JPH0343824A - Window control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always recognize the positions of icons without narrowing unreasonably a window display area despite a large number of icons by storing the icons in a specific area of a screen and inhibiting the display of these icons. CONSTITUTION:A screen includes one or more areas where the icons LC1-LC4 serving as other display means of an opened window are stored with no display. These areas has the fixed value on the screen, for example, and the whole or a part of each area belongs to an area different from the window area so that the area is not completely hidden behind the window. Otherwise the areas are displayed with pop-up (wd5) as necessary. An icon control table is provided to store the information on the icons which are not displayed in accordance with an icon box. In such a constitution, the desired one of many icons can be easily displayed on the screen with omission of the screen handling troubles.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Utilization] The present invention relates to a control system for a multi-window, and in particular,
It relates to an indock side control method that is suitable for operating a large number of windows and icons. .

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the following methods have been generally used to manage icons in this type of window control system.

(Create an icon area on the screen that does not overlap with the window, and display the icon there.

(2) Place the icon and window in the same area,
Allow them to overlap with each other.

Among them, for example, ASCI I (August 1988 issue) No. 1 is related to this type of window control method.
MS-WIND described in 65N to 1aoH
Examples include OWH Ver. 1, Ver. 2, etc.

In addition, there are other icon management methods for window control methods as follows. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-256121 relates to a method for specifying icons manually using a key.
No. f552213 relates to an icon management method in which icon management blocks are defined by block definition numbers.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In method (1) above, an icon area is secured separately from the window display area, so the more icons there are, the more the window area is narrowed, and the area for displaying data is reduced.

Furthermore, in the method (2) above, the user must remember where the icon is currently located on the screen, and when there are a large number of icons, it is easy to make an incorrect designation. Particularly when the icon is hidden behind a window, it takes some trial and error to specify the desired icon.

Furthermore, in the methods (1) and (2) above, it is difficult to distinguish between icons of the same type of application cage just by looking at them.

It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of such conventional methods, to easily display a desired icon on the screen even when there are a large number of icons, and to perform window control that can avoid clutter on the screen. Method f: *provides.

[Means to solve the problem]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a multi-window display system that includes one or more areas on the screen in which icons can be stored and hidden as another display means for opened windows. Provided for.

More specifically, the present invention provides a multi-window display system that displays a plurality of windows on a screen in an open state or in an iconized state based on window information stored in a window management table. Displaying one or more areas for hiding the above-mentioned icons, and when instructed to hide the above-mentioned icons,
At the same time, information on the icon is retrieved from the window management table and hidden, and at the same time, information on the icon retrieved from the window management table and hidden is stored separately in association with the area, and the area is specified. In this case, a window containing an icon whose information is stored in association with that area is displayed, the specified icon in this window is stored separately, and the information of the icon is stored in the window management table. to be stored and displayed.

Therefore, in a multi-window display system, the present invention provides means for displaying on the screen one or more areas for classifying, storing, and hiding icons.

The area has a fixed position on the screen, for example, and allows the user to write a name for classifying the icon. C
Hereinafter, the OX rear will be referred to as an icon box, and one or more areas as a whole will be referred to as an icon box bar. ) It is desirable that all or part of the icon box bar belong to a separate area from the window area to prevent it from being completely hidden behind the window.

However, in order not to narrow the window display area, it may be possible to overlap the window, and it may be displayed as a pop-up when necessary.

Additionally, when the user specifies an icon box, a window containing the icons stored in this icon box (hereinafter referred to as an icon box window) is displayed, allowing the user to easily select one or more desired icons. Eject and allow the window to open again.

More specifically, the present invention provides: means for displaying one or more icon boxes for hiding icons; and means for determining whether an icon has been moved to overlap an icon box; means for retrieving cough icon information from the window management table and hiding it when the determination means determines that the icon overlaps the icon box; and means for retrieving cough icon information from the window management table and hiding it. an icon management table that stores information about the converted icon in association with the icon box; and when the icon box is specified, information is stored in the icon management table in association with the icon box. means for displaying a window containing an icon that is displayed by the display means, and information on a specified icon in the window displayed by the display means is retrieved from the icon management table, stored in the window management table, and the icon is displayed. The means are provided.

[Effect]

The effect of the present invention will be explained based on specific embodiments.

If the determining means determines that an icon is entering the icon box, the management of the icon is changed from the window management table to the icon management table, and the icon is deleted. This eliminates screen clutter caused by a large number of icons.

