JPH0997158A - Screen transition control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the response speed for screen switching by preliminarily generating the resource of a screen directly connected to the screen displayed at present. SOLUTION: As a transition table shows the transition from a screen 1 to screen 1.1 and 1.2, a function realije is called to generate resources of these two screens. The screen 1.2 in the transition destination, five screens 1, 1.2, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 connected to it, and already generated resources are compared to determine the resource which is not included in these five screens, and a function destroy is called to abandon this resource, the resource of the screen 1.1 in this case. Thus, memory occupation of unnecessary resource is reduced. At the time of transition to a program which performs the processing related to the screen 1.2, a function map is only called to immediately display the picture 1.2 because the resource of the screen 1.2 is generated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus in which a large number of input screens are prepared and a user inputs necessary information while switching them.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When processing information, an information processing device
In order to prompt the user to input necessary information, an input screen or dialog box is displayed to wait for the user's input. Further, it is usual that a plurality of input screens are prepared in order to interactively proceed with the process, and the user inputs the screen and the information requested on the screen while switching the screen.

The screen for performing this information processing generally has a hierarchical property. That is, FIG. 1 shows the relationship of screen transitions. For example, it is shown that the transition from screen 1 to screen 1.2 and screens 1.2.1 to 1.2.3 is made by a user's instruction. ing. If the user wants to transition from screen 1.2 to screen 1.1, the user needs to return to screen 1 and then move to screen 1.1. As described above, in the information processing apparatus, there is a hierarchical relationship in the transition of the screen, which is shown in FIG.
Can be expressed as.

By the way, in a standard window system such as an X-Windows system, a window is a basic unit of operation, and each application program is
Using windows that can be set redundantly on the physical screen,
It is designed to interact with the user. In addition, in order to receive an input from the user in particular, a kind of input screen called a dialog box is displayed in the window, and the application program may fetch the input data from the user via the dialog box.

In the X-Windows system, this dialog box is represented as a set of instances. Instances are graphically visible
It is a structure that exists for one user interface (GUI), for example, one button. The instance defines the resource of the GUI that it represents, that is, the arrangement, size, and color, and each instance is, in order from the visually lowest instance,
According to the hierarchical relationship, pointers are connected to the top, bottom, left and right.

Note that, here, the aggregate of the instances is referred to as a dialog box or screen for convenience. Then, a function in a series of codes having a certain function is called by using an instance which is a base of a certain screen as a parameter and operates.

Here, in order to display one dialog box in the window, first, the function realize () is used.
Must be used to create the resources needed to draw.

The function realize () refers to the member of the instance to determine the color Pixcel value, loads the specified font, and creates a size-fitted window. In many cases, a GUI picture or character is drawn on the bitmap. This is because the display speed is improved by using the bitmap as the basis. Also, the function realiz
e () creates a dialog box resource by performing the same processing on all records of the same level instance connected by a pointer and further lower level instances, if any.

However, the function realize () only generates a resource for display, and the function map () is used to actually display it. The function map () displays the same level and lower level instances one after another so that server events can be received. Usually, on the client side, the contents of the window, that is, the code for displaying the screen or the dialog box is described according to the sent event, so that the dialog box is displayed in the window as a result.

[0010]

FIG. 4 shows an example of a general description at the beginning of an application program. If you call the function realize (Null, 0) as the initial setting, the function will be executed for all screens or dialog boxes defined in the load module.
A resource is generated by the procedure described above. At that time, the generated resources are stored in the memory managed by the application, but when the memory is insufficient, the remaining resources are stored in the auxiliary storage device, for example, the hard disk.

As described above, when resources for all screens are generated when an application program is started, a program that switches a large number of screens to proceed with processing first takes time for resource generation.
It took a long time to start up. Also, if there are a lot of resources, there will be many resources that do not exist in memory, so the frequency of swapping between the memory and hard disk will increase when the screen is switched,
As a result, there has been a problem that screen switching is delayed.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an information processing apparatus which prepares a plurality of screens and switches them to interactively process with a user.
In the same device that can perform the generation of the resource of the screen and the display of the resource separately, a screen flow table that represents the transition relation of the screen is defined, and when one screen is displayed, the flow table is displayed. By determining the screens that are directly related to that screen by reference, and then generating resources only for those or that screen,
This is to solve the above problem.

[0013]

According to the present invention, in an information processing apparatus that switches a plurality of screens to proceed with processing, when a screen is switched to, a screen directly transiting from the screen is determined by referring to the screen flow table, and those screens are determined. Only generate screen resources. Then, when the user gives an instruction to switch to the next screen, the screen is displayed using the generated resources.

[0014]

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing screens prepared by an information processing apparatus of the embodiment and their hierarchical relationships. In the apparatus of the embodiment, the screen 1 is first displayed, and the display is switched to the screen 1.1 or the screen 1.2 according to the user's instruction or input to provide new information, and the user is prompted to input the next instruction or input. is there.

From screen 1.1, there is no screen connected to the lower layer, so there is no choice but to return to screen 1. on the other hand,
Screen 1.2 has screens 1.2.1 to 1.2.3 in the lower layer, and screens 1.2 to 1.2.3 are present according to user's instructions and inputs.
You can transition to 2.1, screen 1.2.2 or screen 1.2.3, or vice versa.

Further, in the screens 1.2.1 to 1.2.3, as can be seen from the figure, there is no screen lower than that,
Although the screen returns to the upper screen, that is, the screen 1.2, in this embodiment, the screen 1.2.1 directly returns to the screen 1 in particular.

The screen flow diagram of FIG. 2 clearly shows the direction of the screen transition. From screen 1, you reach screen 1.2.1 via screen 1.2, but from there you can see that the screen transitions to screen 1 without going through screen 1.2. However, screen 1.2.1 is just below screen 1.2, and screen 1
From the figure, you can see that you cannot directly move to screen 1.2.1.

