JPH07191840A - Automatic program generator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To design a control program, which uses the patterns of variables corresponding to controlled contents, on a graphic picture by generating the pattern of data corresponding to respective data flow connecting terminals at the control program as the patterns of the variables of the program. CONSTITUTION:A symbol inputted from a graphic symbol file 4 is retrieved by a graphic symbol retrieving means 10 and displayed on a screen. Next, the pattern of data provided for any relevant program module is retrieved from a program module 5 by a data pattern retrieving means 20, and that pattern information is displayed on the graphic picture by a data pattern display means 21. A remaining picture is retrieved from a graphic drawing 6 by a graphic picture retrieving means 13, the program module corresponding to that picture is selected from a program module file 5 and further the selected program modules are linked through the variables by a variable generating means 15 so that the source code of the control program can be generated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic program generation device for automatically generating a control program by combining graphic symbols when creating a control program for a computer-controlled system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a control program for a computer control system is created, a system engineer is in charge of system design, and a program engineer is in charge of creating a control program based on it. There has been proposed a program generation device which registers a certain control program module in advance, displays these program modules with graphic symbols, and designs a control program by combining them to automatically generate them. For a method and an apparatus for automatically generating a control program by displaying control program modules as graphic symbols and combining them, see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-277126.
It is described in Japanese Patent Publication No.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the overall structure of a conventional program automatic generation device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a computer main part, which is a control program automatic generation device main body. Reference numeral 2 is a display means and 3 is an input means. 4 is a graphic symbol file that stores a graphic symbol indicating a control algorithm, 5 is a program module file that stores a module that is a high-level language that indicates a control algorithm, and 6 is a line that indicates a data flow of a graphic symbol (hereinafter, data). A graphic drawing file for storing a graphic screen edited by connecting with a flow line), and a generation program file 7 for storing a control program generated from information of the edited graphic drawing and a program module.

Further, the control program automatic generation apparatus 1 is
Graphic drawing editing means 8 for designing a control program on a graphic drawing by connecting graphic symbols indicating a control algorithm with a data flow line, and control program generating means 9 for generating a source code of the control program from the information of the edited graphic drawing. Composed of and.

Further, the graphic drawing editing means 8 is
A graphic symbol searching means 10 for searching a graphic symbol from the graphic symbol file 4 and generating it in a graphic drawing, a data flow connecting means 11 for connecting a data flow connecting terminal with a data flow line on the graphic drawing, and a connected graphic drawing It comprises graphic drawing storage means 12 for storing in the drawing file 6. Further, the control program generating means 9 is a graphic drawing information searching means 13 for searching the graphic drawing file 6 for the information of the graphic drawing to be generated by the program, and a program module searching means 14 for searching the program module file 5 for the control algorithm entity of the graphic symbol. , And variable generation means 15 for generating a control program by connecting the retrieved program modules with variables based on the connection information of the data flow lines of the graphic drawing.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the designer selects the symbol of the control algorithm to be generated by the input means 3 (S1). As a result, the graphic symbol search means 10 searches for the symbol from the graphic symbol file 4 and displays it on the screen. Then, the data flow line of the graphic symbol is connected by the data flow connecting means 11 and displayed on the screen (S2).
The above process is repeated until the program design on the graphic screen is completed (NO in S3). FIG. 15 shows an example of a designed graphic screen, in which symbols 16 and 17 showing a control algorithm are connected by a data flow line 19 connecting respective data flow connection terminals 18.

When the design is completed (YES in S3), it is stored in the graphic drawing file 6 by the drawing graphic drawing storing means 12 designed on the drawing (S4). After that, the graphic drawing information retrieval means 1
3 searches the saved drawing from the graphic drawing file 6, the program module searching means 14 selects the program module corresponding to the drawing from the program module file 5, and further the variable generating means 15
The source code of the control program is generated by connecting the selected program modules with a variable (S5).