In addition, multiple icon boxes are provided, and names can be written in the icon boxes, making it easy to classify a large number of icons. By storing icons of the same type in icon boxes with different names, you can easily identify them. can be facilitated.

The above icon box window is displayed when the above icon box is specified, and the above icon box window is displayed when the above icon box is specified.
All the icons stored in the box are displayed, so you can reliably specify the icon you want to open the window without unnecessary operations.

Also, if you store multiple related icons in one icon box, when you want to open these icons as a window, you can simply specify these icons in the core icon box window. This saves you the trouble of searching for each icon one by one and repeatedly opening each one as a window.

The icon box window is automatically deleted after the icon is selected, so that unnecessary windows are not left on the screen to increase clutter.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1000 is a control unit, 2000 is a window management table, 5000 is an icon management table,
4000 is icon/box/bar display means, 5oo
o indicates an icon position determination means, 6000 an icon box window display means, 7000 an icon box window icon selection means, and 8000 a graphic RAM.

The window management table 2000 is a graphic RA
This is a table that manages the positions, sizes, etc. of multiple line docks to be displayed on the M8000.

Ota. The icon management table 3000 exists corresponding to each icon box, and stores the position and size of the icon box window as well as the number of icons to be stored in the icon box.
This is a table that manages the position, size, etc. when opening as a window.

The icon position determining means 5000 is a means for determining and processing whether the destination of the movement is a window box when the icon is moved. Icon box window icon selection means 7000u is means for selecting an icon from within the icon box window and opening the window.

Here, the control section 1000 and the icon box◆par display means 4000. which is activated by the control section 1000. Icon position determination means R5000, icon box ◆ Window display means 6000° Icon box window icon selection means 7000 is placed on the ROM-1 or RAM, and the finder management table 2
000 and the icon management table 5000 are assumed to be placed on the RAM.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the screen displayed before and after storing the icon in the icon box. In the same figure (&) is the state in which the 74 controller is stored in the icon box, and in the same figure (b)
) is the state after storage.

In FIG. 2 (&), in the window display screen 100, windows wd4 in an iconized state, windows wd3 in an open state, and so on, in descending order of display priority. A window wd2 and an icon-shaped window wd1 are arranged at the forefront of the screen. Also,
At the bottom of the screen, there are four icon boxes ibi,
An icon box bar 200 with ib2, 1bSeLb4 is displayed.

Move window wdl to icon box 1b2
When the window IF (11) is placed in the o area, the window IF (11) is stored in the icon box ib2 and is hidden, and the window wd2 becomes the window in front of the user.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the screen displayed before and after opening the icon box window and selecting an icon. Same figure (&)
(b) is the state before the icon is selected from the icon box window, and (b) is the state after the icon is selected.

In FIG. 5(a), the icon box window w displayed by selecting the icon box ib2
When d5 is opened b6, the icon box window wd5 contains icons io1 m
io2 mi io3 mi io4 are displayed. When icon ia2 and icon io3 are selected from among them, icon box window wd5 is deleted and window 4) corresponding to icon 1a3 m1o2 is opened.
yc16. wd7 is opened.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the icon management table 3000. Icon management table! 5000 for each icon box, and in FIG. 4, one of them, icon box ib2, is shown as an example.
This shows the icon management table of .

Icon management table! 5QQQ is the header part 3100
and a main body portion 5200. The main body section 5200 is composed of the following items.

(1) ap... Type of application software running on the window (2) t, it, Is... Window title (
3) ib-Xwmin* ib-Ywmins i
b-XllFmllX*ib -Ywmax...x, y coordinates of two diagonal points of the window (4) of...Selection status flag The above (1), (2), and (3) respectively This is the information when opening as (4
) is a flag indicating whether or not each icon is selected. Further, the header section 5100 is composed of the items shown below.

(5) 1b-title...Classification name of icon box 1bZb icon box window wd5 (d) ibw-Xwmin+ ibw-Ywmin+
ibw-Xwmaxsibw-Ywmax...x of two diagonal points of icon box line dock wd5,
y coordinate FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the window management table 2000. The window management table 20QO consists of a header section 2100 and a main body section 2200. Main body part 2
200 consists of the items shown below.

