JPH09223003A - Device and method for supporting programming - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restart processing from any arbitrary time point of passage when the execution of a new function programmed by combining functional icons is interrupted. SOLUTION: Based on icon arrangement information, an execution control part 123 specifies functional object to be executed next. When executing each functional object, information required for executing that functional object is stored in a secondary storage device 125 by the execution control part 123. After that, when processing is interrupted, while utilizing the information in the secondary storage device, processing is restarted from desired functional object.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a programming support device and method for graphically displaying a function using a graphical symbol such as an icon, operating the icon or the like for programming, and processing information. In particular, it is designed so that it can be easily dealt with when processing is interrupted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a person who needs a program develops the program directly, it is possible to develop the program which meets the need or intention of the program, and the development can be performed promptly. However, it is usually difficult for general users who do not specialize in programming to develop programs. Therefore, for such general users,
It has been proposed to provide an operation similar to programming, that is, a programming environment that creates new functions by combining existing functions. For example, it has been proposed to combine functions by connecting between graphic elements that visually display the functions (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 7-56725 and 7-19184).
No. 0, JP 6-12250 A).

By the way, when a general user who is not a professional programmer describes a process, it is impossible to predict all unexpected situations. Therefore, the process cannot be executed in the middle of the process. There are often times. In such a case, if the processing must be redone from the beginning, it will be difficult to achieve the purpose. Especially when the process is not a process to be repeated many times thereafter but is a one-time process and only needs to succeed once, it is a pain for the user to restart the process from the beginning. Is. Therefore, a method of resuming and interrupting processing is desired.

It is also desirable for the user to be able to make the decision to restart, and it is desirable for the user to be able to select which of the interrupted processes should be restarted and when.

As prior art related to the present invention, in a system such as a database, in order to maintain the consistency of the entire system, a technique of updating the contents of the secondary storage at a specific timing, or a general workflow In the system, there is a technique for storing only the latest information in the secondary storage in case of power down.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances. The functions are graphically displayed using graphical symbols such as icons, and programming is performed by operating the icons and the like. Go or
When processing information, the purpose is to be able to restart the processing from a desired elapsed time point.

[0007]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a display means for displaying a plurality of functions as display objects on a display screen area in a programming support device, and the display screen area. Means for determining the execution order of the plurality of functions based on an interactive operation using, a means for executing the plurality of functions based on the execution order, and when executing each of the functions, A means for storing information necessary for executing each function in a non-volatile storage device is provided.

According to this structure, when the function serving as the starting point of the restart is designated and executed, information necessary for executing the function serving as the starting point, which is stored in the non-volatile storage device, such as input data, is stored. It is possible to read out and use the control information of the process. Therefore, it is not necessary to execute the function before the starting point.

In addition, the programming support device has means for specifying a suspended function of the plurality of functions when the programming support device itself is activated, and information necessary for executing the suspended function in the nonvolatile storage. Means for reading from the device and means for executing the interrupted function using the read information may be provided.

Further, in this configuration, means for designating a predetermined function of the plurality of functions based on an interactive operation using the display screen area and preventing the functions after the predetermined function from being executed. May be provided.

Further, in this configuration, the means for determining the execution order of the plurality of functions includes a plurality of display objects which are adjacent to each other directly along a predetermined direction or a plurality of directions or through a space of a predetermined distance or less. And a means for deciding the arrangement order of the plurality of display objects along the one or more directions, and a means for deciding the execution order of the plurality of functions based on the arrangement order. May be.

Further, in this configuration, when the functions corresponding to the plurality of display objects adjacent to each other are sequentially executed along the above-mentioned predetermined one or more directions or through the space of a predetermined distance or less, The space between two unexecuted adjacent display objects may exceed the predetermined distance, and the series of executions of the plurality of functions may be interrupted.

Further, according to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the programming support method, a step of displaying a plurality of functions as display objects on the display screen area, and the display screen area are used. Determining the execution order of the plurality of functions based on an interactive operation, executing the plurality of functions based on the execution order, and executing each of the functions. And a step of storing information necessary for executing the above in a non-volatile storage device.

Further, according to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a step of displaying a programming support program product as a display object having a plurality of functions on the display screen area, and the display screen area A step of determining the execution order of the plurality of functions based on the interactive operation used, a step of executing the plurality of functions based on the execution order, and a step of executing each of the functions. And storing the information required for execution of each of the above in a non-volatile storage device.

Further, according to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the information processing apparatus uses display means for displaying a plurality of functions as display objects on the display screen area, and the display screen area. Means for determining the execution order of the plurality of functions based on the interactive operation, and means for executing the plurality of functions based on the execution order,
A means for storing information necessary for executing each of the above functions in a non-volatile storage device when performing each of the above functions is provided.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an environment in which the programming support device of the present invention is implemented,
In this figure, the programming support device 100 is realized as a program forming a programming support system 102 executed on a computer 101. The computer 101 includes an external storage device 103, a display 104, and other hardware 105. The computer 101 has an input / output control system 1
06, operating system 107 and window management system 108 are installed.

