JPH07129379A - Software design supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To quickly and easily display the defined contents of data specified in the description of a data flow diagram by indicating whether each data are defined in a data dictionary or not in accordance with the display format of the data in the description of the data flow diagram. CONSTITUTION:In the case of editing a data flow diagram, a CPU 2 inspects consistency between a data name in the data dictionary and the title of the data flow diagram, turns on a definition flag for a consistent title and turns off a definition flag for an inconsistent title. The title with the definition flag turned off is displayed by inverting its white and black by the CPU 2. Thereby user is released from complicated work for checking whether a tile is defined or not by displaying the data dictionary as a list and the existence of data not defined in the data dictionary can always be recognized in accordance with its display format. Namely the defined contents of data can be quickly and easily displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a software design support device for supporting a system analysis process in software design.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the system analysis process for clarifying the required specifications, which is the initial process of software design, all the used data are listed and defined in a data dictionary under a structured analysis technique, and those data are listed. The data flow and processing contents are described in a data flow diagram. Currently, various support tools have been developed to support this system analysis process.

In the conventional support tool, these data dictionary and data flow diagram creation function are separate entities.
It is generally created while operating separately. Therefore, in order to confirm the consistency and inconsistency between the data described in the data flow diagram and the data defined in the data dictionary, after the data flow diagram and the data dictionary have been described, the consistency of both Also, since the function for checking the inconsistency is activated and the data flow diagram and the data dictionary are reorganized until the inconsistent data disappears, there is a problem that it takes a lot of time and effort. In addition, when you want to check the definition of the data that is in the middle of describing the data flow diagram, temporarily stop the description function of the data flow diagram that is currently operating and start the description function of the data dictionary. Since I need to access the data dictionary later,
There was also the problem that it was very time-consuming.

Furthermore, if the contents of the data dictionary are changed,
For example, if the name of the data is changed, it is necessary to change the data name of all data flow diagrams that describe the data before the change. Use the check function to identify and list the identifiers of all data flow diagrams that use the data before change, that is, the data that is not defined in the data dictionary, and make a note of these identifiers. After recording, the data flow diagram creation function is started, and the specified data flow diagram is called up one by one by the identification name and the data name is individually changed. Therefore, this correction work requires a huge amount of time and labor.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to address the above-mentioned circumstances, and its object is to ensure consistency between data defined in a data dictionary and data described in a data flow diagram in a system analysis process. It is an object of the present invention to provide a software design support device that speedily and simplifies the confirmation work and the correction work thereof.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a software for aggregating all necessary data names and definition contents in a data dictionary and supporting a system analysis process for describing the flow and processing contents of each data in a data flow diagram. In the design support device, in the data structure of the data flow diagram, information for distinguishing whether or not the data described in the data flow diagram is defined in the data dictionary and the data described in the data flow diagram The definition content in the data dictionary is included, and in the description of the data flow diagram, the data defined in the data dictionary and the data not defined in the data flow diagram are displayed in different display modes on the display screen. , The definition content of the data specified on the display screen is Characterized in that it is displayed is read from the data structure of the data flow diagram.

[0007]

According to the present invention, it is possible to indicate whether or not each data is defined in the data dictionary by the display mode of the data during the description of the data flow diagram, and the data specified in the description of the data flow diagram can be displayed. The definition contents can be displayed quickly and easily without reading the entire data dictionary.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a software design support device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. Connected to the system bus 1 are a CPU 2 for controlling the entire apparatus, a work memory 3 for storing a data dictionary and a data flow diagram being created, and a magnetic disk 4 for storing a completed data dictionary and a data flow diagram. It Also,
A keyboard 6 for inputting character information to be described to the system bus 1 via an input / output (I / O) control unit 5.
And the mouse 7 for specifying the input position and the like is connected. Further, the system bus 1 is connected via a display control unit 8 with a bitmap display 9 for displaying a data dictionary or a data flow diagram whose creation has been completed or is being completed.

