JPH0618038B2 - Multiple window controller - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multiple window control system for a workstation, and more particularly to a multiple window control system suitable for facilitating window operation.

[Conventional technology]

In the conventional multiple window system, for example, Computer Today, 1984/11, NO.
4, as described on pages 23 to 32, many windows can be displayed in an overlapping manner on the CRT screen.
If you want to display the entire window A that is partially hidden by other windows, move the on-screen cursor that works with the mouse to the visible portion of window A and press the mouse button. The entire window A is displayed at the top. Such an operation of redisplaying a window under another window, which is partially or entirely hidden, at the top is called a pop.

If the entire window A is completely hidden by another window, the cursor cannot be placed in the window A, so that the window A cannot be popped by the above method. In this case, the operation under to bring the window displayed on the top to the bottom is used. That is, until a part of the window A becomes visible, the windows overlapping on the window A are sequentially under-operated from the top, and when the part of the window A is visible, move the cursor there and move the mouse button. Press
Window A can be popped.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The above-mentioned conventional technique does not consider the case where the number of windows completely hidden by other windows and invisible to the user increases, and the following problems occur.

(1) The user cannot know what window is hidden under the visible window.

(2) In order to operate a completely hidden window, it is necessary to use the under operation by trial and error to remove the overlapping window, which is troublesome.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to realize a multiple window control system with good operability.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the multiple window control method of the present invention provides a means for detecting a window in a completely hidden state and a display for displaying a display object corresponding to the window detected by the detecting means. Means and means for executing an operation command to a window corresponding to the instructed display object by instructing the display object displayed by the display means. Further, in the present invention, the detection means is configured to detect the window A when a certain window A is completely hidden by another window, and the operation instruction execution means is further configured to detect the window A. It is further preferable that the window corresponding to the instructed display object is configured to be popped. Furthermore, it is further preferable that the detection unit is configured to detect a window completely hidden by another window when an instruction from the user is given.

[Action]

The detection means detects a window which is completely hidden, and reports the window identification name to the display means. Upon receipt of the report, the display means displays an identifiable display object corresponding to each window having the identification name of the report in an area that is not hidden by other windows on the screen. When the user designates one of these display objects, the operation command executing means executes a specific operation command for the window corresponding to the instructed display object.

〔Example〕

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a multiple window system of a workstation.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a keyboard for inputting window operation commands, 2 is interlocking with a cursor on the screen,
The mouse 3 that generates an event by pressing and releasing the attached button sequentially fetches the event information generated by the keyboard 1 or the mouse 2, and the other information according to the cursor position at the time of the event occurrence. This is an input event management unit that passes event information to the block. For input events, press the key of keyboard 1 and mouse 2
There is a push down and release of the button attached to. When each event occurs, the input management unit generates event information that summarizes the position of the cursor at the time of the event, the event type, and the identification information of the device in which the event occurred. Further, in FIG. 1, 4 is a window operation execution unit that interprets event information input from the input event management unit 3 and executes a window operation command according to the result, and 5 is overlapped by execution of the window operation command. Presence or absence of a window completely hidden by other windows after execution of the window operation command (such a window is called a hidden surface window) and identification information of the hidden surface window when the state may change. When the hidden surface detection unit 5 detects a hidden surface window, the hidden surface detection unit 6 detects the hidden surface window identification information as an icon, and the currently displayed icon and Manages the correspondence table with corresponding windows, and when the user specifies an icon, the hidden surface corresponding to that icon Is an icon management unit that Potsupu the guiding.

The window operation command execution unit 4 executes the following commands.

(1) "Create": Create a new window. Newly opened windows are displayed above already opened windows.

(2) “Delete”: Delete the displayed window.

(3) "Resize": Change the size of the displayed window. The resized window is displayed on top of the currently displayed window.

(4) “Move”: Change the display position of the currently displayed window. The moved window is displayed on top of the currently displayed window.

(5) “Iconization”: The display of the window being displayed is deleted and the icon having the identification information of the window is displayed. Click this icon with the mouse button to redisplay the original window. Here, "click" refers to an operation in which the mouse button is pressed and then released.

(6) "Under": Redisplay the specified window with the display priority set to the lowest.

(7) "Pop": Redisplay with the display priority of the specified window set to the top.

(8) “End”: End the window system. All windows being displayed are erased, and all window management information in the system is returned to the initial state.

The command is specified by inputting the command name from the keyboard or selecting the menu with the mouse. Second
The figure shows a screen configuration according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, 30 is the entire display screen, 31 is a window display area, 32 is an icon display area, 33 is a window W2 being displayed, 34 is a hidden surface window W1, 35 hidden by the window W2. An icon corresponding to the surface window W1, 36 is an identification name display area of the window W2, and 37 to 41 are menus for operating the window W2. The commands "move", "resize", and "iconify", respectively. , "Under", "erase", and 42 is a window command input area from the keyboard. The operation of each part of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the operation flow charts of the present embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

First, when the user moves the cursor over the window operation menu or icon and clicks the mouse button, the event information corresponding to the user operation is input to the input event management unit 1 (step 11).

