JPH10228492A - Cad system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve operability by simultaneously and also fast performing edition and display processing of plural graphic elements and also to easily cope with a complicated design by making data size small by generating a group element that groups plural graphic elements to treat them as one graphic element and collectively performing edition processing the group element. SOLUTION: A grouped processing means 51 generates a group element. A group element edit processing means 52 collectively performs edit processing of the generated group element. A reference display element setting processing means 55 refers to a graphic element and sets a reference display element that shows a graphic element in an optional position. Because the means 52 can collectively edit a group element, simultaneous change and simultaneous editing of the group element which is plural graphic elements is available. Also, data substitution is collectively performed, and the operability of a CAD system is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a CAD system for arranging a plurality of graphic elements having the same shape in one drawing data and performing display processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a CAD system is a system that performs design with the aid of a computer using command input means such as a mouse, and outputs a created drawing from a display or an XY plotter. The CAD system is also effective for storing and managing design data, and often connects an external data file as an auxiliary storage device. According to such a CAD system, design work can be simplified and speeded up, and an excellent design work environment can be obtained. Therefore, it has become widespread in recent years in which the shortening of the design period is desired.
The focus is on further operability improvement and high performance that can handle complicated drawings.

[0003] An example of a system configuration for performing work in a CAD system will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a processing device, on which a processing program for instructing creation and editing of graphic elements is installed. A display device 2 displays graphic information and operation information. 3 is a coordinate pointing device for designating an input area for graphic elements and a confirmation area for graphic elements, 4 is an instruction input device for performing operations, 5 is a main storage device for storing processing programs and data, and 6 is a created graphic element. And an external data file for saving work files.

By the way, many drawing elements of the same shape such as parts are often arranged in one drawing data. In such a case, conventionally, the following two systems have been proposed. One is a system that takes in graphic elements of the same shape from an external data file and develops them, and the other is a system that accesses the external data file and directly displays graphic elements of the same shape. The former will be specifically described with reference to FIG. 6, and the latter will be specifically described with reference to FIG.

[1] System for importing and developing graphic elements. FIG. 6 In this system, graphic elements created in advance are stored in an external data file 21, and the data is stored in a file as captured expanded data 23. 21 and expanded to a specified position. By repeating this, many graphic elements of the same shape can be displayed on the drawing data. Also, by changing the size and orientation of the original graphic element and then importing it into the drawing data, it is possible to cope with many patterns. In such a system in which graphic elements are developed in drawing data, handling as drawing data is easy, and it is also possible to individually edit captured graphic elements.

[2] System for Accessing and Displaying External Data File--FIG. 7 Also in this system, graphic elements (child drawings) created in advance are stored in the external data file 31. However, this is different from the system developed above. That is, the external data file 3
1 is accessed and a display is made directly at a designated position on the drawing data 32 using the coordinate data 33 of the arrangement point. In such a system, since only the coordinate data 33 of the arrangement point is provided on the drawing data 32, the data size of the drawing data 32 does not need to be increased. Further, since the graphic element to be displayed is one child drawing saved in the external data file 31, if the data of the original child drawing is changed, the drawing data 3
All the child drawing data displayed on 2 can be displayed reflecting the changed contents. further,
By providing the coordinate data 33 of the arrangement point with attribute data such as size and direction, it is possible to cope with many patterns.

[0007]

However, the two types of CAD systems described above have the following problems. That is, when a graphic element is fetched on the drawing data 22 and developed, it is not possible to simultaneously change or edit a plurality of data 23 after the development, or to exchange data. Further, since graphic elements are directly taken into the drawing data 22, the size of the drawing data 22 is very large. Particularly in recent years, the number of complicated drawings has increased and the amount of data to be handled has tended to increase, and therefore, there has been an urgent need to reduce the data size.

