Screen creation assistance device and screen creation assistance method

Abstract

The present invention facilitates the setting and management of a plurality of properties in a case in which the setting of the plurality of properties is commonized.　A screen creation assistance device according to the present invention comprises: a property acquisition unit that acquires a property list of an object; a style definition generation unit that generates, from the property list, a style having one or more inheritance relationships; a group generation unit that generates, from the property list, a group including one or more arbitrary properties; a group assignment unit that acquires the group and assigns the same to a property in the generated style; a property editing determination unit that determines that a group property or a style property has been edited; a group assignment information acquisition unit that acquires group assignment information for a property; and a style definition update unit that, when it has been determined that a group property or a style property has been edited, updates the style property to which the same group is assigned, on the basis of the group assignment information.

Description

Screen creation support device and screen creation support method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a screen creation support device and a screen creation support method, and more particularly to a screen creation support device and a screen creation support method that support setting of object properties in screen creation.

[0002] Screen creation support devices that support the setting of object properties in creating a screen for a display device are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-222199 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-222199.

[0003] Patent Literature 1 describes a method for defining UI styles while allowing rules to be changed without impairing the functionality of the interface. Specifically, Patent Literature 1 describes determining a first style associated with an object, applying first properties associated with the first style, and for each next style associated with the object, applying second properties associated with the next style to the object. The properties include at least graphical attributes of the object in the user interface.

[0004] Patent Literature 2 describes a document rendering device that can reorder cascade levels for style properties of a style sheet to maintain cohesion through multiple document components of a document. Specifically, Patent Literature 2 describes a document rendering device that includes: a memory configured to store a style sheet describing rendering of a structured document having a nominal cascade level indicating a sheet hierarchical structure for the style sheet that resolves conflicts with style properties in other style sheets; a processing unit having at least one processor configured to set a group cascade level for a property group describing a set of multiple style properties in the style sheet such that the group cascade level is different from the nominal cascade level, and to render document components of the structured document based on the property group at the group cascade level; and a display screen configured to display the document components to a user.

[0005] JP 2006-244465 A JP 2018-514843 A

[0006] When setting properties for multiple objects, you may want to make the property settings common across multiple objects. However, if you set the properties individually, the process becomes complicated.

[0007] Therefore, when setting a plurality of properties in common, a screen creation support device and a screen creation support method are desired that can facilitate the setting and management of the plurality of properties.

[0008] A first representative aspect of the present disclosure is a screen creation support device comprising: a property acquisition unit that acquires a property list of an object; a style definition generation unit that generates a style having one or more inheritance relationships from the property list; a group generation unit that generates a group including one or more arbitrary properties from the property list; a group assignment unit that acquires the group and assigns it to a property in the style generated by the style definition generation unit; a property edit determination unit that determines whether a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited; a group assignment information acquisition unit that acquires group assignment information for the property assigned by the group assignment unit; and a style definition update unit that, when it is determined by the property edit determination unit that a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited, updates a property of a style to which the same group is assigned based on the group assignment information, wherein the style definition update unit updates the corresponding property of a style to which a group including the edited property is assigned.

[0009] A second representative aspect of the present disclosure is a screen creation support method in which a computer executes: a property acquisition process that acquires a property list of an object; a style definition generation process that generates a style having one or more inheritance relationships from the property list; a group generation process that generates a group including one or more arbitrary properties from the property list; a group assignment process that acquires the group and assigns it to a property in the style generated by the style definition generation process; a property edit determination process that determines whether a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited; a group assignment information acquisition process that acquires group assignment information for the property assigned by the group assignment process; and a style definition update process that, when it is determined in the property edit determination process that a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited, updates the property of a style to which the same group is assigned based on the group assignment information, and updates the corresponding property of a style to which a group including the edited property is assigned.