When the cursor is in the window area 31 when the event occurs, the event management section gives the input event information to the window operation execution section 4, and when the cursor is in the icon area 32, the input event information is managed by the icon management section. Pass to part 6 (step 12). The window operation execution unit 4 executes the window operation command corresponding to the menu item at the cursor position if the input event is the click of the mouse button on the menus 37 to 41, and if it is the command input from the keyboard, the cursor is input. The command is executed for the window at the position, if the mouse button is clicked in a window other than the menu, the window is popped, and if it is an event other than those, nothing is done (step 13). Window operation execution unit 4
Activates the hidden surface detection unit 5 when the executed window operation command may change the way the windows overlap (step 14). That is, when the window operation execution unit 4 executes "move", "resize", "create", "erase", "pop", "under", and "iconify", the overlapping manner of windows changes. However, since a new hidden surface window is generated or a part of the hidden surface window that can be displayed becomes available, it is necessary to examine the window that is hidden again.

In the hidden surface detection processing unit, the window which is currently hidden is examined (step 15). As a result, if there is a hidden surface window (step 16), the icon management unit 6 is called to perform icon display processing, and the screen is displayed. An icon corresponding to the newly detected hidden surface window is displayed on the top (step 17).

On the other hand, in step 12, the input event management section 3 determines that the cursor position at the time of event occurrence is the icon area 32
If it is inside, the input event information is passed to the icon management unit 6. If the passed input event is the click of the mouse button generated on the icon being displayed in the icon area 32, the icon management unit 6 identifies the hidden surface window corresponding to the icon (step 19), and the hidden surface is displayed. The window is popped (step 20), and then the icon erasing process is performed (step 21).

Next, the hidden surface detection processing of step 15 in FIG. 3 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6
The figure shows a table of the information necessary for the hidden surface detection processing in the window management information set by the window operation execution unit 4. These tables are initialized at the beginning of the hidden surface detection process. FIG. 4 (a) stores the coordinates (x ₁ , y ₁ ) of the upper left vertex and the coordinates (x ₂ , y ₂ ) of the lower right vertex of each of the N windows currently displayed on the screen for each window number. Window position table P _os [i,
j] (i = 1, 2, ..., N, j = 1, 2, 3, 4). The window number is a number assigned by the hidden surface detection unit 5 to identify the window being displayed. The same figure (b)
Indicates the correspondence between the coordinate values stored in the window position table and the coordinate system on the screen.

FIG. 5 shows a priority table in which window numbers are stored in descending order of window display priority. Priority
The window with the window number stored in [1] has the highest display priority, and the window with the window number stored in Priority [N] has the lowest display priority.

FIG. 6 is a correspondence table of window numbers assigned by the hidden surface detection unit 5 for convenience and the window names 36 displayed in the actual windows. The window name of the window number i is stored in Name [i].

FIG. 7 is an area division table for detecting a hidden surface window. Each element A [i, j] of the area division table
Corresponds to each rectangular area formed when the boundary line of each window on the screen is extended, and the window number having the highest display priority (that is, actually displayed) in the rectangular area is A [i , J].
Therefore, the windows having numbers not stored in all the elements of the area division table are windows that are not displayed on the screen at all, that is, hidden windows. FIG. 8 shows the correspondence between the windows on the screen and the area division table. FIG. 1A shows two windows 1 and 2 on the screen 30.
Shows the overlapping display. The broken line is an extension of the boundary line between the windows 1 and 2, and A [i, j] in the rectangular area surrounded by the broken line or the solid line indicates that the rectangular area is the element A [i, j of the area division table. j] is supported. On the other hand, FIG. 7B shows the contents of the area division table when the window is displayed as shown in FIG.
2 indicates that the contents of window 2 are displayed in a rectangular area (area where windows 1 and 2 overlap each other) on the screen corresponding to A [2,2].

FIG. 9 is a hidden surface flag table Flag storing flags indicating whether or not each display window is a hidden surface window.
The structure of [i] is shown. Here, if the value of Flag [i] is equal to 0, it indicates that the window i is a hidden surface window.

Next, the procedure of the hidden surface detection processing will be described with reference to the processing flow chart of FIG.

When the hidden surface detection processing is requested from the hidden surface detection unit 5 by the window operation execution unit 4, first, window management information is input from the window operation execution unit 4, and the series of window management shown in FIGS. The contents of the table are set (step 101). Next, a serial number is assigned to each of the horizontal and vertical boundaries of each window in order from the ascending power of the coordinate value thereof (step 102). FIG. 11 shows a specific example of how to assign serial numbers. In the figure, two windows are displayed in an overlapping manner on the screen 30, and four horizontal and vertical boundaries are respectively assigned serial numbers 1 to 4 from the top and 1 to 4 from the left.

