초록 ▼

Improvements in an application composite eidtor for compound documents containing not only text but also graphics and tables facilitate the manipulation of object sets in the formatting algorithm. The editor works with a page layout philosophy wherein data objects reside on the page and data resides

Improvements in an application composite eidtor for compound documents containing not only text but also graphics and tables facilitate the manipulation of object sets in the formatting algorithm. The editor works with a page layout philosophy wherein data objects reside on the page and data resides in the data objects. All pages reside within a document object, and some data objects may have additional objects within them. Objects are data-specific entities that the user can manipulate on the page. All objects exist within a specified boundary on the page, and this boundary is defined as an object set boundary. Object sets may be moved into positions on the page such that more than one object set is occupying a single displayable are on the page. Such an arrangement of objects creates a structure called a superblock. A superblock is any displayable area containing two or more object sets positioned so that the object sets overlap one another, reside side-by-side or extend above or below one another. A text object set may not be overlapped by any other object set. Although the superblock is itself a complex structure, the creation of this structure by the editor greatly simplifies integration of different data types on the page for the user and allows the user to manipulate a group of object sets within a single displayable area on the page with relative ease. Moreover, formatting of the document is facilitated by the editor since the superblock is treated as an object set without taking into consideration the complexity inside the superblock structure except when a page end decision must be made.

대표청구항 ▼

In an integrated multiple data editor of the type which produces a compound document having diverse text and/or nontext objects positioned on the same page or on the preceding or succeeding page of the document, said editor manipulating object sets containing said objects wherein each object set has

In an integrated multiple data editor of the type which produces a compound document having diverse text and/or nontext objects positioned on the same page or on the preceding or succeeding page of the document, said editor manipulating object sets containing said objects wherein each object set has a data structure for its type including data which points to the previous and next object sets and each object set data structure has a unique identification used in paging data, said object sets each having objects of the same type residing therein and being delineated by displayable icons indicating the object set type, the method of editing a superblock data structure which has been previously created to contain two or more object set data structures for object sets positioned so that object sets overlap one another, reside side-by-side or extend above or below one another so that the document may be formatted by manipulating the superblock data structure as a single entity as if it were an object set data structure without taking into consideration the complexity inside the superblock data structure except when a page end decision must be made, said superblock data structure being delineated by a single displayed superblock icon, the method of editing said superblock data structure comprising the steps of: registering the selection of a displayed superblock icon, and in response to the selection of the displayed superblock icon, displaying commands which are applicable to editing the superblock data structure as a whole and also displaying the icons of the object set data structures within the superblock data structure, registering the selection of either a command for editing the superblock data structure as a whole or of a displayed icon of an object set data structure within the superblock data structure which is to be edited, and if a displayed icon of an object set data structure within the superblock data structure is selected, displaying commands which are applicable to editing the data structure of the selected object set type, registering the selection of a command for editing the data structure of the selected object set, and performing an editing function on the superblock data structure as a whole according to a selected command for editing the superblock data structure or, if a command for editing the data structure of a selected object set is selected, performing an editing function on the selected object set data structure according to the selected command.