JPH04219857A - Screen controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the device which performs screen control according to an operation rule table wherein operation rules are described hierarchically. CONSTITUTION:A control means 102 on receiving an input from an input means 101 performs control by referring to the hierarchic operation rule table stored in a hierarchic operation rule storage means 103 and the response of the control means is displayed on an output means 104. This screen controller traces the layers of the operation rules from the bottom to the top of each screen and executes an operation rule corresponding to the input once it is found. The hierarchic operation rule table has no redundant description as compared with a conventional operation rule table, so this device is used to lighten the burden on a system designer.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus that performs screen control based on an operation rule table that describes operation rules in a hierarchical manner.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional screen control device for a system that performs screen control based on user input includes an input means 501, a control means 502, an operation rule storage means 503, and an output device, as shown in FIG. means 504.

[0003] In such conventional screen control devices, a method is used in which an operation rule table is created in advance that associates user input with system responses, and control is performed based on the table. Conventionally, a system designer has created an operation rule table for each screen separately, as shown in FIG. 6, for pairs of inputs and responses. Screen 1 and Screen 2 in FIG. 6 are operation rule tables corresponding to Screen 1 and Screen 2 in FIG. 3, respectively. On screen 1, if the user presses the ESC key, it will move to screen 2, and if the user presses the PF5 key, it will exit and go to PF6.
Press to print. On screen 2, use the ↑ and ↓ keys to move between menu items, exit with the PF5 key, and PF6.
Print using the key. A system that performs screen control based on an operation rule table for each screen is described, for example, in Information Processing Society of Japan Research Report 90-HI-32-2.

0004

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, with the method of writing the operation rule table for each screen as described above, when the same operation rule exists on multiple screens, the same operation rule must be written many times. There is a problem that it must be done. For example, in the operation rule table for screen 1 and screen 2 shown in FIG.
The responses corresponding to the 5 key and the PF6 key are the same. In this way, writing the same operating rules for multiple screens is a redundant task for the system designer, and is extremely troublesome.

An object of the present invention is to provide a screen control device that solves these problems.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention is a screen control device that performs control based on a hierarchical operation rule table that stores sets of inputs and responses to a system in a hierarchical manner. an input means, a control means for performing control with reference to the hierarchical operation rule table, a hierarchical operation rule table storage means for storing the hierarchical operation rule table, and an output means for displaying a response of the control means. It is characterized by consisting of.

[0007]

[Operation] When there is an operation rule table that describes operation rules in a hierarchical manner, the screen control device of the present invention traces the response of the system to the user's input from the bottom to the top of the hierarchy and finds the corresponding operation rule. Execute that response. If no corresponding operation rule is found even after reaching the top of the hierarchy, nothing is done.

The operation of the screen control device of the present invention will be explained using the hierarchical operation rule table shown in FIG. 4 as an example. On screen 1, the user presses E.
When the SC key is input, the ESC key is described in Operation Rule 2, which is the operation rule for Screen 1, so the response to this is ``Move to Screen 2''. When the user enters the PF key on screen 1, there is no description for the PF5 key in operation rule 2, which is the operation rule for screen 1, so operation rule 2 is entered.
Refer to operation rule 1, which is the upper rule of
Execute the F5 response "End". On screen 1, when the user enters the TAB key, for example, even if the user traces back to operation rule 1, no response corresponding to that input is found, and there are no higher-level rules, so the process proceeds to the next process without responding. Move.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. This screen control device includes a means 101 for inputting to the system, a control means 102 for controlling by referring to a hierarchical operation rule table, and a hierarchical operation rule table storage means 103 for storing the hierarchical operation rule table. and output means 104 for displaying the response of the control means. Input means 101
can use a keyboard etc. The control means 102 can use a microprocessor or the like. The hierarchical operation rule table storage means 103 can use a semiconductor memory, a disk, or the like. The output means 104 can be a CRT display or the like.

FIG. 2 shows a screen using the screen control device of FIG.
7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when performing screen control based on a hierarchical operation storage table. First, input means 101
The control means 102 receives the input inputted from the screen (step 201), and refers to the operation rule table corresponding to the screen at that time (step 202). If there is a corresponding operation rule in the referenced operation rule table (step 203), it is executed (step 204), and if there is no corresponding operation rule,
It is checked whether there is a higher level rule in the operation rule table (step 205). If there is no corresponding higher-level rule, no response is made to that input and processing moves on to the next input. If there is a corresponding higher level rule, the higher level rule is referred to (step 206), and an operation rule corresponding to the input is searched among them. Repeat this until there are no more upper rules.

[0011]

As described above, by using the screen control device of the present invention, screen control can be performed based on a hierarchically described operation rule table. Hierarchical operation rule tables eliminate the need to write common operations over and over again for multiple screens, compared to the conventional case where operation rule tables are written independently for all screens. , the effort for system designers is greatly reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a screen control device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of screen control based on the device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a display example of a screen controlled by the device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a hierarchical operation rule table.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional screen control device.

FIG. 6 is an example of a conventional operation rule table.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Input means 102 Control means 103 Hierarchical operation rule table storage means 104 Output means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A screen control device that performs control based on a hierarchical operation rule table that stores sets of inputs and responses to the system in a hierarchical manner, comprising input means for inputting input to the system, and the hierarchical operation. A screen characterized in that it is comprised of a control means for performing control by referring to a rule table, a hierarchical operation rule table storage means for storing the hierarchical operation rule table, and an output means for displaying a response of the control means. Control device.