[0010] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a computing device including a screen creation support device according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of object settings on a screen having a graphical user interface. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of an inheritance relationship of button styles between an OK button and a Cancel button. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a property setting list screen and a group setting screen. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a group setting screen and an additional information setting screen. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a group setting screen and an additional information setting screen. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing property setting information for each group stored in a storage unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a group setting screen and a storage unit for storing property settings changed on the group setting screen. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a selection screen for prompting a user to select a property within a style. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a selection screen for prompting a user to select at least one group to be assigned. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a processing flow when property settings of a group NEW are changed on the group setting screen. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a selection screen in which properties have been changed and a storage unit for storing assignment information. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a screen creation support method. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing assignment information stored in a storage unit of a group assignment unit. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a computing device including a screen creation support device according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a selection screen in which property settings in a style have been changed and a storage unit for storing property setting information for each group. 10A and 10B are diagrams showing a selection screen when property settings in another style are changed, and a storage unit that stores assignment information.

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of a computing device including a screen creation support device according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the computing device 10 includes a screen creation support device 100, an input device 200, a display device 300, and a storage device 400. The input device 200 is, for example, a keyboard, and the display device 300 is, for example, a liquid crystal display device. The input device 200 and the display device 300 may be integrated. For example, a liquid crystal display device with a touch panel may be used as the input device 200 and the display device 300. In a liquid crystal display device with a touch panel, information is input via the touch panel when a user touches a screen displayed on the liquid crystal display device. In the following description, an example will be described in which a liquid crystal display device with a touch panel is used as the input device 200 and the display device 300, with the input device 200 being a touch panel and the display device 300 being a liquid crystal display device without a touch panel. The storage device 400 may be provided within the screen creation support device 100.

[0012] Prior to describing the computing device 10 including the screen creation support device 100, object settings for a screen having a graphical user interface will be described. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of object settings for a screen having a graphical user interface. As shown in Fig. 2, in creating a screen having a graphical user interface, for example, two objects OB11 and OB12 are provided. An "object" is a general term for all targets for setting the design of screen components or screens, etc.

[0013] Objects OB11 and OB12 represent OK buttons serving as screen components. Object OB11 is an OFF button that changes from an ON state to an OFF state when pressed, and object OB12 is an ON button that changes from an OFF state to an ON state when pressed. A plurality of properties are set for each of objects OB11 and OB12. For example, the text to be displayed on the button, the background color of the button, the border color of the button, and the image of the button are set as properties for each of the two objects OB1 and OB2. The image of object OB1 is a rectangle with rounded corners, and the image of object OB2 is a rectangle with semicircular left and right sides.

[0014] 2 shows an OFF button property list for object OB11 and an ON button property list for object OB12. The OFF button property list and ON button property list define styles with a parent-child relationship, and an inheritance relationship is determined. By determining the inheritance relationship in this way, property setting is simplified. In FIG. 2, OK button style ST1 is the parent, and OFF button style ST11 and ON button style ST12 are the children.

[0015] A plurality of properties are also set for buttons other than the OK button. Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of the inheritance relationship of button styles between the OK button and the Cancel button. As shown in Fig. 3, as with the OK button, for the Cancel button, a parent Cancel button style ST2 and child OFF button style ST21 and ON button style ST22 are defined, and the inheritance relationship is determined.

[0016] A user may wish to share one or more of the properties of the OK button with one or more of the properties of the Cancel button. As an example, Fig. 3 shows a case in which the user sets the background color and border color of the OFF button style ST11 to the same color as the background color and border color of the OFF button style ST21, and sets the background color and border color of the ON button style ST12 to the same color as the background color and border color of the ON button style ST22.

[0017] The screen creation support device 100 sets group properties for style properties having one or more inheritance relationships in one or more objects, and when the set group properties are edited, edits the style properties to be the same as the edited group properties. This operation is performed by the screen creation support device 100 receiving information from the input device 200 of the computing device 10 and inputting and outputting information to and from the storage device 400. The display device 300 displays the processing contents and stored contents of the screen creation support device 100. The following describes this operation, focusing on the screen creation support device 100.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1, the screen creation support device 100 includes a property acquisition unit 101, a style definition generation unit 102, a group assignment unit 103, a group generation unit 104, a property edit determination unit 105, a style definition update unit 106, and a group assignment information acquisition unit 107.

