Method and apparatus for supporting of making formatted document

What is claimed is:

1. In a data processing system comprising a processor, an input unit, a display unit and a memory, wherein a document is made in such a manner that a document format having at least one field is displayed on said display unit and information including at least one of text and graphics is generated by said processor and is written into the field of said document format responsive to an editing instruction input via said input unit by a user, a supporting method for making said document, the supporting method comprising the steps of:

designating by the user at least two document formats;

inputting via said input unit into said data processing system a format relation between said at least two document formats designated by the user;

making said document based on one of said at least two document formats;

searching, by using said format relation, another document format which is related to said one document format from which said document was made;

making another document based on said another document format;

generating, by the processor, a document relation between said document and said another document; and,

storing said document relation in said memory.

2. A supporting method according to claim 1, wherein said document has information to indicate that said document is of the same document format as said one document format and said another document has information to indicate that said another document is of the same document format as said another document format.

3. In a data processing system comprising a processor, an input unit, a display unit and a memory, wherein a document is made in such a manner that a document format having at least one field is displayed on said display unit and information including at least one of text and graphics is generated by said processor and is written into the field of said document format, responsive to an editing instruction input via said input unit by a user, a supporting method for making said document, the supporting method comprising the steps of:

designating by the user at least two document formats;

inputting via said input unit into said data processing system a format relation between said at least two document formats designated by the user;

storing said input field relation in said memory;

making said document based on one of said at least two document formats;

searching, by using said field relation, a field of another document format which is related to the field of said one document format;

making another document based on said another document format;

generating, by the processor, a document field relation between a field of said document and a field of another document;

storing said document field relation in said memory;

amending description contents in the field of one of said document and said another document;

searching in response to said amending, by using said document field relation, the field of the other one of said document and said another document; and,

amending description contents of the field of the other one of said document and said another document to those of the amended description contents.

4. A supporting method according to claim 1, wherein in a case where there exists a field relation between all the fields in one of said at least two document formats and the fields in another document format such that similar contents are described in each one of said all the fields in the one document format and in respective ones of said fields of the other document format, said supporting method further comprising the steps of:

inputting a user's format alteration instruction via said input unit; and,

copying contents described in each of said all the fields contained in said document made from said one document format into respective ones of said searched fields contained in said other document format.

5. In a data processing system comprising a processor, an input unit, a display unit and a memory, a method of supporting making of a document, the supporting method comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory a plurality of document formats and identifiers for identifying each of said plurality of document formats;

inputting through said input unit a group of identifiers designated by a user, corresponding to at least some of said stored identifiers;

identifying from among said plurality of document formats a group of document formats which correspond to said input group of identifiers; and,

storing the identified group of said document formats in said memory.

6. A supporting method according to claim 5, wherein said plurality of document formats stored in said memory are used for developing systems and said identifiers are used for grouping said systems.

7. A supporting method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

designating by the user at least two document formats from among said plurality of said document formats stored in said memory;

inputting a format relation between at least two document formats;

inputting a field relation between fields of said at least two documents;

storing in said memory said format relation and said field relation;

editing, by an editing operation inputted through said input unit, at least one of said at least two document formats by one of i) adding a new document format to said at least two document formats designated and stored in said memory and ii) updating at least one of said at least two document formats;

obtaining a field contained in the edited document format;

searching, by using said input field relation, a field related to the field obtained;

searching a document format containing the searched field;

generating, by the processor, a format relation between said searched document format and one of said newly added and updated document; and,

storing said format relation in said memory.

8. A supporting method according to claim 7, wherein said newly added document format, said field relation and said generated format relation added by the used are stored in said memory as difference information.

9. A supporting method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory said format relations between said plurality of document formats stored in said memory;

searching, by using said format relations, a document format A related to a document format B, of said identified plurality of document formats;

searching, by using said format relations, a document format C related to said searched document format A from among said identified plurality of document formats;

generating, by the processor, a format relation between said document format B and said document format C; and,

storing said generated format relation in said memory.

10. A supporting method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory said format relations between said stored document formats and also storing field relations between fields of said stored document formats;

searching, by using said field relations, that a field a of a document format A which is related to a field b of one of said group of document formats identified, on the basis of the group of identifiers designated by the user;

searching, by using said field relations, that a field c of a document format C which is related to the field a of the searched document format A, from among said identified group of document formats;

generating, by the processor, a new field relation between the field c of the document format C and the field b of the document format B; and,

storing said new field relation in said memory.

