JP2008269155A - Template display system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To preferentially display a form that is likely to be used when displaying a form in a template list.
A form in which the arrangement of data columns coincides with the arrangement of the drawing positions of field graphics on the form is preferentially displayed.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for displaying a form used by a user in a template list when overlay printing is performed using a form file and a data file.

  When outputting a form or the like, as shown in FIG. 3, postscript data from the data file 302 is poured into a predetermined portion (field) of the form file 301 (template) indicating the layout of the output form (overlay printing) and output. There is technology to obtain a form. In the present specification, a graphic indicating a location (field) into which data is inserted is referred to as a field graphic.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a tabular field figure can be set on the form. In this case, field graphics are repeatedly drawn in one page according to the number of rows in the table and the number of data rows.

  Conventionally, there is a technique in which an application displays a form as a template list when a user selects a form file for an arbitrary data file. 503 in FIG. 5 is an example of a template list. By displaying the form files in a list in this way, the user can select a form file to be used while confirming it. The form file is prepared in advance or can be created and added by the user as appropriate.

  However, when there are a large number of forms displayed in the template list, it becomes very difficult for the user to find a form that the user wants to use.

As a prior art for solving this, there is a method of adding additional information to a form in advance and associating the data contents with the additional information of the form and storing them in the DB. As a result, the template list display application accesses the DB based on the data contents, so that only the corresponding form can be displayed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-109023). For example, it is a technique in which templates are classified according to seasons and stored in a DB, and when winter data comes, the DB is accessed and only the winter templates are displayed.
JP 2003-109023 A

  However, this method did not consider the position of the field graphic in the form. In the form, there are many cases where the drawing position of the field diagram name is different even though the key names are the same. For this reason, the templates are not necessarily displayed in the optimal order with respect to the data order. For example, in the case of the example in FIG. 5, data is described in the order of “name”, “address”, and “amount” in the data file. In this case, there is a high possibility that the order of the field graphics on the form is “name”, “address”, “money”. The template list 503 is the second or third form.

  However, the current technology does not consider the position of the field graphic. For this reason, there is a possibility that an unintended form will be displayed first, such as number 1 in the template list 503. In the example of FIG. 5, I want the 2nd and 3rd forms to be displayed first (as 1). For example, the template list 703 in FIG.

In order to solve this problem, in this patent, when overlay printing is performed using a form file (template) and a retrofit data file, a template is selected in a system that selects a form file from a template list for a data file to be printed. When displaying the key name and its order from the data file,
Determining whether the order acquired in the above step matches the drawing position order of each field figure on the form file;
And a step of preferentially displaying the forms matched in the above steps on a template list.

  According to the present invention, the user can select a form that the user wants to use from the template list more easily.

<System configuration diagram>
FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for printing data such as a form. The method shown therein is implemented in the general purpose computer module 101 described in detail in FIG. The process described in FIG. 8 is executed in the whole or a part of software such as the form creation application program 121 which is executed in the computer module 101 and can be executed on the system 100. In particular, layout editing, setting file editing, and printing steps that occur inevitably are performed according to software instructions executed by the computer 101. The software is stored in a computer readable medium including a storage device as described below, for example. The software is loaded into the computer from the computer readable medium and executed by the computer 101. A computer readable medium having a computer program recorded on such software or medium is a computer program product. The use of the computer program product on the computer desirably provides an advantageous apparatus for document layout editing and data printing.

  The computer module 101 connects input devices such as a keyboard 132 and a pointing device such as a mouse 133, and connects a display device 144 and an output device including a local printer 145 depending on the situation. The input / output interface 138 can connect the computer module 101 from the network connection 107 to connect to other computer devices in the system 100. A typical network connection 107 is a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN).

  The computer module 101 typically includes at least one processor unit 135, eg, a memory unit 136 comprised of a semiconductor random access memory (RAM) or read only memory (ROM), and an INPUT / OUTPUT (I / O) including a video interface 137. ) Interface, I / O interface 143 for keyboard 132 and mouse 133 is included. The storage device 139 typically includes a hard disk drive 140 and a flexible disk drive 141. Although not shown in the figure, a magnetic tape drive may also be used. The CD-ROM drive 142 is provided as a nonvolatile data source. The computer module 101 is an operating system such as GNU / LINUX or Microsoft Windows (registered trademark), or a conventional computer system typically formed in accordance with the operating system or known in the related art. The components 135 to 143 of the computer module 101 that communicate via the interconnect bus 134 are utilized in a manner that is consistent with the mode of operation.

  In the example of the placement computer described in the figure, an IBM compatible PC, a SPARCSTATION of SUN, or a computer system including them can be considered.

  Form creation application program 121 typically resides on hard disk drive 140 and is executed, read and controlled by processor 135. Data fetched from the media storage device of the program 121 and the network 1020 uses the semiconductor memory 136 in response to the hard disk drive 140. In some instances, the application program 121 is encoded on a CD-ROM or flexible disk, read through the corresponding drive 142 or 141, and provided to the user. Alternatively, the application program 121 may be read by the user from the network connection 107. In addition, the software can record information on magnetic tape or ROM or integrated circuits, magneto-optical disks or wireless or infrared communication between computer module 101 and other devices, computer-readable cards such as PCMCIA cards, and e-mail communications or recorded information on WEB sites. It may be loaded into the computer module 101 from other appropriately sized computer readable media, including the Internet or an intranet it has. The foregoing is merely an example of related computer readable media. Other computer readable media may also be used.

  An application 121 named form creation instructs to create and print a form and includes two software components. The first component among these is the library 105, which is a software component that performs processing such as overlay printing processing. The second component, user interface 103, provides a mechanism that allows the user to create forms and configuration files. The user interface 103 and the library 105 communicate via a communication channel 123. The data source for document generation is a typical database 119 residing on a database server 117 that is typically configured by another computer running a database application. Host computer 101 communicates with database server 117 by means of network connection 107. The form creation application 121 generates a form or setting file stored in the file server 115 configured by the host computer 101 or generally another computer. These documents are stored in the local file system of the host computer 101, stored in the file server 115, or printed directly on the printer 113. The print server 109 is a computer that provides a network function to a printer that is not directly connected to the network. The print server 109 and the printer 113 are connected via a typical communication channel 111.

  FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIGS. 1 and 8 except that the template list application 130 is added. The form stored in the file server 115 is displayed on the template list by the library 105 when printing or other purposes are available. Such an operation is possible by being requested via the user interface 103.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing this embodiment. The processing of FIG. 6 is processing of the library 105 when the user designates a data file from the interface 103 in the template list 130. For the sake of easy understanding, description will be made with the example of FIG.

  First, in step S601, the library 105 analyzes the data file designated by the user. Then, the key names and their order are acquired from the data file. In the example of FIG. 7, three key names “name”, “address”, and “amount” are acquired from the data file 702. This key name corresponds to the field graphic name on the form. Also, it is stored that “name”, “address”, and “money” are in order.

  In step S602, the library 105 assigns serial numbers sequentially from 1 to all form files. This is a process necessary for processing each form one by one in a future step.

  In step S603, the library 105 initializes a variable N used for internal processing to 1. The total number of forms is stored in the internal variable M.

  In step S604, the library 105 determines whether N is M or less. Steps S605 to S608 are executed until the processing for all the forms is completed.

  If YES is determined in step S604, in step S605, the library 105 analyzes the Nth form and acquires the drawing position (x, y) of each field graphic. For example, the drawing position of the field graphic is expressed by how much the vertical axis and the horizontal axis are shifted with respect to the upper left of the form. For example, (100 mm, 150 mm). After that, the order of drawing positions is calculated. The arrangement order is calculated by comparing the vertical and horizontal axes of each field. For example, the position of the “name” field is (x1, y1) and the position of the “money” field is (x2, y2). Using the upper left of the form as a reference, first compare the sizes of x1 and x2, and if they are equal, compare the sizes of y1 and y2 to obtain the field order. This is performed for all field graphics, and the arrangement order of all field graphics is obtained.

  In step S606, the library 105 determines whether the form drawing position matches the key sequence acquired in step S601.

  If YES is determined in the step S6060, the library 105 stores the value of the variable N in the internal list. The form corresponding to No. N stored here is preferentially displayed on the template list.

  Next, in step 608, the library 105 stores the value of N + 1 in N.

  The above processing is repeated for the number of forms M.

  If it is determined as NO in step S604, the process proceeds to step S609. In step 609, the library 105 displays the forms corresponding to the numbers saved in S607 in order in the template list.

  In step S610, the library 105 displays the remaining forms in the template list.

  As a result of the above processing, the form in which the key order of the data file and the arrangement of the field graphics on the form match are preferentially displayed on the template list.

A system 100 for printing data such as a form. FIG. 9 is a similar view of FIG. 1 and FIG. 8 including a template list 130. The figure explaining an example of overlay printing. The figure explaining an example of overlay printing by a tabular form. An example of a template list. 2 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment. An example of the template list improved by Example 1. FIG. General-purpose computer module diagram.

Claims (1)

When overlay printing is performed using a form file (template) and a retrofit data file, when displaying the template in the system that selects the form file from the template list for the data file to be printed, the key name and A step for obtaining the order;
Determining whether the order acquired in the above step matches the drawing position order of each field figure on the form file;
And a step of preferentially displaying the forms matched in the above steps in a template list.

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