In the programming support device 100, functions (programs), data, and a composite of data and functions (for example, a directory) are treated as objects. The object is displayed on the display window by a corresponding rectangular icon (pictogram).
Double-click the object icon (place the cursor inside the icon and press the mouse device button twice)
Then, the contents of the object can be visualized. For example, if the object is a document, its contents are displayed, and if the object is a directory, a list of icons of other objects that are the elements immediately below the object is displayed.

Further, in order to execute a predetermined function on the data object, the icon of the data object is moved to the icon of the function and overlapped. That is, the cursor of the mouse device is moved to the inside of the icon of the data object, and then the mouse device is moved and driven (drag) while the button of the mouse device is pressed and operated, the cursor is moved to the inside of the function icon, and the button is pressed. Release the pressing operation of (drop). In this way, the function is executed for the data, as shown in FIG. When the function has finished executing, a result box will appear, which you can click to view the results of the operation.

FIG. 3 shows the programming support device 10 of FIG.
The programming support apparatus 100 includes a dialogue management unit 121, an icon arrangement information storage unit 122, an execution control unit 123, and an object group storage unit 124.

The dialogue management unit 121 recognizes the user's operation of the mouse device and the keyboard, and changes the position of the icon and adds the icon. The icon arrangement information storage unit 122 stores the arrangement of icons at that time, and also stores information that specifies an object (stored in the object group storage unit 124) corresponding to each icon. When the dialogue management unit 121 recognizes the change in the position of the icon, the corresponding storage content in the icon arrangement information storage unit 122 is updated accordingly. The execution control unit 123 determines the execution order of the functions corresponding to the icons based on the arrangement information of the icons in the icon arrangement information storage unit 122, and at the same time retrieves the objects of the functions corresponding to the icons from the object group storage unit 124,
Execute that object.

The execution control unit 123 executes the function corresponding to the icon according to the following rules. When the right side of one icon contacts the left side of another icon, the function of the other icon is executed subsequent to the execution of the function of the one icon. When the lower side of the one icon touches the upper side of the other icon, the function of the other icon is executed subsequent to the one icon.

Further, when executing the function, the execution control unit 123 stores information necessary for executing the function in the non-volatile secondary storage device 125 (FIG. 4). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the functional object A is followed by the functional object B.
The following processing is performed when executing. Receive the output of functional object A. Input information to the functional object B is written in a file. The target information is input to the storage object B to instruct execution. Since there is no output destination, a series of continuous execution ends.

FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of this embodiment. In FIG. 5, the processing target is designated first (S100). Specifically, the dragging of the icon to be processed is started. Next, the function of the starting point is specified (S1
01). Specifically, the icon to be processed is dropped on the icon of the function serving as the starting point. In response to this, the function of the starting point is registered as a function to be executed (S102).
Next, the function to be executed is executed, and further the function to be executed next is searched (S103, S104). If there is a function to be executed next, step S103
And the operation is repeated (S105). If there is no function to be executed, the operation ends.

FIG. 6 shows the operation of step S103 of FIG. 5 in detail. In this figure, a file required for execution is prepared (S110). Next, this file is stored in the secondary storage device 125 (S111). After that, the functional object is executed using this file (S
112). In this way, each time the functional object is executed, the information necessary for the functional object is stored as a file in the secondary storage device, and the file of the necessary information of the functional object is stored for each processing target. Even when a desired functional object is designated later and the processing is restarted from that point, the secondary storage device 125
It is possible to reliably restart the process by using the file stored in.

FIG. 7 shows the operation of step 104 in FIG. 5 in detail. In this figure, for all icons, the left side or the top side of the icon is currently being executed (or has just been executed). It is checked whether the function icons are in contact (S120, S12).
1, S122). When there is an icon in contact, the function corresponding to the icon is returned (S123). Then, the function is executed in step S103 of FIG. On the other hand, when there is no icon in contact, the operation ends (S124).

FIG. 8 shows a basic programming mode of this embodiment. In this figure, a plurality of, for example, three function icons are arranged side by side in a contact state, and the plurality of functions are combined to perform programming. There is. In this case, if you drag and drop the data file icon to the leftmost function icon (A), first the function of the leftmost function icon is executed for the data file, and the output is the second. To the function of the second function icon, the function of the second function icon is executed for the output, and the output is passed to the function of the last function icon (C to D). When the function of this last function icon is executed for the output, the final data is obtained (D). When the final data is obtained, a box representing the result is displayed (E), and the final data is displayed by clicking this box.

In the example of FIG. 8, the icons are arranged from right to left, but the processing flow can be similarly controlled from top to bottom. The right-to-left arrangement and the top-to-bottom arrangement may be used together.

FIG. 9 shows a case where an error occurs during the processing and the processing is interrupted. In this example, execution of the first and second functional objects succeeds (A, B,
C), then an error occurs in the third function object, and an error box is displayed on the corresponding function icon (D). When the error box is opened, the details of the error are displayed.