11. A supporting method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory format relations between said stored plurality of document formats and field relations between fields of said stored plurality of document formats;

inputting from said input unit into said data processing system additional document formats designated by the user, new format relations between said additional document formats and new field relations between fields of said additional document formats; and,

storing in said memory said additional document formats, said new format relations and said new field relations.

12. A supporting method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

inputting through said input unit an editing operation including at least one of updating and deleting a field, designated by the user, of one document format of said stored group of document formats designated by the user;

searching, by using said field relations, a field which is related to said field designated by the user to be edited;

searching, by using said field relations, a further field related to said searched field; and,

inhibiting the editing operation of said field to be edited when said field to be edited is said further field.

13. A supporting method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

inputting through said input unit an editing operation including at least one of updating and deleting a field, designated by the user, of a document format of said stored group of document formats designated by the user;

searching, by using said field relations, a field which is related to said field designated by the user to be edited; and,

searching, by using said field relations, a field which is related to the field designated by the user to be edited; and,

displaying the searched field.

14. A supporting method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

storing format relations between said stored document formats and field relations between fields of said stored document formats;

searching, by using said field relations, an indirect relation such that a field a of a document format A is related with a field c of a document format C through a field b of a document format B;

generating, by said processor, a new document relation between said document format A and said document format C; and,

storing said new document relation in said memory.

15. A supporting method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory format relations among said stored document formats, field relations among fields of said stored document formats, names of a plurality of phases for developing a software, a phase order of said phases and a phase-format relation between each phase and document formats used in each said each phase;

inputting through said input unit an editing operation for editing a document format of the group of document formats designated by the user;

searching, by using said format relations, another document format which is related to said document format designated in a relation such that said another document format refers to description contents of said designated document format to be edited;

searching, by using said phase-format relations, a phase which uses said document format to be edited and also searching a phase which uses said searched another document format;

checking, by using said phase order, to know whether the phase which uses said document format to be edited is a prior phase to the phase which uses said searched another phase; and,

storing in said memory the edited document format, a format relation and a field relation, when the phase if the prior phase said format and field relations being generated as a result of the editing.

16. A supporting method according to claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

searching, by using said phase-format relations, said phase which uses a document format to be edited designated by the user;

searching, by using said phase order, a prior phase to the phase which uses said document format to be edited designated by the user;

searching, by using said phase-format relations, a document format to be used by said prior phase; and,

displaying on said display unit a notification that a field contained in said searched document format to be used by said prior phase is available as said field of said document format to be edited.

17. A supporting method according to claim 15, wherein said storing step further stores in said memory inclusion relations among sub-phases obtained by breaking down each phase;

displaying, on said display unit, said sub-phases hierarchically in the form of menu by using said inclusion relation;

inputting from said input unit a phase selected by the user from said displayed sub-phases;

searching by using said phase-format relations a document format used in a phase selected by the user; and,

displaying said searched document format on said display unit.

18. A supporting method according to claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

searching, by using said phase-format relations, said phase which is related to a desired document made by a user based on a desired document format;

searching, by using said phase order, a next phase which comes after said searched phase;

searching, by using said phase-format relations, another document format from which a next document is to be made at said next phase; and,

displaying, on said display unit, said searched another document format.

19. A supporting method according to claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

inputting, from said input unit, an editing instruction for editing names of processes, a phase order of said phases and inclusion relations of said phases designated by the user;

editing said names of phases, said phase order and inclusion relations among said phases, which are designated by the user and stored in said memory, on the basis of the editing instruction; and,

storing edited names of phases, edited phase order and edited inclusion relations in said memory.

20. A supporting method according to claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory a relation between document formats and an attribute of said relation;

searching, by using said format relations, the other document format which has a relation with said document format from which said document was made, when the user made said document from one of said document formats; and,

generating, by the processor, a document relation between said document and another document which is made from said searched other document format; and,

storing in said memory said generated document and said attribute.

