JPH08263333A - Programming support device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a programming support device/method which can easily confirm the working states of the GUI parts. CONSTITUTION: A mouse 1 and a mouse input acquisition part 2 acquire the input operations to a program using the GUI parts. A program execution part 8 and an execution memory 9 carry out and interrupt the program based on the input operations. A variable value reading/holding part 12 successively records the variable value in response to the working states of the GUI parts. Then a generation part 14 shows the working states of the GUI parts corresponding to the variable value on a display means 18 based on the recorded variable value.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvements in a programming support device and a programming support method for supporting the development of programs using GUI parts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various known user interfaces in computer programs and methods for developing them, and one of them is a graphical user interface (hereinafter referred to as "GUI"). In the GUI, parts such as icons and buttons (hereinafter referred to as “GU”) are used as symbols indicating processes and functions.
"I component") is displayed on the screen, and when the user operates these GUI components with the pointer of a pointing device such as a mouse, processing according to the operation is performed.

In the GUI, various functions of the program can be visually grasped as GUI parts, so that the program can be understood and operated efficiently. The operating state of the GUI component is generally displayed normally (representing usable), shaded display (representing temporarily unusable), or non-displaying (representing unusable) according to the state of the program or processing. And so on.

For example, in the case of a program for executing another program or interrupting the execution, the "execute" button is normally shaded in the state before the target program is selected. Also, only one of the "execute" button and the "interrupt" button should be displayed depending on whether the program is stopped or running, and the other one is meaningless and thus need not be displayed (FIG. 6). ).

It is possible to check whether or not a program using such GUI parts is operating properly, or
The work of checking the operation of a program for the purpose of investigating whether or not it is easy to use occupies a considerable proportion of programming work. Conventionally, when such confirmation is performed, the program is actually operated and the GUI of the display screen is displayed.
The I component was checked by continuously observing the operating state and its change.

[0006]

However, it is complicated to continuously check the operating status of GUI parts by visually observing the screen display, and in particular, it is a psychological burden in that the user who confirms the user needs to be continuously nervous. Was great. In addition, it was not possible to eliminate the possibility of oversight by confirming only by visual inspection. Therefore, it is difficult to improve the work efficiency of programming work.

A programming support device (programming support method) is also generally known as a device for supporting programming. However, in the conventional programming support device, the operation of the CPU by the execution program can be traced step by step, but the operating state of the GUI component cannot be traced.

The present invention was proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its object is GU.
It is to propose a programming support device and a programming support method for easily confirming the operating state of an I-part. Another object of the present invention is to provide a programming support device and a programming support method that are easy to operate. Still another object of the present invention is a GUI.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a programming support device and a programming support method capable of easily checking the operating status of components at a glance.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a programming support device according to a first aspect of the invention has an input means for acquiring an input operation for a program using a GUI component, and the program is executed based on the input operation. And an executing means for interrupting, a recording means for sequentially recording a variable value corresponding to the operating status of the GUI component, and the GUI corresponding to the variable value based on the recorded variable value.
And a display unit for displaying the operating status of the component.

The invention according to claim 2 is the programming support device according to claim 1, further comprising extraction means for extracting the variable name of the GUI component from the program as the variable name of the variable value to be recorded. Characterize.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the programming support device according to the first aspect, the display means is configured to display the operating status in a diagram format using image symbols. And

According to a fourth aspect of the programming support method, an input step of acquiring an input operation for a program using a GUI component, an execution step of executing and suspending the program based on the input operation, and the GUI. A recording step of sequentially recording a variable value corresponding to the operating status of the component, and a display step of displaying the operating status of the GUI component corresponding to the variable value based on the recorded variable value. It is characterized by

Further, the invention according to claim 5 is the programming support method according to claim 4, further comprising an extraction step of extracting a variable name of the GUI component from the program as a variable name of the variable value to be recorded. Is characterized by.

Further, the invention according to claim 6 is the programming support method according to claim 4, characterized in that in the step of displaying, the operating status is displayed in a diagram format using image symbols.

