Automatically generating documentation for a diagram including a plurality of states and transitions

• US 9,047,168 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2009
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Shivananda, Praveen, Neumann, Nicholas G., Soni, Ritesh Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jiang, Haimei
• Application Number:
  US12/465,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20100293480A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,210 Days
• Field of Search: 715/760
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/73 Program documentation

Abstract

System and method for generating documentation for a diagram including states and transitions. The diagram may be received or otherwise stored and may specify a plurality of states and a plurality of transitions between the states. The first diagram also specifies first functionality. User documentation may be automatically generated for the first diagram based on the first diagram. The user documentation may describe the first diagram, e.g., the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram. Automatic generation of the user documentation may be performed without manual user input specifying the user documentation. The user documentation may be displayed on a display and/or stored in a memory medium.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer accessible memory medium storing program instructions executable by a processor to:

store a first diagram, wherein the first diagram specifies a plurality of states and a plurality of transitions between the states, wherein the first diagram includes a plurality of state icons, wherein each of the state icons represents one of the states, wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

automatically generate user documentation for the first diagram based on the first diagram, wherein the user documentation describes the first diagram, wherein in said automatically generating the user documentation, the program instructions are executable by the processor to automatically include one or more images of one or more of the state icons in the user documentation and to automatically include human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram in the user documentation, and wherein automatic generation of the user documentation is performed without manual user input specifying the user documentation, wherein said generating the user documentation comprises generating one or more markup language files, wherein the human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram is included in the one or more markup language files; and

display the user documentation on a display, wherein in said displaying the user documentation, the program instructions are executable by the processor to display the one or more images and display the human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram.

2. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein said automatically generating the user documentation comprises:

analyzing information corresponding to each state;

generating user documentation for each state based on the analysis, wherein the user documentation for each state includes human language describing the state;

analyzing information corresponding to each transition; and

generating user documentation for each transition based on the analysis, wherein the user documentation for each transition includes human language describing the transition.

3. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of states comprises one or more substates, wherein the user documentation includes human language describing the one or more substates.

4. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the first diagram comprises inputs or outputs with one or more types, and wherein the user documentation describes each of the one or more types of the first diagram.

5. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein behavior of one or more of the plurality of states and transitions is specified according to a graphical data flow language, and wherein the user documentation describes graphical data flow code specifying the behavior of the one or more of the plurality of states and transitions.

6. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the user documentation includes human language indicating an execution target for the first diagram.

7. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the first diagram is an executable diagram.

8. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the user documentation comprises one or more images illustrating the first diagram.

9. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the user documentation comprises one or more content files and one or more template files, wherein the one or more template files are configurable to modify a visual appearance of the user documentation.

19. The memory medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to:

display the first diagram in a graphical user interface window; and

receive user input to the graphical user interface window selecting an option to generate the user documentation for the first diagram, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to perform said automatically generating the user documentation for the first diagram in response to the user input selecting the option.

20. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the first diagram includes a pseudostate that provides conditional branching for transitions in the first diagram;

wherein the user documentation includes human language describing the pseudostate.

21. The memory medium of claim 1, wherein in automatically generating the user documentation for the first diagram, the program instructions are executable by the processor to:

traverse the first diagram by selecting respective elements of the first diagram and generating respective user documentation for each selected element.

22. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the first diagram includes a respective graphical element representing each of the transitions between the states;

wherein in said automatically generating the user documentation, the program instructions are further executable by the processor to automatically include an image of each of the graphical elements in the user documentation.

23. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein in said displaying the user documentation on the display, the program instructions are executable by the processor to display a first object, wherein the first object includes one or more hyperlinks for viewing information regarding the first object.

24. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram comprises one or more of:

an English language description of the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram;

a German language description of the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram;

a French language description of the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram;

or

a Spanish language description of the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram.

25. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the first diagram includes a plurality of triggers;

wherein in said automatically generating the user documentation, the program instructions are executable by the processor to automatically include, in the user documentation, information specifying the triggers;

wherein in said displaying the user documentation, the program instructions are executable by the processor to display a list of the triggers.

26. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein in said displaying the user documentation, the program instructions are executable by the processor to display the human language regarding a first state, wherein the human language regarding the first state includes a description of the first state, a source list of transitions into the first state, and a destination list of transitions from the first state.

27. The memory medium of claim 26, wherein the human language regarding the first state further includes one or more of:

information regarding a containing region the contains the first state;

information regarding a contained region contained by the first state;

information regarding an entry action of the first state;

information regarding an exit action of the first state;

or

information regarding a static reaction of the first state.

10. A method, comprising:

storing a first diagram, wherein the first diagram specifies a plurality of states and a plurality of transitions between the states, wherein the first diagram includes a plurality of state icons, wherein each of the state icons represents one of the states, wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

automatically generating user documentation for the first diagram based on the first diagram, wherein the user documentation describes the first diagram, wherein said automatically generating the user documentation comprises automatically including one or more images of one or more of the state icons in the user documentation and automatically including human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram in the user documentation, and wherein automatic generation of the user documentation is performed without manual user input specifying the user documentation, wherein said generating the user documentation comprises generating one or more markup language files, wherein the human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram is included in the one or more markup language files;

storing the user documentation on a memory medium; and

displaying the user documentation on a display device, wherein said displaying comprises displaying the one or more images and displaying the human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said automatically generating the user documentation comprises:

analyzing information corresponding to each state;

generating user documentation for each state based on the analysis, wherein the user documentation for each state includes human language describing the state;

analyzing information corresponding to each transition; and

generating user documentation for each transition based on the analysis, wherein the user documentation for each transition includes human language describing the transition.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first diagram comprises inputs or outputs with one or more types, and wherein the user documentation describes each of the one or more types of the first diagram.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein behavior of one or more of the plurality of states and transitions is specified according to a graphical data flow language, and wherein the user documentation describes graphical data flow code specifying the behavior of the one or more of the plurality of states and transitions.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the user documentation includes human language indicating an execution target for the first diagram.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the plurality of states comprises one or more substates.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the user documentation comprises one or more images illustrating the first diagram.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the user documentation comprises one or more content files and one or more template files, wherein the one or more template files are configurable to modify a visual appearance of the user documentation.

18. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a display coupled to the processor; and

a computer accessible memory medium coupled to the processor, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions executable by the processor to;

receive a first diagram, wherein the first diagram specifies a plurality of states and a plurality of transitions between the states, wherein the first diagram includes a plurality of state icons, wherein each of the state icons represents one of the states, wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

automatically generate user documentation for the first diagram based on the first diagram, wherein the user documentation describes the first diagram, wherein in said automatically generating the user documentation, the program instructions are executable by the processor to automatically include one or more images of one or more of the state icons in the user documentation and to automatically include human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram in the user documentation, and wherein automatic generation of the user documentation is performed without manual user input specifying the user documentation, wherein said generating the user documentation comprises generating one or more markup language files, wherein the human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram is included in the one or more markup language files; and

display the user documentation on the display, wherein in said displaying the user documentation, the program instructions are executable by the processor to display the one or more images and display the human language describing the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram.