JPH0773029A - Flow chart display system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a flow chart display system where continuous data processing instruction parts are displayed as one processing part to facilitate distinct recognition of the flow of the whole of a flow chart and the display space is economized with respect to the method which generates the flow chart from an assembler source file. CONSTITUTION:Continuous data processing instruction parts in the flow chart are simply displayed with blank symbols 11 and 12 where inside characters are omitted. When the blank symbol 11 is clicked, instruction names 13 are displayed by the blank symbol.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for automatically creating and displaying a flowchart from an assembler source file.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a flow chart display method of this kind, for example, a flow chart is automatically created for each line of a source code, and correspondingly, contents are displayed not only by symbols such as alphanumeric characters but also by kanji or hiragana. Display,
One that automatically creates something close to a handwritten flowchart (see Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3-38611), and one that automatically lays out a module-related diagram of software (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 6-66
No. 2-89169), a flow chart of a source file in module units (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-19)
9424), and program software as a tool for automatically creating a flowchart from an assembler program on a personal computer. Moreover, the present applicant has previously applied for a hierarchical display method of a flowchart (Japanese Patent Application No. 4-338045).

[0003]

However, in the method disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-38611,
In the flowchart display, multiple data processing (data processing here is general processing such as data calculation, transcription, editing, etc., function description such as label, data reading, branch condition judgment, result display 3) are consecutive, the processing symbols (symbols) as shown in FIG.
Is displayed without simplification, one processing symbol is drawn for one processing command, or as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of processing commands are written and these are surrounded by enlarging the width of the processing symbol. I was there. Therefore, the flowchart displayed on one screen is partial, and it may be difficult to grasp the flow of the entire flowchart. Note that the source files cannot be automatically accessed from the flowchart.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-89169, the source code is not a flow chart. Further, according to the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-199424, in order to create a flowchart from a source file, it is necessary to make modifications such as identifying the modules of the source file and separating them individually, and then making the flowchart. Becomes complicated.

The present invention solves the above problem, and in a method of automatically creating a flowchart from an assembler source file, by displaying continuous data processing parts as one processing part, the flow of the entire flowchart is displayed. An object of the present invention is to provide a display method of a flowchart that can be clearly grasped, is easy to process, and can save display space.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is a flowchart display method in which an assembler source file is read to automatically create a flowchart and the screen is displayed. When there is an instruction, it is displayed with only one blank symbol omitting the data processing instruction name, and the data processing instruction name is displayed near the blank symbol by clicking this blank symbol. is there.

[0007]

According to the flow chart display method of the present invention, when the assembler source file is read to automatically create a flow chart and the flow chart is displayed, the characters in the continuous data processing command portion in the flow chart are omitted. It is displayed briefly with a blank symbol. This simple display makes it easy to understand the flow of the entire flowchart. Further, by clicking a blank symbol in which this character is not written, the command character can be displayed near the blank symbol.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic flow chart creating apparatus for implementing the flow chart display system according to the present invention. This apparatus includes a CPU 1 that performs a flowchart automatic creation process, a memory 2 connected to the CPU 1 as a peripheral device, an external storage device 3, a CRT display 4 that displays a created flowchart and the like on a screen, and a keyboard that performs various inputs. 5, a mouse 6 for designating (clicking) a symbol or the like on the display, a printer 7 and a plotter 8 for printing out the created flowchart or the like.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a flowchart automatic creating method executed by the above apparatus. When the automatic flow chart creation is instructed, the CPU 1 reads the source file (S1), analyzes it and creates a flow chart, and displays it on the CRT display 4 (S1).
2). Also, a jump line at the branch portion is drawn (S3).
After that, waiting for a print instruction, if there is an instruction, printing is performed (S5), and if there is no instruction, the process ends.

FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 show examples of flow chart display according to the display system of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the entire flow for executing this display method, FIG. 9 is a flowchart for reading a source file and displaying the flowchart, and FIG. 10 is a flowchart for non-abbreviated display of the flowchart. As described above, in the conventional flow chart display method, when the data processing instructions are consecutive, the processing instructions are sequentially symbolized and displayed (FIG. 3), or the instruction names are collectively displayed in one rectangular graphic frame. Whether it is displayed surrounded by (symbols) (Fig. 4),
Since many data processing instructions are continuous, it is difficult to recognize the flow of the entire program even if it is desired to know it.
Therefore, in the method of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, when the data processing instructions are continuous, one blank symbol 11 or 12 with the instruction name omitted is displayed on the CRT display 4 for that portion. As a result, the program amount of the flowchart displayed for each screen can be increased, and as a result, the flow of the entire program can be easily grasped.