[0019] The property acquisition unit 101 acquires a list of object properties from the storage device 400 and outputs the list to the group generation unit 104 and the style definition generation unit 102 .

[0020] The group generation unit 104 displays, on the display device 300, information for displaying group settings to allow the user to group properties that the user wants to share, along with the property list acquired from the property acquisition unit 101. The group generation unit 104 stores group information of the groups that the user wants to share, which the user inputs into the input device 200 while looking at the display device 300, in its own storage unit or an external storage unit. The external storage unit may be the storage device 400. In this way, the group generation unit 104 generates and stores groups including one or more arbitrary properties from the property list. Furthermore, the group generation unit 104 displays the group information of the generated groups on the display device 300 and outputs it to the group assignment unit 103.

[0021] For example, as shown in FIG. 4 , the group generation unit 104 displays on the display device 300 a property setting list screen SC1 acquired from the property acquisition unit 101, as well as a group setting screen SC2. The group setting screen SC2 displays a screen in which property settings 1, 2, and 3, which have already been set by the user, are set for group 1. As shown in FIG. 5 , when the user presses the Add button on the group setting screen SC2, an additional information setting screen SC3 is displayed in addition to the group setting screen SC2. When the user enters "Group NEW" as the definition name on the additional information setting screen SC3 as shown in FIG. 5 , selects property settings 1, 3, and 6, and presses the OK button as shown in FIG. 6 , the group generation unit 104 stores the setting information for group NEW in its own storage unit or an external storage unit. Furthermore, the group generation unit 104 displays on the display device 300 a group setting screen SC4 to which group NEW has been added, as shown in FIG. 6 .

[0022] The following description will be given of a case where the group generation unit 104 stores the setting information of the group NEW in its own storage unit. Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the property setting information of each group stored in the storage unit 1041 of the group generation unit 104. As shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, property setting 1 of the group NEW is "Val1", setting 3 is "textA", and setting 6 is "65535".

[0023] When the user changes the property settings on the group setting screen SC4, the group generation unit 104 changes the property setting information of each group stored in the storage unit 1041. For example, as shown in Fig. 8, when the user changes "textA" in property setting 3 of the group NEW on the group setting screen SC4 to "textB," the group generation unit 104 changes "textA" in property setting 3 of the group NEW stored in the storage unit 1041 to "textB."

[0024] The style definition generation unit 102 generates a style having one or more inheritance relationships from the property list acquired from the property acquisition unit 101, and displays information for allowing the user to select a property in the style to which a group is to be assigned on the display device 300. When the user looks at the display device 300 and receives a group assignment instruction input to the input device 200, the style definition generation unit 102 outputs the group assignment instruction and the property in the style selected by the user to the group assignment unit 103. The style definition generation unit 102 also displays a group menu list including the group assignment group on the display device 300.

[0025] For example, the style definition generation unit 102 generates Style 1, Style 2, and Style 3, generates Style 3-1 and Style 3-2 that have an inheritance relationship with Style 3, and further generates Style 3-1-1 that has an inheritance relationship with Style 3-1. As shown in FIG. 9 , the style definition generation unit 102 displays a selection screen SC5 on the display device 300 to allow the user to select a property within a style. For example, the user looks at the selection screen SC5, selects Style 3-2, and selects Property Setting 3 within Style 3-2, which is displayed upon selection of Style 3-2. When the user selects Property Setting 3 within Style 3-2, the style definition generation unit 102 displays a group menu list L including a group assignment group on the display device 300. When the user inputs "Group Assignment" via the input device 200, the style definition generation unit 102 outputs a group assignment instruction and Property Setting 3 within the selected style to the group assignment unit 103.

[0026] When the group assignment unit 103 receives a group assignment instruction and the selected property setting 3 in style 3-2 from the style definition generation unit 102, it acquires group setting information from the group generation unit 104. Then, the group assignment unit 103 displays information on the display device 300 for the user to select at least one group to be assigned to the user. The group generation unit 104 assigns groups based on the group that the user inputs into the input device 200 while looking at the display device 300, and stores the group assignment information in its own storage unit or an external storage unit. The external storage unit may be the storage device 400.