21. A supporting method according to claim 20, wherein in a case where said attribute is a referencing attribute, said searching step searches a document format which has a referencing relation with said document format from which said document was made, and said supporting method further comprising the steps of:

searching a document which was made from said searched document format having said referencing relation; and,

displaying on said displaying unit said searched document.

22. A supporting method according to claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory a name of a document format each time said document format is referenced by the user when the user makes a document;

generating, by the processor, a reference relation between a document format of the document made by the user and said referenced document format, when the number of times said namer of the document format is stored in said memory reaches a predetermined number; and,

storing said generated reference relation in said memory.

23. A supporting method according to claim 20, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory field relations among fields and attributes of said field relations;

searching, by using said field relations, that field of a document format which is related to a field of said document format from which said document was made, when the user made the document from said document format;

generating, by the processor, a document field relation between a field of said document and another document made from the searched document format; and,

storing in said memory said document field relation and its attribute.

24. A supporting method according to claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory field relations and phases corresponding to said field relations; and,

activating a process, when the user has made a document from a document format, the process related to a field of said document format from which said document was made by the user.

25. A supporting method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

storing in said memory information regarding graphics contained in a field of said document format;

inputting from said input unit an editing instruction including at least one of updating and deleting of a field of a document format designated by the user;

editing said document format in accordance with the editing instruction of the user; and,

modifying a layout of said field on the basis of said graphics information of said field.

26. A supporting method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

inputting from said input unit into said data processing system a group of document formats designated by the user and also inputting information regarding a table of contents for said document formats in said group;

storing in said memory said group of document formats and said table of contents; and,

collecting documents made from said document formats containing in said group in accordance with an order described in said table of contents.

27. A supporting apparatus for supporting making of a document by displaying on a display unit a document format stored in a memory, writing information including at least one of text and graphics in each field contained in said document format in accordance with an instruction input through an input unit, said supporting apparatus comprising:

means for designating by a user at least two document formats;

means for inputting through said input unit a format relation between said at least two document formats designated by the user;

means for storing in said memory said format relation in said memory;

means responsive to having made a document from one of said at least two document formats for searching a document format which is related to said one document format;

means for generating a document relation between said document made and another document made from said searched document format; and,

means for storing in said memory said document relation.

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for supporting of making a formatted document, and more particularly to a method of and apparatus for supporting of making formatted documents such as specifications, account sheets, and the like which are related to each other. The invention also relates to a method of and apparatus for supporting of making a formatted document suitable for making a formatted document form matching the type of software systems to be developed and for producing a relation between such formatted document forms.

Attention has been recently paid to a method of managing information by using a concept of "hypertext". For example, necessary information for giving a comment or referring to other information can be readily searched if a part of a document is arranged to be related to another document (such relation is expressed by terms "link" or "extend a link" hereinafter where applicable). A concept "hypertext" implies such information management by a computer, and includes a set of information (hereinafter called a "node") such as a document, picture, drawing, and a set of links between such information. As described in "A Grand Vision", by Janet Fiderio, Byte, October 1988, pp. 237 to 245, McGRAW-HILL PUBLICATION under information management by using the concept "hypertext", it becomes possible for a user to display main information on a display unit and then display associated information such as comments when necessary. It is also possible for a user to define the type of link and give a specific relation between nodes.

A method of supporting of generating a form of a formatted document such as a specification to be described when developing software, is described in "A Distributed Network Environment and its Community", Information Processing, April 1987, vol. 28. No. 4, pp. 463 to 471 wherein the forms of formatted documents such as specifications to be described when developing software are stored beforehand in a predetermined file server, and a user searches and derives a desired formatted document form from the file server when necessary.

There is known a system having a function to manage the relation between formatted document forms, as described in "New SWB Program design Support Tools/MCD Tools", Information Processing Society of Japan, 37th National meeting, Speech Papers, pp. 882 to 883, 1988, wherein an editor is automatically started in accordance with a fixed relation between a formatted document form area and another formatted document form area.

There is disclosed in JP-A-61-194532 a method of managing and guiding manufacturing process software by its process name.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above-described "hypertext" technique is however associated with the following problems. Even if the relation between documents or between items in a document is fixed, a user is required to extend necessary links one after another. Furthermore, if the relation between documents is fixed, a user is required to copy necessary nodes one after another and extend links because the number of documents changes with the contents of associated documents.