When it is desired to know the abbreviated instruction name, as shown in FIG. 6, the blank symbol 11 or 12 displayed on the CRT display 4 is displayed on the pointer (corresponding to the arrow) corresponding to the mouse 6. By clicking (shown), the command name 13 which is a command surrounded by a rectangular frame can be displayed. Here, the blank symbol 11 is clicked.

Next, the overall flow of the display system will be described with reference to FIG. First, read the source file (S1
1). At this time, the symbol attribute (FIG. 11) is stored in the memory 2 for switching to the non-abbreviated display. Next, a brief flowchart is displayed (S12). This display example corresponds to FIG. At this time, when rectangular graphic frames which are processing symbols are continuously drawn in the flowchart, one blank symbol in which instruction characters are omitted is displayed, and the second and subsequent processing symbols are omitted. Next, if necessary, a predetermined area near the blank symbol is clicked with a pointer to display the omitted instruction name beside it (S13), and the processing is terminated. A display example of the process of S13 corresponds to FIG.

The details of the processing in S11 and S12 will be described with reference to FIG. It is checked whether or not the source file to be read is completed (S101), and program commands are sequentially read from the beginning of the source file until the completion (S102). next,
It is determined whether or not the read program instruction is a data processing instruction (general processing such as data calculation, transfer, editing, etc. excluding the determination of branch conditions) (S103), and if it is not a data processing instruction, it is left as it is. A graphic and a description corresponding to the process are displayed (S106), the process returns to S101, and the same process is repeated.

If the program instruction is a data processing instruction in S103, the attribute value (coordinates of the center, page on the screen, etc.) is stored in the symbol table (FIG. 11) (S104), and the data processing instruction is stored. It is determined whether or not they are continuous (S105), and if they are continuous, the process returns. If it is not continuous in S105, only the blank symbol is displayed without displaying the instruction name (S107).
Returning to 101, the same processing is repeated. The display in S107 is the blank symbols 11 and 12 in FIG. When the last instruction of the source file is processed (Y in S101
S), the process ends. FIG. 11 shows an example of the symbol table stored in S104. The symbol attribute is registered for each registration number n (n is a variable).

Next, the details of the processing for displaying the abbreviated instruction name in S13 of FIG. 8 will be described with reference to FIG. First, as an initial setting, an area in which a graphic frame (symbol) can be designated by clicking with the mouse 6 (hereinafter referred to as an event area) is set in advance by software. Here, the rectangle is set as dx vertically and dy horizontally from the center coordinates of the symbol (S201, see FIG. 17). With the flow chart displayed in a simplified form, the target blank symbol is clicked with the mouse 6 (S203). The page pc and the coordinates (xc, yc) of the flowchart at that time are stored in the memory 2 (S204). Next, in order to determine which symbol is in the event area of the clicked position, the variable n is first set to 1, and then sequentially incremented, and for each symbol in the symbol table (FIG. 11), the page clicked And the page of the symbol table are determined to coincide with each other, and it is also determined which symbol is in the event area of the click position (S205 to S208).

In the above judgment, if the variable n exceeds the maximum value nmax and does not satisfy the condition (YES in S209),
The process returns to S203 and prompts the user to click again. If the condition is satisfied (NO in S209), the symbol table is referred to based on the registration number of the corresponding symbol, and the instruction name group whose display is omitted by the blank symbol is displayed on the screen as the center point of the symbol. It is displayed together with the rectangular frame line at a position separated by a certain distance from (S210, see 13 in FIG. 6). Next, when the display of the instruction name group is not necessary, the inside of the rectangular frame line is clicked with the mouse 6 (YE in S211).
S), the instruction name group and the rectangular frame line can be deleted (S
212, see FIG. 7). In FIG. 7, the object to be erased is indicated by a broken line, and the display state of the rectangular frame line and the instruction name 14 when the blank symbol 12 below the clicked blank symbol is clicked is also shown.

Next, the method of accessing the source file from the flowchart will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the overall flow for displaying a source file by the same access method, and FIG. 13 is a flowchart for registering a flowchart display symbol corresponding to a command in the source file for displaying the source file.
14 is a symbol table in which attributes of flow chart display symbols are registered, FIG. 15 is a flow chart of source file display, FIG. 16 is a display example in which this access method is implemented, and FIG. 17 is a mouse click range (event area) on the screen. Show.

The overall flow of this access method will be described with reference to FIG. First, read the source file (S2
1). Next, the symbol attribute (FIG. 14) for accessing the source file from the flowchart is stored in the memory 2. After displaying the flowchart (S22),
The source file is displayed (S23). By clicking a predetermined area (FIG. 17) near the symbol, the vicinity of the corresponding line of the source file is displayed (S23), and the process ends.