[0027] For example, when the group assignment unit 103 receives a group assignment instruction and the selected property setting 3 in style 3-2 from the style definition generation unit 102, it acquires group setting information from the group generation unit 104. The group assignment unit 103 displays a selection screen SC6 on the display device 300, as shown in FIG. 10 , for prompting the user to select at least one group to be assigned. The selection screen SC6 displays property setting 3 in style 3-2 and a list of assignable groups, including group 3 and group New. When the user looks at the selection screen SC6 and selects group New, for example, the setting value "textA" of setting 3 in group New is displayed on the selection screen SC6.

[0028] As shown in Fig. 10, when the user presses the OK button, the group assignment unit 103 stores the assignment information in its own storage unit or an external storage unit. In the following explanation, a case will be described in which the group assignment unit 103 stores the assignment information in its own storage unit 1031. As shown in Fig. 10, "g: group NEW" is stored as group assignment information in setting 3 of the properties of style 3-2. In this case, "g: group NEW" becomes the setting value "textA" of setting 3.

[0029] The property edit determining unit 105 determines whether or not a property has been edited based on the group setting information of the group generating unit 104. If the property edit determining unit 105 determines that a property has been edited, it outputs to the style definition updating unit 106 a notification that the property has been edited and the edited content of the property.

[0030] For example, the property edit determination unit 105 determines whether an edit has been made based on the property settings stored in the storage unit 1041 of the group generation unit 104. For example, if the user changes "textA" in setting 3 of the group NEW to "textB" as shown in Fig. 8, the group generation unit 104 changes "textA" in setting 3 of the property of the group NEW stored in the storage unit 1041 to "textB." The property edit determination unit 105 determines that the property has been edited, as shown in Fig. 11, and outputs to the style definition update unit 106 a notification that the property setting 3 of the group NEW has been changed and a message that setting 3 has been changed from "textA" to "textB."

[0031] When style definition update unit 106 receives a notification from property edit determination unit 105 that a property has been edited and the edit details of the property, it requests group assignment information from group assignment information acquisition unit 107. Based on the group assignment information acquired from group assignment information acquisition unit 107, style definition update unit 106 outputs an instruction to style definition generation unit 102 to update the corresponding property in the style to which the group including the edited property is assigned. Style definition generation unit 102 updates the corresponding property in the style to which the group including the edited property is assigned, in the storage unit of group assignment unit 103, and outputs information for displaying the corresponding property in the style to be updated, to display device 300.

[0032] For example, if the property setting 3 of the group NEW is changed from "textA" to "textB," the style definition update unit 106 acquires, from the group assignment information acquisition unit 107, the property setting 3 in the style 3-2 to which the group NEW including the edited property setting 3 is assigned, based on the group assignment information shown in FIG. 10, and instructs the style definition generation unit 102 to update the property setting 3 in the style 3-2 to "textB." As shown in FIG. 12, the style definition generation unit 102 updates the property setting 3 in the style 3-2 to which the group NEW including the edited property setting 3 is assigned, to "textB," in the storage unit 1031 of the group assignment unit 103. Furthermore, the style definition generation unit 102 outputs information to the display device 300 for displaying the updated property setting 3 "textB" in the style 3-2 on the selection screen SC5 shown in FIG. 12.

[0033] The group assignment information acquisition unit 107 acquires group assignment information of the properties of the style from the group assignment unit 103 based on a request from the style definition update unit 106 , and outputs the information to the style definition update unit 106 .

[0034] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a screen creation support method. In the following description, an example will be described in which the screen creation support device of the present disclosure is executed by screen creation support device 100, but the screen creation support method of the present disclosure can also be executed by a configuration other than screen creation support device 100.

[0035] In step S11 , the property acquisition unit 101 acquires a list of properties of the object from the storage device 400 .