On the other hand, when the external data file 31 is accessed and displayed, the display speed is slow because the file 31 having the child drawing data is accessed every time the display is performed. Further, since the child drawing data is in another file, every time the contents of the child drawing are changed, the child drawing file must be read and then edited again. Furthermore, since there are a plurality of files for one drawing, it is difficult to manage the drawing data.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to improve operability by simultaneously and quickly editing and displaying a plurality of graphic elements. At the same time, it is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent CAD system that can easily deal with complicated drawings with a reduced data size.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is a storage means for storing graphic elements and coordinate positions of the graphic elements, and a display means for displaying the stored graphic elements. Grouping processing means for grouping a plurality of graphic elements and creating a group element to be treated as one graphic element in a CAD system provided with a graphic creation and editing processing means for instructing creation and editing processing of graphic elements; And group element editing processing means for editing the group elements collectively.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the grouping processing means creates a group element which groups a plurality of graphic elements and treats them as one graphic element. Then, the group element editing processing means can edit the group elements collectively. For this reason, it is possible to simultaneously change or edit a plurality of graphic elements and to exchange data, so that operability is significantly improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the CAD according to the first aspect.
In the system, an external data file for storing the created graphic element is provided, and the grouping processing means includes:
A file name setting unit configured to fetch a graphic element from the external data file to create a group element, and further to set a file name of the original graphic element for the group element; It is characterized by.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the file name setting processing means sets the file name of the original graphic element to the group element and associates it with the external data file. When data is updated, the group member elements of the group elements can be exchanged as needed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the CAD system according to the first or second aspect, an external data file for storing the created graphic element is provided, and the grouping processing means converts the graphic element from the external data file. Configured to capture and create group elements,
A creation date and time setting unit for setting a creation date and time when the group elements are grouped is provided.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the creation date and time when the group elements are grouped by the creation date and time setting processing means are set, and the creation date and time of the data in the associated external data file are set. By comparing with the creation date of the group element, the group element can be automatically updated to the latest state.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage means for storing a graphic element and a coordinate position of the graphic element, a display means for displaying the stored graphic element, and a graphic creation and editing instruction for creating and editing graphic elements. In a CAD system provided with processing means, a grouping processing means for grouping a plurality of graphic elements to create a group element to be treated as one graphic element, and displaying the graphic element at an arbitrary position with reference to the graphic element And a reference display element setting processing means for setting a reference display element for performing the setting.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the group element can be displayed at an arbitrary position with the group element as a reference target element by using the reference display element set by the reference display element setting processing means. At this time, since the reference display element has only the layout data for display and the required attribute data but does not have the coordinate data for actually displaying the shape, the data size does not need to be increased.
In addition, since the original data to be referred to is in the same drawing data, the processing speed can be greatly increased as compared with accessing an external data file.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the CAD according to the fourth aspect.
The system is characterized in that attribute data setting processing means for setting attribute data such as an enlargement ratio, a rotation angle, and an inversion reference angle of the graphic element with respect to the reference display element is provided.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the attribute data setting processing means can arbitrarily set the attribute data such as the enlargement ratio, the rotation angle, and the inversion reference angle of the group element with respect to the reference display element. And various patterns.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the CAD system according to the fourth or fifth aspect, recursive element setting processing means for recursively setting another group element or a reference display element in the group element is provided. It is characterized by having.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, it is possible to recursively search and display element data. Therefore, display processing can be easily performed even on complicated data including a component diagram in the component diagram, and the management can be performed in a hierarchical manner.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present embodiment. Is realized by a processing program installed in the processing apparatus 1 (FIG. 5) of the CAD system. The storage means in the claims is based on the main storage device 5 and the external data file 6 in FIG. 5, the display means is on the display device 2 in FIG. Each is realized by the input device 4.

The grouping processing means 51 is a means for creating a group element. When creating a group element,
A plurality of graphic elements are fetched from the external data file 6 shown in FIG. 5 and grouped, or a plurality of graphic elements created on the drawing data are grouped and a plurality of graphic elements are combined into one graphic element. Is to be treated as Further, the group element editing processing means 52 is configured to collectively edit the created group elements. The file name setting processing means 53 sets the file name of the original graphic element for the group element. Further, the creation date and time setting processing means 54
This is to set the creation date and time when grouping is performed for the group elements.

The reference display element setting processing means 55 sets a reference display element for displaying a graphic element at an arbitrary position with reference to the graphic element. The reference display element is an element to be displayed at a position specified by using data of a graphic element to be referred based on link information with another graphic element.

The attribute data setting processing means 56 is means for setting attribute data such as the enlargement ratio, rotation angle, and inversion reference angle of the graphic element for the reference display element. further,
The recursive element setting processing means 57 recursively sets another group element or reference display element in the group element.

In the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, a case will be described in which a large number of graphic elements having the same shape are arranged in drawing data created by CAD work. In this embodiment, in order to arrange many graphic elements having the same shape on the drawing data, a group element and a reference display element are required in addition to the graphic elements. Here, FIG. 3 shows an example of the data structure of the group element, and FIG. 4 shows an example of the data structure of the reference display element.

In the example of the structure of the group element shown in FIG. 3, the group element has a name of the group element, an attribute for display / non-display, an attribute of editability for protecting data, and a pointer list of elements which are members of the group. It is included. The group element contains the file name of the graphic data set by the file name setting processing means 53. Since the group element holds the file name in the data as described above, when the external data file 6 is associated and the data in the external data file 6 is updated, the group element of the group element of the group element is updated as necessary. The replacement can be performed collectively.

Further, the group element also includes data such as the creation date and time when grouping is set by the creation date and time setting processing means 54. Therefore, by comparing the creation date of the data in the associated external data file 6 with the creation date of the group element, the group element can be automatically updated to the latest state.