[0008]

In the conventional program automatic generation device as described above, since the data flow connection terminal 18 has no type distinction on the graphic drawing, it is the substance of the data in the registered program module. The variable needs to be one type that can include all data types, and it has been impossible to generate a control program using multiple types of variables. Therefore, even if the characteristics of data such as data according to control contents such as calculation accuracy and calculation speed, data according to I / O format, etc. are different, the type is uniform, so that the efficiency of program generation is poor and the generated program There was a problem that the accuracy of was poor.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a program automatic program capable of designing a control program using a variable type according to control contents on a graphic screen. To obtain a generator. A second object is to obtain an automatic program generation device that can generate a control program without connection error when connecting data flow connection terminals of a plurality of types of data. Furthermore, a third object is to obtain an automatic program generation device that allows a program designer to generate a control program using a plurality of types of data without being aware of the type of data.

[0010]

In the automatic program generation device according to the present invention, the graphic symbols of each program module are provided with data flow connection terminals for the number of input / output data of the program, and each of the data flow connection terminals is provided. And data type information are associated with each other, data type display means for displaying the data type information of the data flow connection terminal of the graphic symbol on the graphic drawing, and data type connection means associated with each data flow connection terminal. The control program is provided with variable generation means for generating the data type as a variable type of the program.

Further, the data type determination means for determining whether or not the data type information held by the two data flow connection terminals connected by the data flow line is the same and displaying the determination result is provided.

Further, there is provided a cast process generating means for generating a type matching process when connecting the data flow connecting terminals having different data types by the data flow line.

[0013]

In the present invention, the graphic symbols are provided with the connecting terminals as many as the input / output data of the program, and the data type searching means associates the respective connecting terminals with the data type information to make the variable generating means. The control program is generated by using the type information as the variable type of the program.

Further, the data type determination means determines whether or not the two connection terminals to which the data flow line is connected are the same, and the determination result is displayed.

Further, when the data flow line is connected to two connection terminals having different data types, the cast process generating means generates a process for matching the types to include both types.

[0016]

【Example】

Example 1. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, 1 to 15 are the same as or equivalent to the conventional one. Reference numeral 20 is a data type retrieval means for retrieving the data type of the program from the program module file 5 and associating it with the data flow connection terminal of the graphic symbol, and 21 is a data type for displaying the data type of the data flow connection terminal on the graphic drawing. It is a display means.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, as in the conventional case, the designer selects the symbol of the control algorithm to be generated by the input means 3 (S1). As a result, the graphic symbol search means 10 searches for the symbol from the graphic symbol file 4 and displays it on the screen. Then, the data type search means 20 searches the program module file 5 for the type of data of the corresponding program module, and the type information is displayed on the graphic drawing by the data type display means 21 (T1). . For example, a data type suitable for the control content is used, such as using a double-precision real number type variable for data that requires arithmetic precision, or using a single precision integer type variable for a flag or I / O. FIG. 3 is an example of the data type display, and the type of the connection terminal of the program module 16 is 18a.
Two types of (|) and 18b (Δ) are shown by their shapes. The designer can understand the type of data (for example, single precision integer type) from the shape of the connection terminal. And
The data flow line 19 connecting the data flow connection terminals of the same type is connected by the data flow connection means 11 and displayed on the screen (T2). The above processing is completed until the program design on the graphic screen is completed regardless of the number of data types of the program (NO in S3)
Repeated.

When the design is completed (YES in S3), the graphic drawing file saving means 12 designed on the drawing saves it in the graphic drawing file 6 as in the conventional case (S4). Thereafter, the graphic drawing information searching means 13 searches the saved drawing from the graphic drawing file 6, the program module searching means 14 selects the program module corresponding to the drawing from the program module file 5, and further the variable generating means. The source code of the control program is generated by connecting the selected program module 15 with a variable (S5). As described above, a control program using a plurality of variable types according to control contents and input / output formats can be designed on a graphic screen.