[0036] In step S12, the group generation unit 104 generates a group including one or more arbitrary properties from the property list. Specifically, the group generation unit 104 displays, along with the property list, information for displaying group settings to allow the user to group properties that the user wants to share on the display device 300. The group generation unit 104 then stores the group information of the groups that the user wants to share, which the user has input to the input device 200, in its own storage unit or an external storage unit.

[0037] In step S13, the style definition generating unit 102 generates one or more styles having an inheritance relationship from the acquired property list.

[0038] In step S14, the group assignment unit 103 acquires the group and assigns it to a property in the style generated by the style definition generation unit 102.

[0039] In step S15, the property edit determining unit 105 determines whether or not the property has been edited based on the group setting information of the group generating unit 104. If the property has been edited ("YES"), the process proceeds to step S16, and if the property has not been edited ("NO"), the process ends.

[0040] In step S16, the property edit determination unit 105 outputs a notification that the property has been edited and the edited content of the property to the style definition update unit 106. Upon receiving the notification that the property has been edited and the edited content of the property from the property edit determination unit 105, the style definition update unit 106 requests group assignment information from the group assignment information acquisition unit 107.

[0041] In step S17, the group assignment information acquisition unit 107 acquires group assignment information of the properties of the style from the group assignment unit 103 based on a request from the style definition update unit 106, and outputs the information to the style definition update unit 106. The style definition update unit 106 updates the properties of the style to which the same group is assigned based on the group assignment information.

[0042] With the operations described above, in one or more objects, a group property is set for a style property having one or more inheritance relationships, and when the set group property is edited, the style property can be edited to be the same as the edited group property.

[0043] Next, an example of an operation in which the property settings of the generated group are applied to the property settings of multiple styles, and when the set property of the group is edited, the properties of the multiple styles are edited to be the same as the edited property of the group will be described. In the following explanation, the property settings will be specifically shown and explained.

[0044] Through the operations already described using Figures 4 to 7, the group generation unit 104 stores the property setting information of group NEW, namely, setting 1 "Val1", setting 3 "textA", and setting 6 "65535", in its own memory unit 1041, as shown in Figure 7.

[0045] The style definition generating unit 102 generates Style 1, Style 2, and Style 3, generates Style 3-1, Style 3-2, and Style 3-3 which have an inheritance relationship with Style 3, and further generates Style 3-1-1 which has an inheritance relationship with Style 3-1.

[0046] 9 and 10, the group allocation unit 103 sets the allocation group of setting 3 of style 3-2 to group NEW, and then similarly sets the allocation group of setting 3 of style 3-3 to group NEW. In this way, property setting 3 "textA" of group NEW is reflected in property setting 3 of styles 3-2 and 3-3. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing allocation information stored in storage unit 1031 of the group allocation unit 103. As shown in FIG. 14, "g: group NEW" is stored as group allocation information in property setting 3 of styles 3-2 and 3-3. In this case, "g: group NEW" becomes the setting value "textA" of setting 3.

[0047] 8, when the user changes "textA" in setting 3 of group NEW to "textB," group generation unit 104 changes "textA" to "textB" in setting 3 of the property of group NEW stored in storage unit 1041. Property edit determination unit 105 determines that the property has been edited, as shown in FIG. 11, and outputs to style definition update unit 106 a notification that setting 3 of the property of group NEW has been changed and a message that setting 3 has been changed from "textA" to "textB."

[0048] When the property setting 3 of the group NEW is changed from "textA" to "textB," the style definition updating unit 106 acquires, from the group assignment information acquisition unit 107, the setting 3 of the corresponding property in styles 3-2 and 3-3 to which the group NEW including the edited property setting 3 is assigned, based on the group assignment information shown in FIG. 14. The style definition updating unit 106 then instructs the style definition generation unit 102 to update the setting 3 of the corresponding property in styles 3-2 and 3-3 to "textB." The style definition generation unit 102 updates the setting 3 of the corresponding property in styles 3-2 and 3-3 to which the group NEW including the edited property setting 3 is assigned, to "textB," in the storage unit 1031 of the group assignment unit 103 shown in FIG. 14.

