JPH0769778B2 - Icon menu / palletizing method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] In order to solve the problem that a conventional icon menu is fixed in the system and may be difficult to use depending on the business, the icon menu is palletized and placed in an arbitrary position in the icon menu area. By providing a means for dynamically associating arbitrary menu items, the user can easily create a flexible menu that suits his / her business.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a control method of an icon menu used in a data processing system that performs graphic processing, for example,
The present invention relates to an icon menu / palletization processing method that allows a user to dynamically create an icon menu according to his / her business.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 5 shows an example of the conventional method. In FIG. 5, 21 is a display screen, 25 is an icon menu, 25-1, 25-2, ... Is an icon, and 27 is a cursor.

The icon 25-i is a graphic / character abstract representation of functions and basic figures that are frequently used in software.
The icon menu 25 is a list of these icons 25-i. By moving the cursor 27 on the display screen 21 by the position input device and indicating the position of one icon in the area of the icon menu 25, the function or basic figure indicated by the icon is selected.

According to the conventional method, the icon menu 25 is fixed, and the first section of the icon menu 25 has an icon.
The positions in the icon menu area and the menu item of the icon to be selected are uniquely associated in advance by the system, such as icons 25-2, ... In the 25-1, 2nd section. .

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

 FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the problems of the conventional method.

According to the above conventional method, since the icon menu 25 is fixed, for example, as shown in FIG.
When another window 30 is opened over 25, some of the icons are hidden under the other windows 30 and some icons become unusable. In addition, when the window having the icon menu 25 is made small, there is a problem that the number of sections of the icon menu 25 becomes small and similarly, some icons become unusable.

In addition, when a user creates a graphic pattern that is registered (stored in a file) in the system and reuses it, the conventional method can only select from a list of registered graphic patterns. Since it could not be reflected in the icon menu 25, there was a problem with poor operability.

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and provide a means by which a user can easily create and change an icon menu suitable for a job.

[Means for solving problems]

 FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration example of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a processing device including a CPU and a memory, 11 is a position input device such as a mouse or tablet, 12 is a keyboard, 13 is an input processing unit that performs input processing, and 14 is display processing on a display. A display processing unit, 15 is a menu item selection processing unit, 16 is a menu item correspondence processing unit that executes processing corresponding to the selected menu item, 17 is an icon menu creation change processing unit, 18 is an icon menu control table, and 19 is 6 shows an item management table that stores management information of menu items.

Also, 20 is a display, 21 is a display screen, 22 is a global menu that is always displayed on the screen, 23 is a pull-down menu that is displayed by selecting the global menu 22, 24 is a window, 25 is an icon menu, and 26 is a plot. A drawing area in which a figure is drawn, 27 represents a cursor for displaying an input position.

Icon menu control table 18 is an icon menu
It is a table in which the correspondence information of the position numbers of the sections of each icon in 25 and the item numbers given to the menu items to be selected is stored. In the item management table 19,
Correspondence information between the menu item number to be selected and the contents of the menu item (for example, various basic figures and registered figures) is stored in advance.

When the menu item selection processing unit 15 inputs the position information in the icon menu 25 from the position input device 11 via the input processing unit 13, the menu item selection processing unit 15 refers to the icon menu control table 18, and the menu item number assigned to the position. Is read and the process of selecting the menu item corresponding to the designated position is performed.

The icon menu creation / change processing unit 17 updates the icon menu control table 18 in response to a menu item allocation instruction by a pull-down menu 23 or a command, and the allocation instruction is displayed at the position of the icon currently selected in the icon menu 25. It is the process of associating the existing new menu items. When the icon menu control table 18 is updated, the icon according to the new menu item is displayed on the icon menu 25 of the display screen 21 via the display processing unit 14.

[Action]

In the state shown in FIG. 1, the "circle / oval" figure with the item number = 3 is assigned to the first section of the icon menu 25, and the "straight line" figure with the item number = 2 is assigned to the second section. Is assigned, and the “rectangular” figure of item number = 4 is assigned to the third section.

It is assumed that the third “rectangle” item is currently selected in this icon menu 25. When the cursor 27 is placed on the drawing area 26 and an input operation is performed, the menu item corresponding process 16 performs a "rectangle" drawing process.

When changing the third section in the icon menu 25 to another menu item instead of the "rectangle", the position input device 11 opens the pull-down menu 23 and inputs a new menu item therein. The icon menu creation / change processing unit 17 uses the icon menu control table 18
The third item number = 4 in 4 is changed to the newly selected menu item number, and the display processing unit 14 displays the new icon menu 25.

As described above, the icon menu control table 18 manages the icon menu 25, and the icon menu creation / change processing unit 17 dynamically assigns menu items to each section of the icon menu 25. It becomes possible, and the palette of the icon menu 25 is realized.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of processing of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an example of processing of adding an icon menu item according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows an example of the icon menu item changing process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The example shown in FIG. 1 is an example in which the present invention is applied to a drawing processing system, but it is not limited to the drawing processing system.
It can be applied to other data processing systems using icon menus as well. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the processing of the main part related to the present invention is as shown in FIG. 2, for example. In the explanation below
Correspond to the processes 1 to 3 shown in FIG.

