JPH0816517A - Method and device for window control - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently perform the operation without increasing operator's operation by displaying a message to the operator at a glance and automatically enlarging/reducing the window size of a message window for it. CONSTITUTION:When a request to display a message in the message window area set on a display device is issued, the size of the message window area which this message to be displayed requires is obtained and is compared with the size of the message window area set just before, and the message window area is enlarged if the obtained size is larger, but it is reduced if the obtained size is smaller, and the size of the message window area is so controlled that its size is equal to the size of the message window area set just before if the obtained size is equal, thus displaying the message.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a window control method and a window control device for displaying a plurality of windows on a display device, and is particularly suitable for a CAD system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a display method in a computer system, there is a method of displaying a plurality of types of windows on a display device. In this case, the size of the window area is determined in advance by the type of window. For example, in a CAD system, a shape display window for displaying a graphic shape, a command menu window with a button for the operator to access the shape, and guidance for promoting what the operator should do within each command A message window is displayed that displays various information such as the description of the figure shape. Then, the size of the area occupied by each of these windows is determined in advance,
It is designed to be freely generated and displayed in a predetermined size at an arbitrary position on the graphic.

[0003]

However, in the case of the message window as compared with other windows, the size of the area required for display greatly changes depending on the information to be displayed. Could not be displayed at once. Particularly, in the case of a CAD system, since the shape display window is large, the message window is small and only an area of about two lines is provided. Therefore, all messages are displayed if the prompt message is only one or two lines, but if the number of lines is large, the messages are overwritten one after another, and only the last few lines finally displayed are displayed on the display device. Will remain. Therefore, the operator has a problem that it is difficult to grasp the content of the information. There is also a method of simplifying the contents so that even a large amount of information can be displayed at one time and compressing and displaying it in several lines of information, but depending on the simplification method, the message may be visually understood by the operator. In some cases, it is necessary to review the manual in order to understand what the message means in each case, which is inconvenient.

The present invention aims to solve the above problems.

[0005]

According to the window control method of the present invention, when a message is requested to be displayed in the message window area set on the display device, a message required by the message requested to be displayed is displayed. The size of the window area is calculated, the size of the message window area set immediately before is compared with the size calculated above, and if the size calculated above is larger, the size of the message window area is expanded. However, if the obtained size is smaller, the size of the message window area is reduced, and if the obtained size is the same, the area of the same size as the message window displayed immediately before is set. The feature is that the size of the message window area is controlled so that the message is displayed.

Further, the window control device of the present invention has a display device in which the message window area is set, a display line number storage section for storing the set display line number of the message window area, and a display request. The count calculation unit that counts the number of lines required by the message, the comparison calculation unit that compares the number of lines counted by the count calculation unit with the number of lines stored in the display line number storage unit, and the count calculation unit If the number of lines displayed is larger, the number of lines displayed in the message window area is increased. If the number of lines counted by the count calculation unit is smaller, the number of displayed lines in the message window region is decreased and the count calculation unit counts. If the number of lines displayed is the same, the number of lines displayed in the message window area remains unchanged and the display device is Characterized in that comprising a display control unit that sets a message window area above.

As the number of lines, for example, the number of character lines or the number of image data display lines by pixel lines can be used.

Further, in the above-mentioned device of the present invention, the minimum number of display lines that the message window area can have or the maximum number of display lines that the message window area can have is stored. It is preferable to provide a line number storage unit, and more preferably, the minimum line number storage unit and the maximum line number storage unit are provided, and the display control unit stores the stored minimum display line number and maximum display line number. Based on the above, it is preferable to set the number of display lines in the message window area between the minimum number of display lines and the maximum number of display lines.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining the window control method of the present invention. According to the method of the present invention, for example, a prompt message or a CA prompting an operation from a CAD system.
When there is a request to display a message such as a message that displays various information of D data (11), it is possible to display all the messages requested to be displayed at once in the message window area that displays it by comparing the sizes. It is judged whether or not the message area needs to be changed (12). Then, based on this judgment result, if the message window area cannot be filled at once, the message window area is enlarged so that it is displayed. Change the message window area to reduce the area (1
3) Or, if all are displayable and cannot be reduced, the message is displayed as it is (14).

Further, according to the window control device of the present invention, the current display line number of the message window area is stored in the display line number storage section, and there is a request from the system for a message to be displayed at once in the message window area. ,
The count calculation unit counts the number of lines, and the number of lines counted by the count calculation unit and the number of lines stored in the display line number storage unit are compared by the comparison calculation unit. Then, if the number of lines counted by the count calculation unit by the display control unit is larger than the stored number of display lines, the message window area is expanded to accommodate the counted number of lines, and the counted number of lines is stored. If the number of lines displayed is smaller than the number of lines displayed, the message window area is reduced within the range in which the counted number of lines is entered. The message window area is set as follows.