In this case, for example, if the third functional object is replaced with another object and the processing is performed again,
The user may restart from the new third functional object. Resume can be designated by a click operation with a mouse device or an operation on a menu. When restarted, the corresponding file in the secondary storage device 125 is read and the third functional object is executed.

10 and 11 show the processing when a sudden interruption occurs due to a power failure or the like. in this case,
It works as follows. Step S130: Detecting power-on. Step S131: Initialize the system. Step S132: The file is confirmed by referring to the secondary storage device 125. Step S133: It is determined whether or not there is a suspended process. Step S134: The file of the interrupted process is read from the secondary storage device 125. Step S134: It is checked whether the processing can be executed unconditionally. Whether to execute unconditionally can be set in advance by the user. If unconditional execution is allowed, proceed to. If not, proceed to. After step S135: the process proceeds to step S135. In step S135, the functional object group storage unit 124 is accessed to search for the functional object group that was performing the interrupted process. Step S136: It is checked whether or not there is a functional object for restarting the processing. If it exists, input information is given to the functional object and the activation process is performed. If it does not exist, proceed to. After step S138: the process proceeds to step S138. In step S138, it is checked whether or not the suspended processing remains. Step S if remaining
Return to 134. If not, the process ends (S139). After step S140: the process proceeds to step S140. In step S140, the user is confirmed to restart. Step S141: If the user's instruction is to execute restart, the process proceeds to step S135, and if the user's command is not to restart, the process proceeds to.

As described above, in this embodiment, even if the processing is interrupted, the user does not have to execute the processing from the beginning, and the processing can be restarted from the functional object of the desired starting point. Further, even when a plurality of processes are suspended, only the desired process can be restarted from a desired elapsed time point. The user can also arbitrarily decide whether or not to restart.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the present invention can be applied to the case where the flow of processing is controlled by connecting conventional line segments.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the functional object is executed, the information necessary for the execution is stored in the non-volatile storage device.
Even if interruption or the like occurs, or even if the user himself or herself interrupts the processing, the processing can be restarted from a desired elapsed time point thereafter.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an environment in which a first embodiment of the present invention is realized.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating icons used in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a first exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a main part of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a programming aspect of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating in detail a main part of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating in detail a main part of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation of executing a function combined in the basic programming mode.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a case where an error occurs in the example of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of resuming processing interrupted by a power failure or the like.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of restarting a process interrupted by a power failure or the like.

[Explanation of Codes] 100 Programming Support Device 121 Dialog Management Unit 122 Icon Placement Information Storage Unit 123 Execution Control Unit 124 Object Group Storage Unit 125 Secondary Storage Device

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Yasushi Ishikawa 3-2-1 Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa KSP R & D Business Park Building, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A display means for displaying each of a plurality of functions as a display object on a display screen area, and a means for determining an execution order of the plurality of functions based on an interactive operation using the display screen area. A means for executing the plurality of functions based on the execution order, and a means for storing information necessary for executing each of the functions in a nonvolatile storage device when executing each of the functions. A programming support device characterized in that 2. A means for identifying a suspended function of the plurality of functions when the programming support device itself is activated, and a means for reading out information necessary for executing the suspended function from the non-volatile storage device. 2. The programming support device according to claim 1, further comprising means for executing the interrupted function by using the read information. 3. When the plurality of functions are executed, a predetermined function of the plurality of functions is designated based on an interactive operation using the display screen area, 3. The programming support device according to claim 2, further comprising means for preventing the function from being executed. 4. The means for determining the execution order of the plurality of functions recognizes a plurality of display objects that are adjacent to each other directly along a predetermined one or a plurality of directions or through a space of a predetermined distance or less, The one of the plurality of display objects
4. The programming support device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, further comprising: a discriminating means for discriminating an arrangement order along a plurality of directions, and a means for determining an execution order of the plurality of functions based on the arrangement order. 5. An unexecuted adjacency when a function corresponding to a plurality of display objects adjacent to each other is sequentially executed along the predetermined one or more directions or through a space of a predetermined distance or less. The programming support device according to claim 4, wherein a space between the two display objects to be operated exceeds the predetermined distance, and a series of executions of the plurality of functions are interrupted. 6. A step of displaying each of a plurality of functions as a display object on a display screen area, and a step of determining an execution order of the plurality of functions based on an interactive operation using the display screen area, Having a step of executing the plurality of functions based on the execution order, and a step of storing information necessary for executing each of the functions in a non-volatile storage device when executing each of the functions. Programming support method characterized by. 7. A step of displaying each of a plurality of functions as a display object on a display screen area, and a step of determining an execution order of the plurality of functions based on an interactive operation using the display screen area, A step of executing the plurality of functions based on the execution order, and a step of storing information necessary for executing each of the functions in a nonvolatile storage device when executing each of the functions A programming support program product characterized by being used for execution. 8. A display means for displaying each of a plurality of functions as a display object on a display screen area, and a means for determining an execution order of the plurality of functions based on an interactive operation using the display screen area. A means for executing the plurality of functions based on the execution order, and a means for storing information necessary for executing each of the functions in a nonvolatile storage device when executing each of the functions. An information processing device characterized by the above.