[0049] According to the screen creation support device and screen creation support method of the first embodiment described above, by setting a group property for a style property having one or more inheritance relationships in one or more objects, property management becomes easy. Furthermore, when the setting of a group property is edited, the setting of the style property can be edited to the setting of the group property.

[0050] 3, assume that the background color and border color of OFF button style ST11 and the background color and border color of OFF button style ST21 are grouped, and the background color and border color of the group are set to green and dark gray for OFF button style ST11 and OFF button style ST21. If the background color and border color of the group are edited from green and dark gray to blue and dark blue, the background color and border color of OFF button style ST11 and OFF button style ST21 can be edited from green and dark gray to blue and dark blue.

[0051] (Second embodiment) As a second embodiment, an operation will be described in which the property settings of a generated group are applied to the property settings of multiple styles, and when the property settings of one style are edited, the property settings of the other styles are also edited.

[0052] 15 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a computing device including a screen creation support device according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. The components of the screen creation support device and the computing device according to this embodiment are the same as those shown in Fig. 1, but a property edit determination unit 105 determines whether a property has been edited based on a property in a style selected by a user and output from the style definition generation unit 102.

[0053] The operation of the screen creation support device of this embodiment will be described below based on an example in which property settings are specifically shown. Through the operations already described with reference to Figures 4 to 7, the group generation unit 104 stores the property setting information of group NEW, namely, setting 1 "Val1", setting 3 "textA", and setting 6 "65535", in its own storage unit 1041, as shown in Figure 7.

[0054] The style definition generating unit 102 generates Style 1, Style 2, and Style 3, generates Style 3-1, Style 3-2, and Style 3-3 which have an inheritance relationship with Style 3, and further generates Style 3-1-1 which has an inheritance relationship with Style 3-1.

[0055] 9 and 10, the group allocation unit 103 sets the allocation group of setting 3 of style 3-2 to group NEW, and then similarly sets the allocation group of setting 3 of style 3-3 to group NEW. In this way, property setting 3 "textA" of group NEW is reflected in property setting 3 of style 3-2 and style 3-3. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing allocation information stored in storage unit 1031 of group allocation unit 103. The operations up to this point are the same as those in the first embodiment.

[0056] In this embodiment, when a user looks at a selection screen SC51 displayed on the display device 300, shown in FIG. 16, for selecting a property within a style, and changes property setting 3 of style 3-2 from "textA" to "textB," the style definition generation unit 102 outputs to the group assignment unit 103 and the property edit judgment unit 105 a notification that property setting 3 of style 3-2 has been changed, and that property setting 3 has been changed from "textA" to "textB."

[0057] 14, the group assignment unit 103 detects that the property setting 3 of style 3-2 is the setting of group NEW, and outputs an instruction to the group generation unit 104 to change the property setting 3 of group NEW from "textA" to "textB." The group generation unit 104 changes the property setting 3 of group NEW stored in the storage unit 1041 from "textA" to "textB," as shown in FIG.

[0058] As shown in FIG. 16, the property edit determination unit 105 determines that the property has been edited based on a notification from the style definition generation unit 102, and outputs to the style definition update unit 106 a notification that property setting 3 of style 3-2 has been changed and that setting 3 has been changed from "textA" to "textB."

[0059] When the property setting 3 of style 3-2 is changed from "textA" to "textB," the style definition update unit 106 acquires, from the group assignment information acquisition unit 107, the setting 3 of the corresponding property in style 3-3 to which group NEW including the edited property setting 3 is assigned, based on the group assignment information shown in FIG. 14, and instructs the style definition generation unit 102 to update the setting 3 of the corresponding property in style 3-3 from "textA" to "textB." As shown in FIG. 17, the style definition generation unit 102 updates the setting 3 of the corresponding property in style 3-3 to which group NEW including the edited property setting 3 is assigned, stored in the storage unit 1031 of the group assignment unit 103, from "textA" to "textB." The style definition generation unit 102 also displays information for displaying the updated setting 3 of the corresponding property in style 3-3, "textB," on the display device 300. The selection screen SC52 shown in FIG. 17 indicates that the setting 3 of the relevant property in style 3-3 is "textB."

