). Change your color to "black" (3rd line), and the command to call at that time is "ShowMessage1" (4th line)
Is described as data. The character string "This is a test message A" is set as the argument of the command "ShowMessage1".

Similarly, when the operation description data of the button B of the interface component 23 is displayed on the sub window 27 of the operation regulation data change sheet, the operation description data 33 is displayed as shown in FIG. In the behavioral description data 33 set in the button B, the name of the interface component is "ButtonB" (first line), and the command is called when the component type is clicked "PushButton"
(2nd line), and when clicked, it changes its color to “black” (3rd line), and the command called at that time is “ShowMessage2” (4th line). Is described as. In addition,
As an argument of the command "ShowMessage1", a character string "This is a test message B" is set.

The button C of the interface component 24 here is a button for instructing a newly synthesized operation. Similar to the case described above, the behavioral description data 34 displayed by the sub window 29 of the behavioral regulation data change sheet
According to this, the name of the interface part is "ButtonC" (first line), the kind of part is "PushButton" that calls a command when clicked (second line), and when clicked, my color is "black". Indicates that the interface component is changed to (3rd line) and the command to be called at that time is "ButtonA, ButtonB" (4th line). That is, the button C of the interface component 24
Is an interface component that performs a combined operation of the button A of the interface component 22 and the button B of the interface component 23. This interface component 24
The operation description data of the button C is the operation description data of the button A of the interface component 22 and the interface component 23 which have been previously set when the application is executed.
The behavior description data of button B is combined to generate the interface component.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of the user interface function by the button C of the interface component created previously. By executing the application program and loading the previously created interface component data, the user interface function of the interface component operates. As shown in FIG. 3, in the application window 36 opened on the display screen 35, the arranged interface parts (“Button
When the button C of "C") 24 is pointed and clicked with the mouse cursor 39, the command "ShowMessage1" and the command "ShowMessage1" according to the command of the behavior description data 32 of the interface component 22 and the behavior description data 23 of the interface component 23 according to the behavior description data 34 are displayed. “ShowMessage
2 "is called, and a message 38 by two commands is displayed in the display window 37. At this time, in the interface component 24, the button color is changed to" black ".

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example in which the interface components of the user interface function in a plurality of application programs are newly combined as the interface components of the user interface function in another application program. In FIG. 4, 41 is a display window, 42 is a first application window, 43 is a button A of an interface component in the first application program, 44 is a second application window, and 45 is an interface component in the second application program. Button B, and 46 is the third application window,
Reference numeral 47 is a button C which is an interface component synthesized in the third application window.

Here, the button A of the interface component 43 in the first application window 42
And the button B of the interface component 45 in the second application window 44 are posted as interface components in the third application window 46, and the two interface components 4 posted in the third application window 46 are further posted.
3 and 45 are combined to create a new interface component 47.
It is synthesized as button C of. The method of synthesizing the button C of the interface component 47 here is the same as the method described in FIG.

It is also possible to copy the interface component 45 in the second application window 44 onto the first application window 42 and synthesize a new interface component. Further, inside the first application window 42, it is also possible to transcribe interface parts such as transcribe behavioral description data.

As described above, the operation description data of the interface component that executes the user interface function in the application program is posted and interpreted when the application program is executed, so that it is set in the interface component during the execution of the application program. The behavior description data described above can be synthesized to synthesize the behavior of the interface function.

Next, another application example and modification example of the dialogue processing system according to the present embodiment will be described. (1) In this embodiment, the interface components to be combined are
Although a new button C is defined and combined there, a combination command for combining two buttons as one button is provided, and a new operation is designated for the combined command to display the display screen. It is possible to provide a button function such that the above two buttons operate simultaneously. (2) Also, by allowing the operation description data to be changed by the application program, it becomes possible to change the menu items and the like by the application program. Therefore, it is possible to synthesize the behavior of the dynamic interface component during execution of the application program.

[0028]

As described above, according to the interactive processing system of the present invention, since the operation of the interface component for constructing the user interface function can be synthesized at the time of executing the application program, it is created by a certain interactive processing system. An interface component of an application program and other interface components can be combined, and an interactive processing system that automatically executes a series of operations of user interface functions can be created. In this way, the system operation function of the user interface function in the interactive processing system can be easily combined.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a dialogue processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining an example of synthesizing behavioral description data of interface parts created from the execution operation of an application program in the interactive processing system of the present embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of a user interface function by a button C of the interface component created earlier;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example in which an interface component of a user interface function in a plurality of application programs is newly combined as an interface component of a user interface function in another application program.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Application program main body section, 12 ... User interface control section, 13 ... Operating system, 14 ... Input / output device control section, 15 ... Input / output device, 16 ... Behavior description data interpretation section, 17 ... Behavior description data file, 18 ... Behavior description data transcription unit, 19 ... Behavior description data composition unit, 21 ... Application window, 22 ... Interface component (button A), 23 ... Interface component (button B), 24 ... Interface component (button C), 25 ... Display window , 26, 27
And 28 ... Subwindows, 32, 33 and 34 ...
Behavior description data, 41 ... Display window, 42 ... First application window, 43 ... Interface component (button A), 44 ... Second application window, 45 ... Interface component (button B), 46 ...
Second application window, 47 ... Interface component (button C).

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a dialogue processing system having a plurality of interface components for executing a user interface function on a display screen of a display device, component data storage means for storing a plurality of interface components including behavioral description data, and An interaction processing system comprising: behavior description data interpretation means for synthesizing desired behavior description data from a plurality of interface components and assigning the behavior description data to the interface component as a new behavior. 2. The dialogue processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a behavioral description data transcription means for transcribing behavioral description data of the interface component. 3. The dialogue processing system according to claim 1, further comprising an interface component generation means for generating an interface component corresponding to the combined behavioral description data.