[0015]

The present invention having the above structure has the following functions. That is, in a program using GUI components, the operating status such as display / non-display of GUI components always corresponds to the internal variable value. Then, in the inventions of claims 1 and 4, when the program is executed, the variable values corresponding to the operating states of the GUI components are sequentially recorded. The variable to be recorded may be designated by the user or may be automatically extracted. Since the operating status of the GUI component is displayed based on the variable value, the operating status can be confirmed again after executing the program. Therefore, GU
It is not necessary to always visually check the screen display of the I-part itself. Therefore, the burden on the user is reduced, the possibility of oversight is reduced, and the work efficiency is improved.

Further, in the inventions of claims 2 and 5, since the variable names of the GUI parts used in the program are extracted, the user does not need to specify these variable names in advance, and the operation is easy. become.

Further, in the inventions of claims 3 and 6, since the operating status is displayed in a diagram format using image symbols, the operating status can be easily checked at a glance.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be specifically described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that each function of the embodiment is realized by a predetermined software controlling a computer and peripheral devices. That is, in the present specification, the invention and the embodiments are described on the assumption of virtual circuit blocks (“-means”, “-units”, etc.) corresponding to each function and each process. Therefore, each hardware element or software element does not correspond to each block on a one-to-one basis.

A computer for realizing the embodiment is
In addition to a main storage device including a CPU and a RAM, typically, an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, an external storage device such as a hard disk device, and an output device such as a CRT display device and a printer printing device are required. It includes an input / output control circuit. However, the scale and configuration of the computer and the number and form of the CPU are arbitrary, such as a computer network,
Distributed processing, multitasking, etc. can be used freely. Also,
Other input devices such as a trackball and an image scanner, other storage devices such as a floppy disk device, a magneto-optical disk device, a flash memory, and other output devices such as a liquid crystal display device may be used.

As a software format for realizing the embodiment, application software on an OS is typically considered, and a machine language compiled from a high-level language or an assembler is also conceivable. OS as much as possible
You can change it freely, such as not using, or running the software in an interpreter. Further, the software may be stored in any desired manner, for example, it may be stored in the ROM, read from the external storage device at one time or in part, or may be stored in different parts. Further, with respect to each step of the processing, the order can be changed and the parallel processing can be freely performed unless the property is violated.

Further, in the present specification, "input" includes not only external input but also file input, and includes not only original input but also echo back and correction / editing. Similarly, "output" includes not only external output but also file output, and includes not only original output but also output range designation. The user interface may be of any type such as an interactive type, a menu type, a graphical user interface, or a multi-window. In addition,
Input and output may be realized by an integrated operation by an interactive input / output procedure, and by such an integrated operation,
Processing such as selection / designation / specification may be performed.

Further, the expression format of data and the format of the data storage means in this specification are arbitrary. For example, the data storage location may be internal storage or external storage, and the file format may be used. Further, the data need only be retained for as long as necessary, and may be lost thereafter. Information that is not changed for the time being, such as dictionary data, may be stored in the ROM. In particular, the figures included in the drawings accompanying this specification do not imply a limitation to fixed disk devices.

Further, general information necessary for operation and a storage area thereof, such as various pointers, stacks, counters, flags, parameters, work areas, buffers, etc., may be appropriately used, even if not explicitly stated in this specification.

Unless otherwise specified, information required by each part of the embodiment for processing is obtained from another part holding the information, for example, access to a variable or memory storing the information. Earned by. Further, the embodiment may be realized together with or as a part of other software, or part of the function may be replaced with an electronic circuit.

(1) Configuration of Embodiment This embodiment corresponds to claims 1 to 6, and the purpose of this embodiment is a programming support device and a programming support method for easily confirming the operating status of GUI parts. Is to propose. Another object of the present embodiment is to provide a programming support device and a programming support method that are easy to operate. Still another object of the present embodiment is to provide a programming support device and a programming support method that can easily check the operating status of GUI components at a glance.

First, FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the programming support device of this embodiment. That is, in this figure, reference numeral 1 is a mouse as an input means for performing an input operation for a program being executed, and the input operation is input to the mouse input acquisition unit 2. The mouse 1 and the mouse input acquisition unit 2 constitute the input means.

Reference numeral 3 is a source program as a source program of the program, which is often converted into a computer-executable execution program 5 by a translation means 4 such as a compiler / linker. The translation means 4 is not an indispensable constituent element of the present invention, and the present invention can be implemented if the execution program 5 translated outside the apparatus is provided.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a component variable name extraction unit (corresponding to the extraction means) for extracting a variable name defining a GUI component from the source program 3, and the extracted variable name is
It is stored in the variable name storage unit 7.

Reference numeral 8 is a program execution unit that executes the execution program 5 using the execution memory 9 based on the input operation. It should be noted that the display itself of the GUI component itself can be generated on the program execution unit 5 and displayed on an appropriate display device. The program execution unit 8 and the execution memory 9 constitute the execution means.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a system time acquisition unit for acquiring time information from a clock 11, which is a clock built in the computer, and provides time information.

Reference numeral 12 is a variable value read / hold unit for sequentially reading the variable values corresponding to the extracted variable names from the execution memory 9 and storing them in the component operation status storage unit 13. The variable name storage unit 7, the system time acquisition unit 10, the clock 11, the variable value reading and holding unit 12, and the component operation status storage unit 13 constitute the recording means.

Reference numeral 14 reads out the recorded variable values, and information from the diagram image storage unit 15 is used as a display frame for displaying the operating status of the component, and an image symbol indicating the operating status of the component is stored in the symbol image storage unit. 1
GUI for reading each from 6 and generating display data
It is a component operation status display data generation unit. Also, 17 is
A display drive control unit that sends display data to a display device 18 such as a CRT and controls to display information on a display screen of a computer.

The GUI component operation status display data generation unit 14, the diagram image storage unit 15, the symbol image storage unit 16, the display drive control unit 17, and the display device 18 are provided.
Constitutes the display means.

Reference numeral 19 is a control section for controlling the operation of each section of the apparatus, mainly based on the time information, the part variable name extracting section 6, the program executing section 8, the variable value reading and holding section 1.
2. Control the GUI component operation status display data generation unit 14 and the like.

(2) Operation and effect of the embodiment Next, the operation of the present apparatus will be described by using specific examples of screen display and programs. Here, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the programming support device of the present embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the program using the GUI component is a program in the C language of X window which is a typical window system. 3 to 5
[FIG. 6] is a diagram (front part, middle part, rear part) showing an example of a program using GUI components in the present embodiment. When this program is executed, a screen display including buttons is displayed according to the user's operation. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display in this embodiment.

The symbol image storage unit 16 also stores
An image symbol corresponding to the component operating status is stored in advance for visually displaying the operating status of the GUI component used in the program. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of image symbols in the present embodiment. Further, the diagram image storage unit 15 stores in advance an image of a diagram that serves as a display frame when the image symbol is displayed. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an image of a diagram in this embodiment.

[Extraction Step] First, based on an instruction from the control unit 19, the component variable name extraction unit 6 extracts a variable name expressing the operating status of the GUI component from the source program 3 (Step 201). . As described above, the program in the present embodiment is a program in the C language of the X window, and the variable name is acquired by searching the source program 3 for a variable whose type declaration is "Widget" and This can be done by extracting the name.

Next, the component variable name extraction unit 6 stores these variable names in the variable name storage unit 7. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of variable names stored in the variable name storage unit 7 in this embodiment. Here, the variable name execbtn corresponding to the "Execute" button and the variable name stop corresponding to the "Stop" button in FIG.
btn etc. are extracted and stored. After storing the variable names in this way (step 202), the component variable name extraction unit 6
Notifies the control unit 19 of the completion of processing.