[0060] According to the screen creation support device and screen creation support method of the second embodiment described above, by setting a group property for the properties of one or more styles having one or more inheritance relationships in one or more objects, property management becomes easy. Furthermore, when the property settings of one style are edited, the property settings of other styles belonging to the same group can also be edited.

[0061] 3, assume that the background color and border color of OFF button style ST11 are grouped with the background color and border color of OFF button style ST21, and that the background color and border color of OFF button style ST11 and OFF button style ST21 are set to green and dark gray. If the background color and border color of OFF button style ST11 are edited from green and dark gray to blue and dark blue, the background color and border color of OFF button style ST21, which belongs to the same group, can also be edited from green and dark gray to blue and dark blue.

[0062] In order to realize the functional blocks included in the screen creation support device in the first and second embodiments, the screen creation support device can be realized by hardware, software, or a combination of these. The screen creation support method can also be realized by hardware, software, or a combination of these. Here, "realized by software" means that the method is realized by a computer reading and executing a program.

[0063] To realize the components included in the screen creation support device by software or a combination of these, the screen creation support device includes a central processing unit (CPU) or other such device. The processing unit functions as an execution unit. The screen creation support device also includes an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) that stores various control programs such as application software or an operating system (OS), and a main storage device such as a random access memory (RAM) that stores data temporarily required for the processing unit to execute the programs.

[0064] The screen creation support device then has an arithmetic processing unit that reads application software or an OS from the auxiliary storage device, and executes arithmetic processing based on the application software or OS while loading the loaded application software or OS into the main storage device. Furthermore, the screen creation support device controls various hardware components based on the results of this arithmetic processing. This realizes the functional blocks of this embodiment. The screen creation support method can also be implemented using a configuration similar to that of the screen creation support device.

[0065] The components included in the screen creation support device can be realized by hardware including electronic circuits, etc. When the screen creation support device is configured by hardware, some or all of the functions of the components included in the screen creation support device can be configured by an integrated circuit (IC), such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a gate array, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device).

[0066] The program can be stored and supplied to a computer using various types of non-transitory computer-readable media. Non-transitory computer-readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media (e.g., hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (e.g., magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, CD-R / Ws, and semiconductor memories (e.g., mask ROMs, PROMs (Programmable ROMs), EPROMs (Erasable PROMs), flash ROMs, and RAMs (Random Access Memory)). The program may also be supplied to the computer by various types of transient computer readable media.

[0067] According to the screen creation support device and screen creation support of the present disclosure including the above-described embodiments, when the settings of multiple properties are made common, it is possible to facilitate the setting and management of multiple properties.

[0068] Although the above-described embodiments are preferred embodiments of the present invention, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the present invention can be implemented in various modified forms within the scope that does not deviate from the gist of the present invention.

[0069] The following supplementary note is further disclosed regarding the above embodiment: (Supplementary Note 1) A screen creation support device comprising: a property acquisition unit (101) that acquires a property list of an object; a style definition generation unit (102) that generates, from the property list, styles having one or more inheritance relationships; a group generation unit (104) that generates, from the property list, groups including one or more arbitrary properties; a group assignment unit (103) that acquires the groups and assigns them to properties in the styles generated by the style definition generation unit; a property edit determination unit (105) that determines whether a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited; a group assignment information acquisition unit (107) that acquires group assignment information for the properties assigned by the group assignment unit; and a style definition update unit (106) that, when it is determined by the property edit determination unit (105) that a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited, updates, based on the group assignment information, a property of a style to which the same group has been assigned, wherein the style definition update unit (106) updates the corresponding property of a style to which a group including the edited property has been assigned.