On the other hand, the reference display element shown in FIG. 4 includes a pointer of an element to be displayed in reference and coordinate data of an arrangement point for arranging the referenced graphic element at a designated position. . When the display is performed, the coordinate data of the graphic element to be referred to is obtained from the element pointer, and the coordinate data relative to the coordinate data of the arrangement point is calculated. At this time, if the target graphic element is a group element, display is performed with reference to the data of the group member element.

By the way, not only the graphic elements but also the group elements in the group member elements shown in FIG. 3 and the group elements to be referred to shown in FIG. 4 are set by the recursive element setting processing means 57. Group element and reference display element. Therefore, graphic elements can be managed hierarchically, and element data can be searched and displayed recursively. Such a function is very effective when a large number of complex component drawings including many components in a component drawing are arranged and displayed on one drawing data.

The reference display element includes a target element pointer and an arrangement point, an enlargement ratio for enlarging / reducing the original data, a rotation angle for designating a display direction and inversion. Alternatively, the attribute data of the inversion reference angle is set by the attribute data setting processing unit 56. When the reference display element has such attribute data, the shape of the data to be arranged can be increased, and it is possible to cope with various patterns. As shown in FIG. 4, the types of these attribute data are distinguished by their identification numbers, and by using a combination of default values, it is easy to remove unnecessary data or increase the types of attribute data. Can be done.

According to the present embodiment as described above, since the group element editing processing means 52 can edit the group elements collectively, the group elements as a plurality of graphic elements can be simultaneously changed or edited. Can be performed, and data can be replaced at a time.
The operability of the system can be improved.

Further, by performing a reference display process on a member element of a group using a group element as a reference target element, a group element composed of a plurality of graphic elements can be easily displayed. Moreover, the reference display element only has the layout data for display and the required attribute data, and does not have the coordinate data for actually displaying the shape, so that the data size can be reduced. Further, since the data to be referred to is in the same drawing data, the display processing can be performed at a higher speed than when an external data file is accessed.

[0034]

As described above, according to the CAD system of the present invention, the group elements can be collectively edited and displayed at an arbitrary position with reference to the group elements. Even when a large number of graphic elements having the same shape are arranged in the drawing data, a plurality of graphic elements can be edited at the same time and at high speed to improve operability. Can be easily handled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating reference display of group elements according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an example of a data structure of a group element according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an example of a data structure of a reference display element according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a general CAD system.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a system which takes in a graphic element from an external data file and develops the graphic element;

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a system for accessing and displaying an external data file.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Processing apparatus 2 ... Display apparatus 3 ... Coordinate instruction apparatus 4 ... Command input apparatus 5 ... Main storage apparatus 6, 21, 31, 41 ... External data file 22, 32, 42 ... Drawing data 23 ... Import development data 33 ... Arrangement point coordinate data 41 ... external data file 43 ... group member element 44 ... group element 51 ... grouping processing means 52 ... group element editing processing means 53 ... file name setting processing means 54 ... creation date and time setting processing means 55 ... reference display Element setting processing means 56 ... Attribute data setting processing means 57 ... Recursive element setting processing means

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a graphic element and a coordinate position of the graphic element, a display means for displaying the stored graphic element, and a graphic creation / edit processing means for instructing creation and editing processing of the graphic element. In the CAD system, grouping processing means for grouping a plurality of graphic elements to create a group element to be treated as one graphic element, and group element editing processing means for collectively editing the group elements are provided. CAD system characterized in that: 2. An external data file for storing the created graphic element is provided, wherein the grouping processing means is configured to fetch a graphic element from the external data file to create a group element, 2. The CAD system according to claim 1, further comprising file name setting processing means for setting a file name of an original graphic element for the element. 3. An external data file for storing the created graphic element is provided, wherein said grouping processing means is configured to fetch a graphic element from said external data file to create a group element, and further comprising: 3. The CAD system according to claim 1, further comprising a creation date / time setting processing unit for setting a creation date / time when the elements are grouped. 4. A storage device for storing graphic elements and coordinate positions of the graphic elements, a display means for displaying the stored graphic elements, and a graphic creation / edit processing means for instructing the creation and editing of graphic elements. Grouping processing means for grouping a plurality of graphic elements to create a group element to be treated as one graphic element, and a reference display for displaying the graphic element at an arbitrary position with reference to the graphic element A CAD system comprising a reference display element setting processing means for setting an element. 5. The CAD according to claim 4, wherein attribute data setting processing means for setting attribute data such as an enlargement ratio, a rotation angle, and an inversion reference angle of the graphic element with respect to the reference display element is provided. system. 6. The CAD system according to claim 4, wherein recursive element setting processing means for recursively setting another group element or a reference display element in said group element is provided.