With the method according to the second prior art wherein the forms of formatted documents are stored in a file server, it is necessary for a user to define the items and layout of a form of a formatted document to be made. Furthermore, this method does not support the relation between formatted document forms and between items.

With the third prior art, it is impossible for a user to define a particular relation between formatted document forms and areas because they are specific to a system.

In "Integrated Operation Environment New Wave", Nikkei Byte, May, 1990 published after the priority date of this application, there is disclosed a system having a function to manage the relation between formatted documents and areas which system can re-define the areas constituting a formatted document by means of editing such as deleting, adding and the like. With this system, it is possible for a user to delete and add desired areas constituting a formatted document. However, the concept of the formatted document form is not disclosed at all. Further, since there is not provided a function to check if the deletion and/or addition operation is adequate or not, there is a possibility of overwriting the edited areas even if they have an important relation with other areas. Thus, it is not possible to know the range of influence to other areas by such area redefinition.

With JP-A-61-194532, the management/guide of manufacturing process software is executed only by the process name, and it cannot be executed on the specification unit basis.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.

It is a first object of the invention to provide a support method of and apparatus for making a formatted document wherein links are not required to be extended each time a document is made, in order to generate a relation between formatted documents.

It is a second object of the invention to provide a support method of and apparatus for making a formatted document capable of readily changing the relation between formatted document forms or between formatted documents.

It is a third object of the invention to reduce a burden of a user for making a form of a formatted document such as a specification to be described when developing software, by making the form in accordance with the type of the system to be developed.

It is a fourth object of the invention to allow a user to customize a form of a formatted document such as a specification to be described when developing software by editing (adding, updating and the like) the form by a dedicated editor, and to automatically obtain the relation between the newly edited and defined form and already defined forms.

It is a fifth object of the invention to obtain the relation between areas constituting the form of a formatted document such as a specification to be described when developing software, at the time of defining it, and to store the relation in a library which stores the relation between areas of formatted document forms.

It is a sixth object of the invention to judge if the redefinition, by a user, of areas constituting the form of a formatted document such as a specification to be described when developing software, is proper or not basing upon the relation between areas to be re-defined and other areas, to thereby notify the range of influence to other areas by such re-definition, to guide proper re-definition, and to prevent easy-going re-definition.

It is a seventh object of the invention to manage and guide manufacturing process software on the specification unit basis by identifying a relation of a specification to be described for the manufacturing process software by its process name, and to customize the manufacturing processes to have the structure as desired by a user.

According to an aspect of the invention, in order to achieve the first object, the relation between document forms is registered and stored beforehand. In editing a formatted document, the relation between document forms is automatically obtained while referring to the registered relation.

According to another aspect of the invention, in order to achieve the second object, the relation between formatted document forms and between documents is defined and stored independently from an editor which edits a document.

According to another aspect of the invention, in order to achieve the third object, forms of formatted documents such as specifications to be described when developing software are stored in a formatted document form library.

According to another aspect of the invention, in order to achieve the fourth object, the relation between areas of formatted documents is stored in a relation library.

According to another aspect of the invention, in order to achieve the fifth object, a new relation is generated in accordance with a relation searched from the relation library and in accordance with a relation generation rule.

According to another aspect of the invention, in order to achieve the sixth object, a range of influence to other areas by re-definition is identified and notified.

According to another aspect of the invention, in order to achieve the seventh object, there is obtained a relation between manufacturing process software and specification to be described for the process.

The first object is achieved in such a manner that the relation between document forms is defined and registered beforehand, the relation between a formatted document to be made and other formatted documents is automatically obtained in accordance with the defined and registered relation, thereby dispensing with extending links each time a formatted document is made.

The second object is achieved in such a manner that the relation between formatted document forms and between documents is defined independently from an editor which edits a document, thereby allowing to readily change the relation between formatted document forms and between documents.

The third object is achieved in such a manner that the forms of formatted documents such as specifications to be described when developing software are stored in a formatted document form library, a form group of formatted documents corresponding to the type of a system to be developed and inputted by a user is identified by referring to the formatted document form library, and the identified formatted document form is stored.