[0070] (Supplementary Note 2) When the property edit determination unit (105) determines that the properties of the group have been edited, the style definition update unit (106) updates the properties of all the styles belonging to the group that are set in the properties of the group to the properties of the edited group. In the screen creation support device described in Supplementary Note 1,

[0071] (Appendix 3) The screen creation support device according to Appendix 1, wherein, when the property edit determination unit (105) determines that a property of one style has been edited, the style definition update unit (106) updates the properties of other styles belonging to a group assigned to the edited property of the one style to the edited property.

[0072] (Supplementary Note 4) A screen creation support method in which a computer executes: a property acquisition process that acquires a property list of an object; a style definition generation process that generates a style having one or more inheritance relationships from the property list; a group generation process that generates a group including one or more arbitrary properties from the property list; a group assignment process that acquires the group and assigns it to a property in the style generated by the style definition generation process; a property edit determination process that determines whether a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited; a group assignment information acquisition process that acquires group assignment information for the property assigned by the group assignment process; and a style definition update process that, if it is determined in the property edit determination process that a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited, updates the property of a style to which the same group is assigned based on the group assignment information, and updates the corresponding property of a style to which a group including the edited property is assigned.

[0073] (Appendix 5) A screen creation support method as described in Appendix 4, in which, when the computer determines in the property edit determination process that the properties of the group have been edited, the computer updates in the style definition update process the properties of all of the styles belonging to the group that are set in the properties of the group to the properties of the edited group.

[0074] (Appendix 6) A screen creation support device as described in Appendix 4, wherein when the computer determines in the property edit determination process that a property of one style has been edited, the computer updates in the style definition update process the properties of other styles belonging to a group assigned to the edited property of the one style to the edited property.

[0075] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Computing device 100 Screen creation support device 101 Property acquisition unit 102 Style definition generation unit 103 Group assignment unit 104 Group generation unit 105 Property edit determination unit 106 Style definition update unit 107 Group assignment information acquisition unit 200 Input device 300 Display device 400 Storage device

Claims

1. A screen creation support device comprising: a property acquisition unit that acquires a list of properties of an object; a style definition generation unit that generates a style having one or more inheritance relationships from the property list; a group generation unit that generates a group including one or more arbitrary properties from the property list; a group assignment unit that acquires the group and assigns it to a property in the style generated by the style definition generation unit; a property edit determination unit that determines whether a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited; a group assignment information acquisition unit that acquires group assignment information for the property assigned by the group assignment unit; and a style definition update unit that, when it is determined by the property edit determination unit that a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited, updates the property of a style to which the same group is assigned based on the group assignment information, wherein the style definition update unit updates the corresponding property of a style to which a group including the edited property is assigned.

2. A screen creation support device as described in claim 1, wherein when the property edit determination unit determines that the properties of the group have been edited, the style definition update unit updates the properties of all of the styles belonging to the group that are set in the properties of the group to the properties of the edited group.

3. A screen creation support device as described in claim 1, wherein when the property edit determination unit determines that a property of one style has been edited, the style definition update unit updates the properties of other styles belonging to a group assigned to the edited property of the one style to the edited property.

4. A screen creation support method in which a computer executes: a property acquisition process that acquires a list of object properties; a style definition generation process that generates a style with one or more inheritance relationships from the property list; a group generation process that generates a group including one or more arbitrary properties from the property list; a group assignment process that acquires the group and assigns it to a property in the style generated by the style definition generation process; a property edit determination process that determines whether a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited; a group assignment information acquisition process that acquires group assignment information for the property assigned by the group assignment process; and a style definition update process that, if it is determined in the property edit determination process that a property of the group or a property of the style has been edited, updates the property of a style assigned to the same group based on the group assignment information, thereby updating the corresponding property of a style assigned to a group including the edited property.

5. A screen creation support method as described in claim 4, wherein when the computer determines in the property edit determination process that the properties of the group have been edited, the computer updates in the style definition update process the properties of all of the styles belonging to the group that are set in the properties of the group to the properties of the edited group.

6. A screen creation support device as described in claim 4, wherein when the computer determines in the property edit determination process that a property of one style has been edited, the computer updates in the style definition update process the properties of other styles belonging to a group assigned to the edited property of the one style to the edited property.

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