METHODE DE COMBINAISON DE CHAMPS

FIELD COMBINING METHOD

Abrégé anglais

Abstract of the Disclosure
To obtain a comprehensive spreadsheet having a small
area and to reduce restrictions on the layout of rows and
columns in the spreadsheet, attributes for combining
adjoining fields which can be freely set are given to each
row and column field to enable combined fields to access
data as the same field.

Revendications

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
(1) A method of combining fields for a spreadsheet program,
characterized in that
attributes for combining as a child field a plurality
of desired fields on one or both sides of a parent field
which functions as a reference are given to each row and
column field; and
said child fields access data as the same field as said
parent field during the execution of said spreadsheet
program until said attributes are released.
(2) The method of combining fields according to claim 1,
wherein
a management table for storing field management
information for managing each field is provided.
(3) The method of combining fields according to claim 2,
wherein
said management table includes a previous field number
pointer indicative of combination of the present field and a
previous field thereof and a following field number pointer
indicative of combination of the present field and a
following field thereof.

Description

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FI131~D COMBINING METHOD
Backqround of the Invention
[Field of ths Invention]
The present invention relates to layout settings in a
spreadsheet program, and more particularly/ to a fiel~
combining method.
[Description of the Prior Art]
Conventionally, a document is designed by a spreadsheet
program as shown in FIG.6. In the figure, X1, X2, X3, X4 and
X5 are columns called "column 1" in the vertical direction,
and Yl, Y2, Y3, Y4 ànd Y5 are rows called "row 2" in the
horizontal direction.
In th~ conventional spreadsheet, X1, X3 and X4 of the
row 1, for ex~mple, can be made wider and X5 narrower, or
only Y1 of the row 2 can be made higher although all the
rows in the figure are the same in height in FIG.6.
However, a normal document varies in form, and there is
demand to change the size of an area in a particular row or
column, which is ~onventionally determined by the
combination of rows and columns. In this case, there is no
choice but to leave unused areas empty or manually add
necessary areas though a spreadsheet becomes larger in size.
An example of field management information of the
conventional spreadsheet program is shown in FIG.~. In the
figure, reference numeral 3 represents a management table
for storing field management information, and 4 items of the
field management information which contains control data for
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each area whos~ size is determined by the combination of
rows and columns required for developing a spreadsheet.
Since each field of the conventional ~preadsheet is
determined as described above, there are many restrictions
on the layout of documents. Therefore, when designing a
document, a resultant table may become larger than desired
or be impossible to design a~ desired.
The present invention has been worked out to solve
these problems, and it is an object of the present invention
to achieve a method of combining spreadsheet fields which
has few restrictions on the layout of documents.
Therefore, the method of the present invention is such
that any desired parent field is designated as a reference
for each row or column field, and attributes which can be
set or released are given to row or column fields adjoining
this parent field to designate the fields as child fields so
that the attributes enable the child fields to access data
as the same field as the parent field.
In other words, in the method of combining fields of
the pre~ent invention/ outputs to the screen and printer are
made irrespective of the attributes, and the child fields
access the same data as the parent field~
The above and other objects, features and advantages o~
the invention will become more apparent from the following
description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
Brief DescriPtion of the Drawinqs
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FIG.l is a diagram illustrating the design of a
document according to an embodimen~ of the present
invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates how attributes are held in the
embodiment;
FIG.3 is a diagram illustrating field number pointers
of FIG.2;
FIG. 4 shows an example of a document of the embodiment;
FIG . 5 is a flow chart illustrating the generation of
data using the field attributes of the embodiment;
FIG.6 is an example of the design of a document drawn
by a conventional spreadsheet program; and
FIG . 7 i~ a field managem~nt information table drawn by
the conventional spreadshe~t program.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
FIG.l shows a preferred embodiment of the present
invention in comparison with an example of the prior art
shown in FIG~6. In the figure, sections (X1, Y2), (X2, Y2),
and (X2, Y3) of an area 11 indicated by slant lines are
combined as a parent field. Ruled lines in the field shown
by the slant lines are not displayed on the screen.
An example illustrating how attributes are held is
shown in FIG.2. In the figure, data columns for a previous
field number pointer and a following field number pointer
are added to the items of the conventional field management
table 3. FIG.3 illustrates how data are actually stored in
the pointers. In the figure, reference s~nbol 5a represents
a pointer indicating combination with the previous fieldr
and Sb a pointer indicating combination with the following
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field. In this example, a field having a field number "0001"
is combined with a field having a field number "0003" which
is further combined with a field having a field number
"0004". Data of a field having a field number "0002" are
"0000" and "FFFF", which means that it is not combined with
the previous and following fields, but is an independent
field.
FIG.4 is an example of a document according to an
embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, an area
12 for "Current Budget~ is the combination of four fields in
total, with the left-end field used as a parent field. In
the same manner, each area for "Total Budget" and
"Expenditure for Current Year" is the combination o~ two
fields. An`area for "Unit" is the combination of two fields,
and an area 13 for "Breakdown of Construction Costs" is the
combination of four fields in total. Since attributes are
given and the combination of fields is permitted, the
document shown in the figure which could not be designed by
the conventional spreadsheet program can be designed.
FIG.5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the
embodiment of the present invention. Data are read and
displayed from step S1 to step S20. This flowchart indicates
the followin~:
1) The parent field does not have information on the child
fields.
2) The child fields do not have data. The parent field has
all data inputted into combined fields.
The operation of the embodiment will be described in
conjunction with FIGs.1 to 5. A spreadsheet is first
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designed in the same way as the prior art. At this tim0,
areas 12 and 13 are each divided into four fields. The
column for "Unit" to the right of a dotted line of the
column for "Breakdown of Construction Costs" may be small in
width. However, since units are common to thé present
invention and the prior art, the number of digits is set for
this spreadsheet in the same manner as the prior art. In the
same spreadsheet design mode as the prior art, a cursor is
moved to the area 12 to designate 12a as a parent field at
the position of 12a. Then the cursor is moved to 12b to
desiqnate it as a child field. Thereafter, the cursor is
moved to 12c to designate it as a child field and to 12d to
designate it as the same.
At this time, the previous and following field numbers
shown in FIG.3 are entered in the columns for the pointers
in "Name of Item" of the field management information of
FIG.2. If data other than "0000" exists in the column for
the previous field number pointer in "Name of Item" 4 of the
management table 3, the child fields are processed together
with the parent field. In other words, the child fields do
not have data.
FIG.5 shows an example of the method of generating data
on combined fields when the data is outputted to a printer
or displayed on a CRT. In the figure, a parent field and
child fields in steps S2, S7, S10 and S13 are provided in
~he pointer columns of FIG.2.
In this embodiment, the names of items "Previous Field
Number Pointer" and "Following Field Number Pointer" are
used as a pointer for combined fields, but the existence of

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combination indicative of field attributes and the previous
and following field numbers when the field is combined with
another field may be used as the name of an item.
As described in the for~going, according to the present
invention, attributes for combining adjoining fields which
can be freely set are given so that combined fields are
allowed to access data as the same field, thus offering the
advantage that the effective use of table fields and the
efficient and free design of documents are possible.
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