Next, all the elements of the area division table A [i, j] are initialized to zero (step 103), and the elements of the area division table corresponding to the area occupied by each window are arranged in descending order of display priority for all windows. Store your window number. (Steps 104 to 107) By writing the window numbers in the area division table in the ascending order of display priority, the window numbers having the highest display priority in each area are finally stored in the area division table.

Next, after all the elements of the hidden surface flag table are initialized to zero (step 108), all the elements of the area division table are scanned (step 109) to check whether the area division table window number is stored. If it is stored, the value of the element of the hidden surface flag table corresponding to the window number is set to 1 (step 110). By the above procedure, 0 is added to the element corresponding to the hidden surface window in the hidden surface flag table. , 1 is stored in other places.

Next, details of the icon display process (step 17 in FIG. 3) will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 12 shows the configuration of an icon management table Icon [i] that manages the correspondence between icons and window numbers. Icon [i] indicates the window number corresponding to the icon number i. When the value of Icon [i] is 0, it indicates that there is no window corresponding to icon i, that is, icon i is unused.

FIG. 13 shows the correspondence between the icon i and the display area of each icon on the screen 30. The icons are arranged at equal intervals (L in the drawing) from the upper part of the icon display area 32. In the figure, M represents the maximum number of icons, and M is normally set to the maximum number of windows that can be displayed-1.

Details of the icon display processing (step 17) will be described with reference to the processing flow chart of FIG.

First, the hidden surface flag table is searched for all windows Wno (steps 140 to 141), and if the flag value is 0, it is checked whether or not it is already registered in the icon management table (step 142). If not, icon management is performed. After scanning the table for an unused icon (step 143) and registering the window number in the icon management table, the screen 30 corresponding to the icon number is displayed.
The window name is displayed in the upper icon display area 32 (step 145). The window name can be known from the window name table (Fig. 6).

On the other hand, if the flag value is 1 in step 141,
Since the window Wno is not a hidden surface window, it is checked whether it is previously registered in the icon management table as a hidden surface window (step 146), and if it is registered, it is deleted.

In this embodiment, the hidden surface detection process is executed every time the overlapping state of the windows changes, and the window corresponding to the hidden surface window is always displayed. However, the hidden surface detection process is performed only when the user specifies. The result may be displayed as an icon, and the icon display may be deleted after the user selects the icon or specifies another window operation. As a result, the processing efficiency and the screen space utilization efficiency can be improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, when an icon is selected, only the pop-up processing of the hidden surface window corresponding to the icon is performed, but when the icon is selected, the various window operation commands described above are displayed as a menu, and various window operations are displayed in the hidden surface window. It may be directly applied. By doing so, the hidden surface window can be directly operated like other windows, and the usability is improved.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, a window in a completely hidden state is detected, and a display object for the window is displayed,
When the displayed object is selected, the window corresponding to the displayed object can be directly operated, so that the windows do not become inoperable or difficult to operate due to the overlapping state of the windows. Further, it is possible to provide the user with information of a certain level or more regardless of the overlapping state of the windows.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a screen configuration diagram, FIG. 3 is an operation flow diagram of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a window position table configuration diagram, and FIG. Order table configuration diagram, FIG. 6 is a window name table configuration diagram, FIG. 7 is a region division table configuration diagram, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example of the region division table, FIG. 9 is a hidden surface flag table configuration diagram, FIG. 10 is a flow chart of hidden surface detection processing, FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example of border numbering, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of an icon management table configuration, FIG. 13 is an icon display area configuration diagram, FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the icon display process. 1 ... keyboard, 2 ... mouse, 3 ... input event management section, 4 ... window operation management section, 5 ... hidden surface detection section, 6 ... icon management section, 30 ... screen, 31 ... window Display area, 32 ... Icon display area.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Shinya Tanito 4026 Kuji-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (56) References JP 61-77979 (JP, A) JP 60 -246434 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. In a multiple window system for displaying a plurality of windows in an overlapping manner on a screen, detection of a completely hidden window from information on the display position and the display priority of the plurality of windows. Means, display means for displaying an icon for identifying the window detected by the detection means in a region that is not hidden by another window, and a window corresponding to the icon when the icon is designated. A multiple window control device comprising means for popping. 2. The detection means according to claim 1, wherein the detection means extends a priority table storing display priorities of the plurality of windows and boundaries of all the windows onto the screen. An area division table that stores the highest-priority window of the priority table for each created graphic element, and a window that is not stored in the area division table with respect to a plurality of windows of the priority table A multiple window control device characterized by detecting. 3. The multiple window control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the detection means is always activated. 4. The multiple window according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said detecting means detects a window which is completely hidden when an instruction is given from a user. Control device.