The fourth object is achieved in the following manner. Forms are stored in the formatted form library, and the relation between formatted document areas is stored in the relation library. In editing (such as adding, updating and the like) a form by a dedicated editor, it is checked from the relation library if there is any relation between areas constituting a newly defined formatted document and items or areas of already defined formatted document forms. If there is any relation, the relation between them is established and stored. Furthermore, the relation between formatted document forms is established in accordance with whether there is any relation between items or areas of formatted document forms.

The fifth object is achieved in the following manner. The relation between formatted document forms and those between areas constituting the forms are registered in the relation library. The relations between formatted document (specification) forms and between areas are searched from the relation library to make/edit a formatted document to be described when developing software. If the relations are not yet registered in the relation library, an indirect relation is searched from the relation library to generate the relation in concern by using a relation generation rule.

The sixth object is achieved in the following manner. In re-defining a formatted document form, the relation between an area to be re-defined and another area is searched from the interrelation library to thereby judge if re-defining can be executed in accordance with the relation in concern. If the redefinition is possible, the range of influence to another area by the re-definition is identified by referring to the inter-area relation library and provided to a user.

The seventh object is achieved in the following manner. The names of processes for developing software are hierarchically managed, and a relation is generated between the lowest level process and a specification to be described at the lowest level process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating an example of the procedure for registering the relation between document formats and between documents according to a first embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an example of the procedure for making and editing a formatted document according to the first embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 3 shows a system arrangement of a formatted document making system according to an embodiment of this invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B show an embodiment of managing a form and a form net;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the procedure of changing a form net according to a second embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a correspondence table for storing the relation between form nets;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an example of the procedure for making and editing a formatted document according to a third embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing an example of the procedure for registering the relation between document forms and between documents for the case where the number of documents in a document series dynamically changes during making and editing a document, according to a fourth embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of the procedure for making and editing a formatted document according to the fourth embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of a method of managing formats and a form net;

FIG. 11 shows the system arrangement of an electronic mail system for circulating a document, according to the fifth embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment of the form of a circular document;

FIG. 13 shows the functional block diagram of the sixth embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating the process for identifying a desired formatted document form according to the sixth embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 15 shows the hardware arrangement;

FIG. 16 shows the formatted document library;

FIG. 17 shows the structure of the correspondence table;

FIGS. 18A and 18B show the structure of formatted document form groups;

FIG. 19 shows the structure of a file which stores formatted document forms grouped in accordance with object fields;

FIG. 20 is a flow chart illustrating the customizing procedure according to the sixth embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 21 is a functional block diagram illustrating a method of storing difference information;

FIG. 22 shows the relation library;

FIG. 23 shows the inter-area relation library;

FIG. 24 is a functional block diagram according to the seventh embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 25 is a flow chart of the seventh embodiment;

FIG. 26 shows an example of a relation generation rule;

FIG. 27 illustrates an example of classification of relations between work sheet forms;

FIG. 28 is a flow chart modified from the flow chart of FIG. 25, for use with the relation between areas;

FIG. 29 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of displaying whether editing is allowed or not, according to the eighth embodiment of this invention;

FIGS. 30, 32 and 44 show example of editing a work sheet form;

FIG. 31 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of notifying the range of influence, according to the eighth embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 33 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of updating a form according to the ninth embodiment of this invention;

FIGS. 34A and 34B show process information;

FIG. 35 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure for identifying a usable area at a process according to the ninth embodiment;

FIG. 36 is a functional block diagram showing the procedure of guiding a process by using the process information of the ninth embodiment;

FIG. 37 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of editing the process information of the ninth embodiment;

FIG. 38 shows an example of editing the process information;

FIG. 39 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of newly generating an undefined relation while describing design information according to the ninth embodiment;

FIG. 40 is a flow chart of the tenth embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 41 shows an example of starting a process;

FIG. 42 is a flow chart of the eleventh embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 43 shows an example of a graphics information table;

FIG. 45 is a flow chart of the twelfth embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 46 shows an example of document definition information.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of this invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of the procedure for registering in a computer, relations between document forms and between documents or between areas or fields of documents (the related forms are called a "form net" hereinafter), and FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of the procedure for making/editing a formatted document by using the form net. FIG. 3 shows an example of the system arrangement of a formatted document making system which supports editing, and FIGS. 4A and 4B show an embodiment of a method of managing formats and a form net.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 represents a form editor for making/editing a form net, 32 an editor for making/editing a formatted document, 33 a form library for storing the form net, 34 a document storage unit for storing a document made by the editor 32, 35 a keyboard, and 36 a display unit.