On the other hand, the system time acquisition unit 10 acquires the current time from the clock 11 built in the computer and sends the current time to the control unit 19 and the variable value reading and holding unit 12. The control unit 19 uses the component variable name extraction unit 6
When the notification of the completion of processing is received from, the current time sent from the system time acquisition unit 10 is acquired and held (step 203).

[Execution Step] Then, according to an instruction from the control section 19, the program execution section 8 starts execution of the execution program 5 using the execution memory 9 (step 20).
4). In the execution of the program 5, the user's input operation on the mouse 1 is sent to the program execution unit 8 via the mouse input acquisition unit 2, and the continuous processing of the program is performed. The program execution unit 8 continues to wait for a control notification from the control unit 19 during the execution of the execution program 5, and when the execution of the execution program 5 is completed, sends the execution completion notification to the control unit 19.

On the other hand, the control unit 19 includes the program execution unit 8
The execution of the execution program 5 is considered to be continuing, that is, the execution is not completed (step 205), and the program execution unit 8 repeats the execution and the recording. Also, the variable value read / hold unit 12 and the like are controlled.

[Recording Step] That is, first, when the execution program 5 is being executed by the program execution unit 8, the control unit 19 acquires the current time sent from the system time acquisition unit 10, The elapsed time is calculated by comparing the acquired and held time (step 206).

When the elapsed time is a fixed time, for example, 500 milliseconds or more (step 207), the control unit 19 instructs the program execution unit 8 to execute the execution program 5
Sends an instruction to suspend the execution of
8).

Here, the elapsed time may be changed according to the processing capability of the computer. That is, the elapsed time in this case determines the time interval at which the program is interrupted,
This is because the time interval for recording the operating status of the GUI component differs depending on the processing capability of the computer that executes the process.

For example, in a computer having a high processing capacity, the execution of the program is processed at high speed, so the recording of the component operating status must be performed at short time intervals. Also, in a computer with such a high processing capability, the process of recording the component operating status is executed at high speed as well as the execution of the program, so that even if the recording of the component operating status is performed at a short time interval, the entire processing is performed. There is no risk of stagnation.

On the other hand, when a computer with a low processing capacity is used, if the recording of the component operating status is performed at short time intervals, the next recording processing is performed before the processing of the program progresses, and as a result, the entire processing is performed. May be stagnant.
In such a case, the elapsed time, which is the time interval at which the program is interrupted, may be a long time interval such as 1000 milliseconds.

Upon receiving the instruction from the control unit 19, the program execution unit 8 suspends the execution of the execution program 5 (step 208). Subsequently, the control unit 19 sends an instruction to the variable value reading and holding unit 12 to record the component operating status of the GUI program being executed. Then, the variable value reading / holding unit 12 reads the variable value corresponding to the extracted variable name from the execution memory 9 (step 209).

Then, the variable value reading / holding unit 12 receives the current time sent from the system time acquisition unit 10, and stores it in the component operation status storage unit 13 as the current time of recording,
The variable name is stored (step 210). FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the component operation status storage unit 13 after 1000 milliseconds have elapsed since the program in the present embodiment was activated and the buttons have not been operated. The variable value read-out / holding unit 12 sends a processing completion signal to the control unit 19 when the writing to the component operation status storage unit 13 is completed.

The control unit 19 controls the variable value reading and holding unit 12
When the processing end transmission from is received, the previously acquired time is updated with the current time acquired immediately before and is held. Then, it further sends an instruction to the program execution unit 8 to restart the execution of the execution program 5.
The program execution unit 8 continues the processing of the execution program 5 from the state immediately after the interruption (step 211).

[Display Step] The control unit 19 keeps waiting for the execution end notification from the program execution unit 8. If the execution end notification is sent from the program execution unit 8 to the control unit 19 in step 205, The GUI component operation status display data generation unit 14 is instructed to generate the component operation status display data.