(1) X1m1n+ Ywmin+ Xwmax*
Ywmax - x+7 coordinates of two diagonal points of the window (2) A P... Type of application software running on the window (5) Title... Window name (4)
fp...Voice to a window with one higher display priority/
(5) bp...Pointer to the window with one lower display priority (6) if...Flag indicating whether the window is turned into an icon (7) X1m1n+ Yiffiii Xia+ax
*Yimax 1...x+7 of the two diagonal points of the icon
The coordinates (4) * (5) above are bidirectional pointers for linking window functions based on display priority.

The header section 2100 of the window management table 2000 contains (8)! IP: Pointer to the window with the lowest display priority (9) B P: Pointer to the window with the highest display priority can be accessed sequentially. None, pointer fp, bp.

FP and BP do not indicate window numbers, but indicate numerical values for accessing each row of the window management table body section 2200.

In addition, (6) is a flag that indicates whether the window is an icon that is not stored in an icon box or an icon that is displayed alone on the 91 screen.If it is an icon, it is 1 , is 0 when it is not an icon.

(7) is the xe7 coordinate of the two diagonal points of the icon when the flag in (6) is 1. When an icon is stored in an icon box, management of the icon is passed from window management table 2000 to icon management table 5000. In the example shown in FIG. 2(a), window wd1
And the flag (6) of window Wd4 is set to 1.

Now, as shown in FIG. 2(a), when the iconized window wd1 is moved, the control unit 1000
First, the icon position determining means 5000 is activated to start processing. The icon position determining means 5000 moves the window wd1 according to the movement specification, determines whether the destination position overlaps the icon box bar 200, and if so, moves the window wd1 to the icon box bar 200.
Determine which icon box in .

Performs the process of storing the icon in the corresponding icon box.

Processing flowchart t of icon position determination means 5000
- Shown in Figure 6.

1. First, in step 5010iCTh, the X,7 coordinate to which the iconized window wd1 will be moved is calculated. For example, in the case of movement by dragging the mouse, the amount of mouse movement is added to the X and y coordinates of the window wdl before movement.

Next, in step 5020, the positions of the window wd1 before and after the movement are compared. If there is no change in each value, window wd1 has not moved, so Stella 7
: Proceed to 5050. If there is a change, proceed to step 5040.

In step 5040, the background data of the previous window wd1 saved in the memory is recovered, the icon is deleted, the background data hidden by the moved icon is saved, and the window wd1 is moved to the new position. Starts the icon movement process to display the icon.

Finally, in step 5050, it is determined whether the position of the new window wd1 overlaps with the icon box ◆ bar 200, and if it does not overlap, step 505
0, and if they overlap, proceed to step 5060.

In step 5030, it is determined whether the icon moving process has ended. For example, if the movement is by dragging the mouse, the determination is made based on whether the mouse button is released. As a result of the determination, if it is moving, the process proceeds to step 50.
If the process returns to step 10 and is finished, the process ends.

If the window wd1 overlaps the icon box bar 200, in step 5060 it is determined to which icon box the overlapping area belongs.

Then, in step 5070, window wd1
The information is set in the icon management table 5000 of the determined icon box by referring to the window management table 2000.

In the example shown in FIG. 2(a), the window wd1 overlaps the area of the icon box ib2, so the information of the window wd1 is the main body of the icon management table of the icon box ib2! 4th icon i to 5200
Set as o4.

Next, in step 5080, window management table 2
The information regarding the window wdl is deleted from within 000, and the pointers fp, bp, and FPsBP are reset according to the new display priority.

Finally, in step 5090, the background of the window d1 is restored, the window wdl is erased, and the process ends.

Through the above processing, the iconized window helmet d1
can be stored in icon box ib2.

FIG. 2(b) shows the state after all processing by the icon position determination means 5000 is completed, and the window wd
The window wd2, which had the next highest display priority after l, is now the previous window.

Next, when the icon box ib2 is selected and the icon box window wd5 is opened as shown in FIG. 3 (&), the control unit too#'i,
Icon selection means 7 in icon box window
Start 000.

Icon selection means 7 in icon box window
000 is a process that deletes the icon box window d5 and opens the selected icon as a window even if the icon in the icon box d5 is specified and the icon is inverted when the selection process is completed. The icon selection means in the icon box window to be performed yoaoo process 70-chart No. 75!2
Shown below.

First, step 70101Cj? Then, it is determined whether the icon selection process is completed. The end of processing is determined by clicking the end button displayed in the icon box window wd5 using a pointing device such as a mouse, or by manually pressing a key. As a result of the judgment,
If the process has been completed, the process advances to step 7040; if not, the process advances to step 7020.