In this embodiment, while editing the data flow diagram, it is judged whether or not the title described therein is defined in the data dictionary without reading the data dictionary. ) Is checked without reading the data dictionary, and the data flow diagram and the data dictionary are matched. For this purpose, the data structures of the data flow diagram and the data dictionary are configured as follows. To do. FIG. 2 shows the main menu screen of the system analysis process that is displayed after the system analysis function is started up. As described above, the system analysis function includes the data flow diagram editing function, the data dictionary editing function, and the consistency check function as sub functions.

FIG. 3A is a data dictionary editing screen, FIG. 3B is a data structure of the data dictionary stored in the memory 3 and the magnetic disk 4, and FIG. 3C is an example of the data dictionary. Shows. As can be seen from the edit screen, the data items to be entered by the designer are two data items, that is, data name (title) and definition contents (detailed description). In this embodiment, the diagram management table is added to these input data. Is added characteristically. The diagram management table is a table that is described and deleted by the CPU 2 without the intervention of the designer, and describes the identification codes of all data flow diagrams that describe the same title as the data name.

FIG. 4A is a data flow diagram editing screen, FIG. 4B is a code table of symbols used in the data flow diagram, and FIG. 4C is data stored in the memory 3 or the magnetic disk 4. The data structure of the flow diagram, (d) of the figure, shows each data example of the data flow diagram. The symbol code shown in FIG.
Each item of title (same as data name) and display position is a conventional data item, such as definition flag, detail display flag,
Each item in the detailed description is a data item newly added characteristically in this embodiment. The definition flag is turned on by the CPU 2 when the title is defined in the data dictionary, and turned off when the title is not defined in the data dictionary.
The detail display flag is inverted by the CPU 2 from ON to OFF and from OFF to ON when the title on the edit screen is designated (clicked) by operating the mouse 7. The detailed description is the definition content registered in the data dictionary having the same data name as the title, and is updated by the CPU 2 in conjunction with the editing of the data dictionary so as to always match the definition content of the data dictionary.

Next, the editing operation of the data flow diagram and the data dictionary will be described. When editing the data flow diagram, the CPU 2 first checks the consistency between the data name in the data dictionary and the title of the data flow diagram, turns on the definition flag of the matching title, and does not match again. Turn off the title definition flag. The title whose definition flag is OFF is displayed in black and white by the CPU 2. Therefore, the designer is freed from the troublesome work of displaying a list of data dictionaries and checking whether or not the data dictionaries are defined, and while the data flow diagram is being edited, it is always defined in the data dictionaries. Not able to recognize the existence of data.

When the title is designated (clicked) on the screen by operating the mouse 7, the detail display flag of the title is set to ON. If the detail display flag is ON, C
PU2 displays the detailed information (definition content) on the screen instead of the title. This frees the designer from the troublesome work of displaying a list of data dictionaries and checking the definition contents as in the conventional art, and can appropriately check the definition contents of the title by a simple operation.

Next, the internal processing by the CPU 2 for maintaining the consistency between the data in the data flow diagram and the data in the data dictionary will be described. (Editing dataflow diagram) When the title of the data described in a dataflow diagram is changed, when the definition flag of this title is ON, that is, the title before the change is defined as the data name in the data dictionary. Sometimes, the CPU 2 deletes the identification code of the data flow diagram from the diagram management table of the data name in the data dictionary, while the title definition flag is OFF, that is, the title before the change is the data name. When not defined in the dictionary, this OFF state is maintained. Of course, when the definition flag is OFF, the title is displayed in black and white as described above. Then, the CPU 2 checks whether the same data name as the changed title is defined in the data dictionary,
If it has been defined here, the definition flag is turned ON, the detailed description of the title is rewritten to the definition content of the data name, and the data flow being reorganized in the diagram management table of the data name in the data dictionary. The identification code of the diagram is added.

When the designer adds a new title to a certain data flow diagram, the CPU 2 checks whether or not the same data name as the title additionally written by the CPU 2 is defined in the data dictionary, and the title is already defined. If there is, the definition flag is turned ON, the detailed description of the title of the definition content of the data name is rewritten, and the identification code of the data flow diagram being reorganized is added to the diagram management table of the data name of the data dictionary. To be done. On the other hand, if not defined, the definition flag is O.
FF.