Example 2. In the first embodiment, the type of data is indicated by the shape of the data flow connection terminal, but it may be indicated by the display color of the data flow connection terminal.

Example 3. Further, in the above-described first and second embodiments, the types are distinguished by the data flow connection terminal, but they may be distinguished by the portion (data flow line connection portion) following the data flow line of the data flow connection terminal. FIG. 4 shows an example of the data type display according to this example.
(=) And the data flow line 19b (---) are different data types. The same idea may be used to distinguish the display color of the data flow line connection portion.

Example 4. Further, although the data types are distinguished by the shapes and display colors of the data flow connection terminals or the data flow lines in the above-described first to third embodiments, the data type information may be displayed in a tabular format on the graphic drawing. FIG. 5 is an example of data type display according to this example, in which the types of data flow connection terminals for each of the program module A and the program module B are shown in a table.
Based on this table, the designer selects one data flow connection terminal of the same type from each module by the input means 3, and the two selected data flow connection terminals are connected by the data flow line 19. To be done.

Embodiment 5. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an automatic program generation device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same or corresponding parts as in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. Reference numeral 22 is a data type determination means for determining the types of two data flow connection terminals to be connected, and if they are different, they are not connected on the graphic drawing.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, as in the first embodiment, the designer selects the symbol of the control algorithm to be generated by the input means 3 (S1). As a result, the graphic symbol search means 10 searches for the symbol from the graphic symbol file 4 and displays it on the screen. Then, the data type searching means 20 searches the program module file 5 for the data type of the corresponding program module (U1). Subsequently, when the designer connects the dataflow connection terminal with the dataflow line by the dataflow connection means 11, (U
2) The data type determination unit 22 determines whether the two connection terminals connected to each other have the same type (U3). When the determination results are the same (when U3 is OK), the processes of S3 to S5 are performed as in the first embodiment. When the determination result is different (when U3 is NG), a message indicating that the connection cannot be made on the graphic drawing is displayed (U4), and the process returns to U2 to prompt the correction of the data flow connection. FIG. 8 shows an example of a display screen when the data flow connection terminals of different types are connected by the input means 3 (indicated by an arrow on the graphic drawing). As described above, even when a control program using a plurality of data types is created, the data flow connection terminals of different types will not be erroneously connected.

Example 6. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram showing an automatic program generation device according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same or corresponding parts as in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. Reference numeral 23 is a cast processing generation means for generating variable type conversion processing when different data types are connected by a data flow from the graphic drawing information.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, as in Example 1,
The designer selects the symbol of the control algorithm to be generated by the input means 3 (S1). As a result, the graphic symbol search means 10 searches for the symbol from the graphic symbol file 4 and displays it on the screen. Then, the data type searching means 20 searches the program module file 5 for the data type of the corresponding program module (U1). Subsequently, the designer connects the dataflow connection terminals with the dataflow line by the dataflow connection means 11 (U2),
Until the design is completed (NO in S3), S1 to U2
Process. When the design is completed (YES in S3), the information of the graphic drawing is stored together with the information of the data type retrieved in U1 (S4).

Here, the cast processing generation means 23 extracts the data type connection information of the different type from the retrieved information of the data type and performs the data type conversion processing (V1). The result is added to the program module retrieved from the program module file 5 by the program module retrieval means 14.
Then, a control program is generated based on the program module that has undergone the conversion process (S5). FIG. 11 shows a program designed on a graphic screen, and it is assumed that the connection terminal 18c of the program module 16 and the connection terminal 18d of the program module 17 have different types. FIG. 12 shows the contents of the source code of the control program generated from the drawing of FIG. 11 in C language. Data a and b are defined as single precision integer type, and data c are defined as double precision real number type. ing. Program module 16
Then, the data a is input and multiplied by 5 is output as b, and the program module 17 inputs the data b and multiplied by 10 is output as data c. At this time,
Since the types of the data b and the data c are different, the type of the data b output by the program module 16 is converted from the single precision integer type to the double precision real number type. As described above, when different types of data flow connection terminals are connected, the data is converted into a type that includes both types, and the program maker does not need to be aware of the type of data.