Upon receiving an instruction from the control unit 19, the GUI
The component operation status display data generation unit 14 first reads the stored time, variable name, and variable value from the component operation status storage unit 13 (step 212). Then, the generation unit 1
4 reads out the image data (step 213) and the display data to be the display frame (step 214). Then, the generation unit 14 generates the data for displaying the image symbol corresponding to the change of the variable value together with the time and the variable name of the component in the display frame, and sends this display data to the display drive control unit 17. To do.

The display drive controller 17 controls the display device 18 such as a CRT to display the display data.
The operating status of the GUI component is displayed on the display device 18 (step 215). FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of the GUI component operating status in the present embodiment.

In this display, it is easy to confirm that the execute button (execbtn) and the suspend button (stopbtn) are not displayed at the same time, and inevitably the execute button and the suspend button cannot be simultaneously input. be able to.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the operation status can be confirmed again after the program is executed.
Therefore, it is not necessary to always visually check the screen display itself of the GUI component itself. Therefore, the burden on the user is reduced and the possibility of oversight is reduced,
Work efficiency is improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the variable names of the GUI parts used in the program are extracted, the user does not need to specify these variable names in advance, and the operation becomes easy. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the operating status is
Since it is displayed in a diagram format using image symbols, you can easily check the operating status at a glance.

(3) Other Embodiments The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Since the embodiment can be freely changed, the present invention also includes other embodiments as illustrated below. For example, the contents of the programming language and GUI parts are free, and the window system is not essential. Also, the type of program to be executed is free, such as a machine language load module, interpreter language, or intermediate code.

The variable name of the variable value to be recorded may be freely set by the user without being automatically extracted. The operating status of the GUI component is not limited to the diagram format using the symbol image, and may be displayed in a free format such as a character string. The display may be performed not only by the screen display device but also by printer output or the like.

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the display result of the GUI part can be easily confirmed, the programming efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a programming support device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the programming support device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram (front part) showing an example of a program using a GUI component according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a program using a GUI component in the embodiment of the present invention (intermediate part).

FIG. 5 is a diagram (rear part) showing an example of a program using a GUI component according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of screen display in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an image symbol in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an image of a diagram in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of variable names stored in a variable name storage unit 7 in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the component operation status storage unit 13 after 1000 milliseconds have elapsed since the program was started and the buttons were not operated in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of GUI component operating status in the embodiment of the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Mouse 2 ... Mouse input acquisition unit 3 ... Source program 4 ... Translation means 5 ... Execution program 6 ... Part variable name extraction unit 7 ... Variable name storage unit 8 ... Program execution unit 9 ... Execution memory 10 ... System time acquisition unit 11 ... clock 12 ... variable value read-out holding unit 13 ... parts operation status storage unit 14 ... GUI parts operation status display data generation unit 15 ... diagram image storage unit 16 ... symbol image storage unit 17 ... display drive control unit 18 ... display device 19 ... Control unit 200 or later ... Each step of the procedure

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An input unit for acquiring an input operation for a program using a GUI component, an executing unit for executing and suspending the program based on the input operation, and a variable value corresponding to an operating status of the GUI component sequentially. A programming support device comprising: a recording unit that records, and a display unit that displays an operating status of the GUI component corresponding to the variable value based on the recorded variable value. 2. The programming support device according to claim 1, further comprising extraction means for extracting the variable name of the GUI component from the program as the variable name of the variable value to be recorded. 3. The programming support device according to claim 1, wherein the display means is configured to display the operating status in a diagram format using image symbols. 4. An input step of acquiring an input operation for a program using a GUI component, an execution step of executing and suspending the program based on the input operation, and a variable value corresponding to an operating status of the GUI component. And a step of displaying, based on the recorded variable value, an operating status of the GUI component corresponding to the variable value, the programming support method. 5. The programming support method according to claim 4, further comprising an extraction step of extracting the variable name of the GUI component from the program as the variable name of the variable value to be recorded. 6. The programming support method according to claim 4, wherein in the displaying step, the operating status is displayed in a diagram format using image symbols.