When the designer deletes a title, when the definition flag of the title is ON, the identification code of the data flow diagram being reorganized from the diagram management table having the same data name as the title deleted from the data dictionary. Is erased.

When the designer erases the entire data flow diagram, the identification code of the erased data flow diagram is erased from all the diagram management tables in the data dictionary. (Editing the data dictionary) When the designer changes the data name, the same title as the data name before the change of all data flow diagrams described in the diagram management table of the changed data name is changed. Update to the data name of.

When the designer changes the definition contents, the detailed information of the same title as the data name of all the data flow diagrams described in the diagram management table of the data name is updated to the changed definition contents. .

When the designer defines a new data name,
The titles of all the data flow diagrams are investigated, the definition flag of the same title as the new data name is turned ON, and the detailed information of the title is updated to the newly defined content. Further, the identification code of the data flow diagram whose detailed information has been updated is registered in the diagram management table with the new data name.

When a designer deletes a data name, the definition flag of the same title as the data name of all the data flow diagrams described in the diagram management table of the data name is turned off, and the detailed information is displayed. To be deleted.

As described above, even when the contents of the data flow diagram and the data dictionary are reorganized, the consistency of both data is maintained. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the definition flag is provided in the data structure of the data flow diagram, and the state of this definition flag is changed according to the consistency between the data flow diagram and the data dictionary. By displaying the title in a different display mode, the designer can always confirm whether or not it is defined in the data dictionary by the display mode while editing the data flow diagram. Also, this definition flag is updated each time one of the data flow diagram and the data dictionary is reorganized, so that the latest matching state can always be represented. Further, since the definition contents of the data dictionary are described as detailed information items in the data structure of the data flow diagram, the definition contents can be easily confirmed by operating the mouse 7 even while the data flow diagram is being edited. it can. Furthermore, since the identification code of the latest data flow diagram that uses each data name is updated and registered in the data structure of the data dictionary at any time, if you change or delete the data name while editing the data dictionary. The data in the data flow diagram is updated and deleted accordingly, and the consistency between the two is automatically maintained. The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be implemented with various modifications.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the system analysis step of collecting the names and definition contents of all necessary data in the data dictionary and describing the flow and processing contents of each data in the data flow diagram. In the software design support device for supporting the above, in the data structure of the data flow diagram, information for distinguishing whether or not the data described in the data flow diagram is defined in the data dictionary and the data flow diagram are described. And a definition screen of the data defined in the data dictionary is included in the data flow diagram, and the data defined in the data dictionary and the undefined data are displayed in different display modes in the description of the data flow diagram. Of the data displayed on the screen and specified on the display screen. It is characterized in that the meaning content is read from the data structure of the data flow diagram and displayed, and during the description of the data flow diagram, it is possible to indicate whether or not each data is defined in the data dictionary by the display mode of the data. (EN) Provided is a software design support device capable of displaying the definition contents of data specified during description of a data flow diagram quickly and easily without reading the entire data dictionary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a software design support device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a main menu of system analysis.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data dictionary edit screen, data structure, and data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data flow diagram edit screen, a symbol code, a data structure, and data.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... System bus, 2 ... CPU, 3 ... Working memory, 4
... magnetic disk, 5 ... I / O controller, 6 ... keyboard,
7 ... Mouse, 8 ... Display control unit, 9 ... Bitmap display.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A software design support device for aggregating all necessary data names and definition contents in a data dictionary and describing the flow and processing contents of each data in a data flow diagram, in a software design support device comprising: The data structure of the flow diagram includes information for distinguishing whether the data described in the data flow diagram is defined in the data dictionary and the definition content of the data described in the data flow diagram in the data dictionary. During the description of the data flow diagram, the data defined in the data dictionary and the data not defined in the data dictionary are displayed in different display modes according to the distinguishing information, and are designated on the display screen. The definition contents of the created data are Software design support apparatus characterized by being displayed are read from the data structure of the beam.