In step 7020, it is determined whether there is a designation of an icon to be opened as a window, and if there is a designation, the process advances to step 7050; otherwise, the process returns to step 7010.

In step 7030, the designated icon is inverted. 1. If the specified icon is not selected, the icon management table main body 52
00 selection state 117 lag 0ft1, and if it is selected, the selected state flag of is cleared to 0 as a non-selected state.

In the example shown in FIG. 1(a), icon io2 and icon io3 are in the selected state and i? p, icon io1
and icon io4 are in a non-selected state.

Now, if it is determined that the selection process is completed in step 701C1:>, then in step 7040, the icon box window wd5 is deleted.

The erasure of the icon box window d5 is performed by restoring the background saved in the memory.

Next, in step 7050, the current icon box i
The number of all icons stored in b2 is IC0NNO
Substitute k'C. IC0NNO is used as a loop counter as well as a pointer pointing to the target icon.Next, in step 7060, IC0NNO is used to determine whether all icons in icon box ib2 have been processed. Determine by. IC0N
If NO is 0, the process ends here, but if it is 1 or more, the process proceeds to step 7070.

In step 7070, it is determined whether the icon pointed to by IC0NNO is in the selected state. The determination is made with reference to the selection state flag of of the icon management table main body section 320o. If the target icon is selected, step 7
The process proceeds to step 080, but if it is in a non-selected state, steps 7080 to 7100 are skipped and the process proceeds to step 7110. In the example in Figure 5, when IC0NNO is 3 and 2, step 7
Proceed to 080.

In step 7080, information on the target icon is set in the window management table 2000 with reference to the icon management table main body 3200, and the pointers fp, bp
, FP, and BP are reset according to the new display priority.

Next, in step 7090, information on the target icon is deleted from the icon management table main body section 3200.

Further, in step 7100, a window is displayed based on the information set in the window management table 200, and the processing for the target icon is ended.

Next, enter /(7'7) 7110, subtract 1 from IC0NNO to change the target icon, and return to step 7060.

In this embodiment, the icons 1o2 to 1o5 can be opened as windows through the above processing. The display example of FIG. S(b) shows the state after all processes of the icon/box/window icon selection means 7000 are completed, and the state a of the window management table 2000 at that time is as shown in FIG. This is the commute shown.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, icons can be stored in a specific area on the screen and hidden, so even when there are a large number of icons, the window display area can be unnecessarily narrowed.・Also, when selecting an icon that you want to open as a window, you can easily open the desired icon stored in the above specified area as a window by clicking with a pointing device or manually selecting a key. It has excellent operability as it can be opened.

Furthermore, since you can have multiple specific areas mentioned above,
By storing icons of the same type in different areas, they can be easily distinguished.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of displaying a window screen before and after icons are stored in an icon box, and FIG. An explanatory diagram showing an example of the window screen display before and after selecting an icon from the window, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of an icon management table, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of the window management table, 1g6
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the icon selection means in the icon box window. 200...Icon box par 10o. ...Control unit, 2000...Window table, 30 units 0...Icon management table, 4000...
・Icon box par display means, 5ooo...
Icon position determination means, 6000... Icon box window display means, 7000... Icon/
Box/window icon selection means, 8000.
...Graphic RAM, wd5...Icon box window, ibl l1b2. ib5, ib4
...icon box. Tsuta Figure 2 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a multi-window display system, one or more areas are provided on the screen in which icons can be stored and hidden as other display means for opened windows. Features a window control method. 2. In a multi-window display system that displays multiple windows on the screen in an open state or in an icon state, 1. to hide the above icons.
A window control method characterized by providing means for displaying more than one area. 3. A window control method, characterized in that a window containing icons stored by the window control method according to claim 1 or 2 is displayed. 4. In a multi-window display system that displays multiple windows on the screen in an open state or in an iconized state based on a window management table, one or more areas for hiding the above icons are displayed. means for determining whether or not the icon has been moved to overlap the area; and when the determining means determines that the icon overlaps the area, the information of the icon is transferred to the window management. means for extracting from the table and making it invisible; an icon management table for storing information about the window extracted from the window management table and making it invisible in association with the area; means for displaying a window containing an icon whose information is stored in the icon management table in association with the icon management table; and retrieving information of a specified icon in the window displayed by the display means from the icon management table. A multi-window display system characterized by comprising means for storing the icon in the window management table and displaying the icon. 5. The window control method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, or the window display system according to claim 4, wherein the area is given an arbitrary name.