The current cursor position is checked by an input from the position input device 11 such as a mouse, and it is determined whether or not the item of the icon menu 25 is selected. If it is not the selection input of the icon menu item, control is passed to the processing.

When the icon menu item is selected, the position number of the selected icon menu is stored.

Next, it is determined whether or not the menu item of the pull-down menu 23 shown in FIG. 1 has been selected. If the pull-down menu item is not selected, control is passed to the process.

When the pull-down menu item is selected and input, it is checked whether or not the item selected in the pull-down menu is already registered in the icon menu control table 18.

The icon menu control table 18 is updated as follows depending on whether or not the same item as the selection item of the pull-down menu exists in the icon menu control table 18.

(A) When there is no same item Write the number of the menu item selected in the pull-down menu 23 in the entry of the icon menu control table 18 corresponding to the position of the icon menu 25 that is currently valid.

(B) When there is the same item In order to avoid double registration in the icon menu 25, the menu item at the position of the currently valid icon menu 25 and the menu item selected in the pull-down menu 23 should be exchanged. Then, the item numbers registered in the icon menu control table 18 are exchanged.

A new icon menu 25 is displayed according to the icon menu control table 18.

Performs drawing processing according to the currently valid menu items. The details of the drawing process may be the same as the conventional one, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

Next, a specific processing mode of adding and changing icon menu items will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 shows an example of additionally displaying a graphic icon in the initial state. For example, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), when nothing is displayed in the icon menu 25, if "rectangle" is selected from the pull-down menu 23, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), Icon menu 25
A "rectangle" icon is displayed in the first section of.
At this time, the icon menu control table shown in FIG.
The item number “rectangle” is set in the first entry of 18. Similarly, by selecting pull-down menu items, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 (C), arbitrary menu items can be assigned to the icon menu 25 in any order.

FIG. 4 shows an example of rewriting the already created icon menu 25. For example, as shown in FIG. 4 (A), it is assumed that the icon relating to the fourth "diamond" figure is selected in the icon menu 25. In this state, if you select “Rectangle” from the pull-down menu 23, as shown in FIG.
The "rhombus" icon in the fourth section of is rewritten to display the "rectangle" icon. At this time, 4 of the icon menu control table 18 shown in FIG.
An item number of "rectangle" is set in the second entry.

In the state shown in Fig. 4 (B), pull-down menu
It is assumed that the menu item “circle / oval” is selected from 23. This “circle / oval” menu item has already been assigned to the top section of the icon menu 25. In this case, a process of moving the "rectangular" icon in the currently valid fourth section to the first section and moving the first "circle / oval" icon to the fourth section is performed. As a result, the icon menu 25 becomes as shown in FIG. In the icon menu control table 18, the item numbers of the first entry and the fourth entry are exchanged.

In the above embodiment, the pull-down menu 23 is used to assign the menu items to be set in the icon menu 25. Of course, the pull-down menu 23 is not the only option, and a pop-up menu or command input from the keyboard may be used. Good. Further, the icon menu control table according to the present invention can be configured by combining the item management table 19 and the icon menu control table 18 shown in FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the palette of the icon menu is realized, and the user can easily create the icon menu suitable for his / her business. Therefore, a flexible icon menu can be used, the operability is improved, and the icon menu area can be effectively used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example of a basic configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a process of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an example of an icon menu item adding process according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example of an icon menu item changing process according to an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 5 shows an example of a conventional system, and FIG. 6 shows a problem explanatory diagram of the conventional system. In the figure, 10 is a processing device, 11 is a position input device, 12 is a keyboard,
13 is an input processing unit, 14 is a display processing unit, 15 is a menu item selection processing unit, 16 is a menu item correspondence processing unit, 17 is an icon menu creation change processing unit, 18 is an icon menu control table, 19 is an item management table, 20 is a display, 21 is a display screen, 22 is a global menu, 23 is a pull-down menu, 24 is a window, 25 is an icon menu, 26 is a drawing area, and 27 is a cursor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display (20) and a position input device (11).
In a data processing system that includes and displays an icon menu (25) in a predetermined section on the display screen and performs processing related to the menu item selected by the icon menu, the position in the icon menu area and the menu to be selected When the position of the icon menu area is instructed by the position input device and an icon menu control table (18) that stores information associating items with each other, it corresponds to the instructed position based on the icon menu control table. The menu item selection processing means (15) for selecting a menu item and the above-mentioned icon menu control table are updated in response to a menu item allocation instruction, and the instructed menu item is associated with the position selected in the icon menu. Create an icon menu for processing Processing means (1
7) An icon menu palletizing method characterized by having and.