Details of the processing of S21 and S22 are shown in FIG.
Will be described. First, open the source file (S30
1) First, the symbol registration number n used for registering in the symbol table is set to 1 (S302), the source file is read line by line (S303), and the line does not include a command (excluding comments and blank lines) ( S304
NO), the process returns to S303 and the above process is repeated. If it is the line including the command (YES in S304), the corresponding symbol is searched for from the symbol correspondence table in which the symbol and the command created in advance are associated (S305), and the CRT is displayed.
A flowchart (commands and symbols) is displayed on the display 4 (S306).

Next, the attribute values (coordinates of the center, the page on the screen, the number of lines in the source file) of the displayed symbols are stored in the symbol table (FIG. 14) in the memory 2 (S).
307). Next, it is checked whether it is the last line of the source file (S308). If it is not the last line, the symbol registration number n is incremented (S309), the process returns to S303, and the above process is repeated until the last line of the source file. ,
When the last line is reached, the maximum value nmax of the registered symbols is finally recorded (S310), and the process ends.

Next, the details of the processing in S23 of FIG. 12 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the event area is set to a rectangle of dx vertically and dy horizontally from the center coordinates of the symbol (S401, see FIG. 17). Next, on the displayed flowchart, the symbol to be accessed is clicked with the mouse 6 (S403). The page pc and the coordinates (xc, yc) of the flowchart at this time are stored (S404). Next, in S406 to S408, in order to determine which symbol is in the event area at the clicked position, S205 to S205 in FIG.
Similar to S208, matching of the clicked page and the page of the symbol table (S406) and determination of which symbol area the click position is in (407) are performed for each symbol of the symbol table.

If the click position satisfies the judgment condition in the above processing (NO in S409), the symbol table is referred to based on the registration number of the corresponding symbol, and that symbol indicates the command of what line in the source file. (S410), the source file is displayed from the corresponding line (S411, see 21 in FIG. 16), and the cursor is moved to the corresponding line (S412). FIG. 16 shows a state in which the source file 21 is displayed on the screen near the flow chart by the above processing. The black and white reverse display in the source file in FIG. 16 is the cursor position.

If this access method is adopted, when the source file is referenced from the flow chart display and the correction is performed, the source file is immediately displayed by simply clicking the desired symbol on the screen displaying the flow chart. And the cursor moves to the corresponding line. Therefore, the work efficiency of referring / correcting the source file is improved as compared with the conventional method in which the desired corresponding line is searched from the displayed source file based on the flowchart.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, the figure when the processing symbols are omitted is not limited to the rectangular frame line, and the line between the symbols may be a broken line. Further, by double-clicking the symbol on the flow chart display screen, or by clicking or double-clicking after the source file display command, it is possible to start the desired operation, so that a malfunction can be prevented. Further, the event range in which the target symbol is specified by clicking with the mouse may be limited to within the outline shape of the symbol. The simple flowchart display in which the processing instruction name is omitted may be switched to the normal flowchart display which is a non-abbreviated display.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a plurality of general data processing instruction parts are consecutive in a flow chart, the instruction name is omitted for that part and the display is simplified with only one blank symbol. Since it is done, compared with the case of drawing a processing symbol for every conventional processing instruction,
For example, a branch determination symbol or the like other than the data processing instruction is emphasized, so that the flow of the entire flowchart can be easily grasped and the display space can be saved. Furthermore, since the instruction name can be displayed by clicking on the blank symbol with the instruction name omitted on the screen, the detailed content of the omitted portion can be easily confirmed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing an example of a flowchart automatic creation apparatus for implementing a flowchart display method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a flowchart creating process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional flowchart display example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional flowchart display.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a flowchart according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a flowchart according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of a flowchart according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the entire flowchart display process according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a flowchart concise display process according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a process of displaying an abbreviated instruction name according to the present invention.

11 is a diagram showing an example of a symbol table in the processing of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the entire processing of the source file access method from the flowchart according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for registering a flowchart display symbol in the source file access method.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a symbol table in the processing of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for displaying a source file in the source file access method.

16 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display when the process of FIG. 15 is executed.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a range in which a symbol is clicked.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 memory 4 CRT display 6 mouse 11 and 12 blank symbol 13 and 14 instruction name 21 source file

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When a assembler source file is read, a flow chart is automatically created and displayed on the screen, if there is a continuous data processing instruction in the flow chart, omit the data processing instruction name. A method of displaying a flow chart, characterized in that the data processing instruction name is displayed in the vicinity of the blank symbol by clicking on the blank symbol alone and displaying the data processing instruction name.