In this embodiment, the form net is managed by using a form 41, an area management table 42, and a link management table 43 shown in FIG. 4A. Referring to FIG. 4A, the form 41 includes a character string (hereinafter called a fixed character string) such as an item name which is not changed within the document, a layout of areas or fields into which a user of the editor 32 enters information, a document identifier 411 which is a name for identifying the document, a list 412 of links indicating the relation to other documents, and information 413 for managing the influence by a change in another document.

The area management table 42 for managing the attributes of areas of the document and the relation between areas, includes an area identifier 421 for identifying an area, an attribute 422 which indicates if a user of the editor 32 can enter information in the area, a list 423 of links indicating the relation to other areas, and information 424 for managing the influence by a change in another area. The link management table 43 includes a link identifier 431 for identifying a link, link opposite ends 432, and an attribute 433. The link opposite ends 432 are a pair of opposite ends of a link between document identifiers 411 or area identifiers 421. The attribute 433 indicates the type of link. In this embodiment, there are three types of links. The first type is a "link for indicating the areas in which the same identifier, i.e., the same contents or character string, is entered" (link 431 shown in FIG. 4B). The second type is a "link for indicating a document which is frequently called". The third type is a "link for indicating the area which is influenced by a change". The form 41 and area management table 42 are related to each other by the area identifier 421, whereas the area management table 42 and link management table 43 are related to each other by the link identifier 431.

The procedure of registering a form net will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, 4A and 4B.

A form 41 is first defined by using the form editor 31 (step 101). An area identifier 411 is given to each area of the form and registered in the area management table 42 (step 102). The attribute 422 for the fixed character string area is set as "input disabled area" and the attributes 422 for other areas are set as "user input area", and the set attributes are registered in the area management table 42 (step 103). The step 103 is repeated until the attributes 422 of all areas are defined (step 104). The steps 101 to 104 are repeated until the forms 41 of all documents are defined (step 105). Next, both opposite ends 432 of a link are entered and registered in the link management table 43 (step 106). The attribute 433 of the link is entered and registered in the link management table 43 (step 107). The steps 106 and 107 are repeated until all relations are defined (step 108). Lastly, a name is given to the form net and stored in the form library 33 (step 109) to terminate the registration procedure.

Next, the procedure for making/editing a document by the editor 32 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4A and 4B. The editor 32 has not only editing commands as conventional, but also has a command to change areas having the same identifier at the same time, a command to call and display related documents without designating the document names, and a command to store an area influenced by a change or a statement of such influence together with the influenced area or the form including the influenced area.

First, there is inputted an instruction to newly generate a document net or an instruction to edit an already generated document net (step 200). If a document net is newly generated (step 201), the form net name is inputted (step 202). The inputted form net is copied from the form library 33 to the document storage unit 34 (step 203). The name of the copied form net (hereinafter called a document series) is entered and registered in the document storage unit 34 (step 204). If a document net is not newly generated at step 201, a document series name is inputted (step 205). Next, a list of document names of the document series is displayed (step 206). A document to be edited is inputted (step 207). An edit command is inputted (step 208). If the inputted command is an end command (step 209), the procedure is terminated. Next, if there is entered a command to change another area having the same contents (step 210), the other area having the same contents and to be changed by the command is searched from the link management table 43 to automatically change the searched area and the area in concern at the same time (step 211). Next, if there is entered a command to display related documents (step 212), the documents related to the area under editing are searched from the area management table 42 and link management table 43, and the searched documents are displayed on another window (step 213). Next, if a change of the area under editing influences another area (step 214), the area or document to be influenced is searched from the area management table 42 and link management table 43, a symbol indicating that a change is requested and a reason of the change are entered in the searched document or area, and the symbol and reason together with the time at which the change is made are registered in the change management column 413 or 424 (step 215). If a change does not influence another area, editing a document is executed in a conventional manner (step 216).

According to this embodiment, if an area is changed, another area which should have the same contents is automatically changed, thereby avoiding mismatching between documents or betw