[0027]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

Since each data flow connection terminal corresponding to the number of input / output data of the program module and the data type are associated with each other and the data types are distinguished and displayed, a control program using a plurality of types can be used. It can be created on a graphic drawing.

Further, since the types of the data flow connection terminals are checked and a message indicating that the data flow connection terminals of different data types cannot be connected is output, the data flow connection terminals of different types are selected. You will not accidentally connect.

Further, when the data flow connection terminals of different types are connected, the variable types are converted at the time of program generation, so that the designer does not need to be aware of the data types and the control program is displayed on the graphic drawing. Can be generated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing by the automatic program generation device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a graphic drawing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a graphic drawing according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a graphic drawing according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an overall configuration diagram showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing by the automatic program generation device of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a graphic drawing according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an overall configuration diagram showing a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing by the automatic program generation device of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display example of a graphic drawing according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

12 is a diagram showing a program generated based on FIG. 11. FIG.

FIG. 13 is an overall configuration diagram showing a conventional program automatic generation device.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing by a conventional program automatic generation device.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a display example of a graphic drawing by a conventional program automatic generation device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Program Automatic Generation Device 2 Display Means 3 Input Means 4 Graphic Symbol File 5 Program Module File 6 Graphic Drawing File 7 Generation Program File 8 Graphic Drawing Editing Means 9 Control Program Generating Means 10 Graphic Symbol Search Means 11 Data Flow Connecting Means 12 Graphic Drawings Storage unit 13 Graphic drawing information search unit 14 Program module search unit 15 Variable generation unit 20 Data type search unit 21 Data type display unit 22 Data type determination unit 23 Cast processing generation unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A module, which is a high-level language showing a versatile control algorithm of a control program for a system controlled by a computer, is registered, and it is generated as a graphic symbol, and those are drawn by a line showing a data flow. In a program automatic generation device for designing a control software system by connecting on a drawing and automatically generating a source code of a control program, a data flow connection terminal of the number of input / output data of the program in a graphic symbol of each program module Data type search means for associating each of the data flow connection terminals with data type information, data type display means for displaying the data type information of the data flow connection terminal of the graphic symbol on a graphic drawing, and Each day above An automatic program generation device comprising variable generation means for generating a data type associated with a tafflow connection terminal as a variable type of a program in a control program. 2. A module, which is a high-level language indicating a general-purpose control algorithm of a control program for a system controlled by a computer, is registered, it is generated as a graphic symbol, and those are drawn by a line indicating a data flow. In a program automatic generation device for designing a control software system by connecting on a drawing and automatically generating a source code of a control program, a data flow connection terminal of the number of input / output data of the program in a graphic symbol of each program module And a data type searching means for associating each of the data flow connection terminals with data type information, and determining whether or not the data type information held by two data flow connection terminals connected by a line showing the data flow is the same. Data type that displays the judgment result An automatic program generation device comprising: a determination means; and a variable generation means for generating a data type associated with each of the data flow connection terminals as a variable type of a program in a control program. 3. A module, which is a high-level language indicating a versatile control algorithm of a control program for a system controlled by a computer, is registered, it is generated as a graphic symbol, and they are drawn by a line showing a data flow. In a program automatic generation device for designing a control software system by connecting on a drawing and automatically generating a source code of a control program, a data flow connection terminal of the number of input / output data of the program in a graphic symbol of each program module And a data type search means for associating each of the data flow connection terminals with data type information, and a type matching process is generated when data flow connection terminals having different data types are connected by a line showing a data flow. Cast processing generation means to And an automatic program generation device comprising variable generation means for generating a data type based on a result of the above type matching as a variable type of a program in a control program.