A minimum line number storage unit or a maximum line number storage unit is provided, and the minimum display line number and the maximum display line number are determined based on the minimum line number and the maximum line number stored by the display control unit. If the number of display lines of the message window area is set between the two, it is possible to prevent the message window area from being reduced or expanded more than necessary.

[0012]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the message window control device of this embodiment. This apparatus includes a display row number storage unit 22, a minimum row number storage unit 23, a maximum row number storage unit 24, a comparison calculation unit 26, and a count calculation unit 25.
And a display control unit 27.

The present apparatus will be further described while explaining its operation. The minimum number of lines storage section 23 stores the minimum number of lines in the message window area, and the maximum number of line storage section 24 stores the maximum number of lines in the message window area. The number of lines in the message window area currently displayed or most recently displayed, that is, the number of lines set immediately before is stored in the section 22. When a message display request is issued, the number of lines of the requested message is counted by the count calculator 25. Next, in the comparison calculation unit 26, the display row number storage unit 22
The number of rows stored in and the number of rows counted by the count calculator 25 are compared and calculated.

The counted number of lines is the display line number storage unit 22.
If it is larger than the number of rows stored in, the number of rows stored in the maximum row number storage unit 24 is compared next. When the number of counted lines is smaller than the number of lines stored in the maximum number-of-lines storage unit 24, the counted number of lines is stored in the number-of-displayed-lines storage unit 22 so that the stored number of lines can be displayed. The display control unit 27 controls the display so as to enlarge the message window area. When the counted number of lines is larger than the number of lines in the maximum number of lines storage unit 24, the number of lines in the maximum number of lines storage unit 24 is stored in the number of lines for display display unit 22 so that the stored number of lines can be displayed. Then, the display control unit 27 controls the display so as to enlarge the message window area.

The counted number of lines is the display line number storage unit 22.
If it is smaller than the number of rows stored in, the number of rows in the minimum row number storage unit 23 is compared. When the number of counted lines is larger than the value of the minimum number-of-rows storage unit 23, the number of counted lines is stored in the number-of-displayed-rows storage unit 22, and the number of rows stored is displayed in the number-of-displayed-rows storage unit 22. The display is controlled by the display controller 27 so as to reduce the message window area so that the display window can be reduced. When the counted number of rows is smaller than the number of rows in the minimum row number storage unit 23, the number of rows in the minimum row number storage unit 23 is stored in the display row number storage unit 22 and stored in the display row number storage unit 22. The display control unit controls the display to reduce the message window area so that the number of displayed lines can be displayed.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining an example of the counting method used by the count calculator 25.
In this calculation method, first, "0" is stored in the memory A of the count calculation unit 25 when the CAD system is activated. The request from the CAD system to the window controller is either a message display request or an input request. First, if there is a request from the CAD system (6
1) Check if it is a message display request (6
2). If it is a message display request, 1 is added to the value stored in the memory A in the memory A, the value is stored in the memory A again (63), and control is returned to the CAD system (64). CA
If the request from the D system is an input request (65), the value of the memory A is passed to the comparison operation unit 26 (66), and the memory A
"0" is stored in (67), and the control is passed to the comparison operation section 25 (68).

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the display state of windows on the display of the CAD system to which the window control device of the above embodiment is applied. The display on the display of the CAD system of the present embodiment includes a graphic shape display window area 31, a command menu window area 32,
It is composed of a message window area 33. In this embodiment, an example is shown in which only the message window is scaled vertically. In the message window, the operator only sees the character string with his / her eyes, whereas in the figure shape display window and the command menu window, the operator operates the window. This is because it becomes harder to handle.

In this embodiment, each window area is determined when the CAD system is activated, and the number of display character lines that can be displayed in the message window area determined here is "
4 "is stored in the display line number storage unit and the minimum line number storage unit of the message window display area control unit, and the number of character lines" 25 "that can be displayed when the message window region is expanded to the maximum is stored in the maximum line number storage unit. I remember.

First, the case of expanding the message window area will be described with reference to FIG. When there is a request for a message to be displayed at once in the message window area during execution of the CAD system, the count operation unit 25 of the window controller counts the number of character lines for the message. The value stored in the display row number storage section 22 as the counted row number "10" in the comparison calculation section 26.
Compared with "4", the number of lines counted is larger, so
Next, it is compared with the value "25" stored in the maximum row number storage section 24. In this case, since the number of counted lines is smaller, the counted number of lines "10" is stored in the display line number storage unit 22 so that the display control unit 27 can display the message window area 43 with 10 lines of messages at a time. To
Display the requested message.

Next, the case of expanding the message window area in the expanded state as described above will be described with reference to FIG. When the next message is requested, the count calculation unit 25 of the window controller counts the number of character lines for the message. In the comparison calculation unit 26, the counted number of lines "30" is displayed in the display line number storage unit 2
Since the counted number of lines is larger than the value "10" stored in No. 2, the value is compared with the value "25" stored in the maximum line number storage unit 24 next. In this case, since the value stored in the maximum row number storage unit 24 is smaller, the value "25" stored in the maximum row number storage unit 24 is changed to the display row number storage unit 2.
2, the message window area 53 is enlarged by the display control unit 27 so that 25 lines of messages can be displayed at one time, and the requested message is displayed.

Next, a case where the message window area is reduced in the enlarged state as described above will be described with reference to FIG. When the next message is requested, the count calculation unit 25 of the window controller counts the number of character lines for the message. In the comparison calculation unit 26, the counted number of lines “10” is displayed in the display line number storage unit 2
Since the counted number of lines is smaller than the value "25" stored in 2, the value is next compared with the value "4" stored in the minimum line number storage unit 23. In this case, since the number of counted lines is larger, the counted number of lines "10" is stored in the display line number storage unit 22 so that the display control unit 27 can display the message window area 43 with 10 lines of messages at a time. Shrink to and display a message.

Next, the case where the message window area is reduced in the enlarged state as described above will be described with reference to FIG. When the next message is requested, the count calculation unit 25 of the window controller counts the number of character lines for the message. In the comparison calculation unit 26, the counted number of lines “2” is displayed in the display line number storage unit 22.
Since the counted number of lines is smaller than the value "10" stored in, the value is next compared with the value "4" stored in the minimum line number storage unit 23. In this case, the minimum number of rows storage unit 2
Since the value stored in 3 is larger, the value "4" stored in the minimum line number storage unit is stored in the display line number storage unit, and the display control unit 27 stores the message window area 33 in four lines. Display the message by shrinking it so that it can be viewed at once.

In this embodiment, an example of enlarging / reducing the message window area within the range in which the number of display character lines can be displayed has been described, but the number of pixel lines may be used, and the enlarging / reducing method may be used. The number of rows stored in the minimum row number storage unit and the number of rows stored in the maximum row number storage unit may be limited to two types.

[0024]

According to the present invention, when an operator operates a computer system, various information such as information as to what the system is requesting next, information on graphic shape, etc. is omitted. It can be displayed to the operator at a glance, and by automatically enlarging or reducing the message window size displayed for that purpose, it can be provided without increasing the operator's operation, so that the manual can be reviewed efficiently, etc. You can operate the system without interrupting your thinking.

Further, by providing the minimum row number storage section and the maximum row number storage section, it is possible to prevent inconvenient scaling.
Operability is further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a window control method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a message window control device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display state of windows on a display.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display state of windows on a display.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display state of windows on a display.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a counting method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 22 display line number storage unit 23 minimum line number storage unit 24 maximum line number storage unit 25 count calculation unit 26 comparison calculation unit 27 display control unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When a message is requested to be displayed in a message window area set on the display device,
The size of the message window area required by the message requested to be displayed is calculated, and the size of the message window area set immediately before is compared with the size obtained above. If it is larger, the size of the message window area is enlarged. If the obtained size is smaller, the size of the message window area is reduced. If the obtained size is the same, immediately before. A window control method characterized in that a message is displayed by controlling the size of the message window area so that the displayed message window has the same size as the displayed message window. 2. A display device in which a message window area is set, a display line number storage section for storing the set display line number of the message window area, and a line number required by a message requested to be displayed. If the count operation unit for counting, the comparison operation unit for comparing the number of lines counted by the count operation unit with the number of lines stored in the display line number storage unit, and the number of lines counted by the count operation unit are larger, If the number of lines displayed in the message window area is large and the number of lines counted by the count operation unit is smaller, the number of lines displayed in the message window area is decreased, and if the number of lines counted by the count operation unit is the same. Set the message window area on the display device based on the comparison result by the comparison operation unit so that the number of lines displayed in the message window area remains unchanged. And a display control unit for controlling the window. 3. A minimum line number storage section for storing the minimum display line number that the message window area can have and a maximum line number storage section for storing the maximum display line number that the message window area can have. The display control unit sets the number of display lines in the message window area between the minimum display line number and the maximum display line number based on the stored minimum display line number and maximum stored line number. The window control device according to claim 2.