FIG. 3 is a transition table 30 describing the transition relation between the screens shown in FIG. In the table 30, there are six screens prepared in the embodiment apparatus as “current screens” on the left side, and the screens linked from each screen by the arrows in FIG. 2 are all on the “transition destination screen” on the right side. It is defined. That is, for example, if the current screen is screen 1, it can be seen that the screens to be transitioned from are screen 1.1 and screen 1.2, and, for example, if the current screen is screen 1.2.1, the transition occurs. It can be read from the transition table 30 that the destination is only the screen 1.

In this embodiment, the application program is described as shown in FIG. That is, in the program related to the screen 1 to be displayed first, first, in order to display the screen 1, the function realize ("screen 1", 0) is called with the screen 1 as an argument to generate the resource for the screen 1 only. Then, the function map (“screen 1”, 0) is immediately called to display the resource, that is, screen 1.

Normally, after this, the input / output processing relating to the screen 1 will be described subsequently, but in the present embodiment, before that, the screen associated with the current screen is determined by referring to the transition table 30, and the Generate screen resource. In this case, since it can be seen from the transition table 30 that the screen 1 transits to the screen 1.1 and the screen 1.2, the resources of the two screens are generated by calling the function realize ().

This is because the human input operation is extremely slow as compared with the internal processing of the computer, so that there is a time when the computer does nothing at all from the display of the screen 1 until the actual input. By using the time, the resource of the screen that will be displayed next is generated in advance. However, at this stage, only the resource is created, and the function map () that displays it is not called. Moreover, it is the transition table 30 that creates the resource.
Only the screens that are directly associated with the current screen in.

After that, the actual processing is described so that the user's instructions and inputs relating to the screen 1 can be accepted. Then, for example, when transitioning to screen 1.2 according to a user's instruction, after discarding the currently generated resource that is not directly connected to screen 1.2,
I am trying to make a transition. Specifically, the transition table 30
Refer to and compare the transition destination screen 1.2, the five screens 1 and 1.2.1 to 1.2.3 associated with it, with the resources that have already been created, and include these five screens. Determine which resource is not, and that resource, in this case,
The resource of screen 1.1 is destroyed by calling the function destroy ("screen 1.1"). This reduces unnecessary resources from occupying memory and thus minimizes the number of swappings that occur between memory and hard disk.

After that, when the program moves to a program for executing the process related to the screen 1.2, the resource of the screen 1.2 is already generated there, so the function map ("screen1.2", 0) is generated. You can display screen 1.2 immediately by calling.

Then, in the same manner as the above-mentioned processing, the screen 1.2
Before describing the input / output processing related to the above, the screen associated with the current screen is determined by referring to the transition table 30, and the resource of the screen is generated. In this case, since it can be seen that the screen 1.2 transits to the screens 1.2.1 to 1.2.3, the resources of the three screens are generated by calling the function realize (). Then, describe the input / output processing specific to screen 1.2.

The above processing is summarized in a flowchart as shown in FIG. The program related to each screen is
First, the resource of the screen is displayed (step S603), but before that, it is confirmed whether the resource of the screen has already been generated (step S601), and if it does not exist, the resource is generated (step S602). ) It is good to do like this.

Next, screens linked to the screen are determined by referring to the transition table 30 (at step S604), and resources for those screens are generated (at step S605). Of course, here, as already explained, only the resource is created, and it is not displayed.

After that, when an instruction or input relating to the screen is processed (at step S606), the screen is changed to the next screen (at step S607; Ye).
s), referring to the transition table 30, the resources that are irrelevant on the transition destination screen are determined (at step S608). Then, if there are unnecessary resources (S609; Yes), those resources are discarded (S610), and then the program related to the transition destination screen is moved (S611).

By doing so, the resource of the screen can be suddenly displayed in the program at the transition destination, so that the response speed of screen switching becomes faster from the viewpoint of the user. Moreover, since the resource is generated by using the waiting time from the screen display until the user makes an input response, it does not affect the input / output processing of step S606.

[0029]

According to the present invention, the resource of the screen directly connected to the currently displayed screen is generated in advance, so that the response time becomes fast when the screen is switched.

Further, unlike the conventional method of collectively generating the resources of all screens at the time of starting the program, only the resources of the screen most recently required are generated, so that the time required to start the program can be minimized. Moreover, since unnecessary resources do not occupy the memory, redundant swapping between the memory and the hard disk can be reduced, thereby realizing comfortable responsiveness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a hierarchical relationship of screens included in an apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a screen flow diagram showing directions of transitions between screens included in the device of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a transition table describing a transition relationship between screens.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a general description example of a conventional program.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a description example of an embodiment program.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a processing procedure of an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 transition table

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus which prepares a plurality of screens and switches the screens to interactively perform processing with a user, wherein when the screens are displayed, the resources of the screens are generated and the resources are displayed. In the same device that can be performed separately, the transition direction of the screens is defined as a screen flow diagram, and when one screen is displayed, the screen directly linked to the screen is determined by the diagram, and then A method for controlling screen transitions, characterized in that resources are generated in advance for only those or the screens. 2. An information processing apparatus that prepares a plurality of screens and switches the screens to interactively perform processing with a user, wherein when the screens are displayed, the resources of the screens are generated and the resources are displayed. In the same device that can be performed separately, a screen flow table that represents the transition relation of the screen is defined, and when one screen is displayed, the screen directly related to the screen by referring to the screen flow table Then, the method for controlling the screen transition is characterized in that resources are generated in advance only for those or its screens. 3. The resource of the screen, of the generated resources, which has no direct transition relationship with the transition destination screen due to the transition of the screen, is sequentially discarded. How to control the described screen transitions.