Tool encapsulating method and apparatus thereof

Claim 1

A method of encapsulating a tool for designing an object of design with computer aided design (CAD) in a plurality of frameworks for the CAD, each framework having a Shell Script as a command sequence and having a different unique extension language for tool encapuslation, comprising the steps of: preparing a file for commonly providing to said plurality of frameworks regardless of said extension language a common description defining a tool encapsulation specification dependent process in which processing contents variously change according to an encapsulation specification of said tool; preparing a plurality of processing systems, each processing system being encapsulated to only a respective framework and defining a respective tool independent framework function dependent process in which processing contents are determined depending only on a function of said respective framework but independently of said encapsulation specification of said tool and for defining a tool independent procedure for making said respective framework execute said respective framework function dependent process and also defining a tool dependent procedure for making said respective framework execute said tool encapsulation specification dependent process defined by the description in said file; and executing encapsulation of said tool into said plurality of frameworks by providing said file to each of said respective frameworks to which said respective processing system is encapsulated; wherein the step of preparing said file includes at least one of the steps of preparing a user interface definition file providing a description defining user interface for acquiring predetermined information necessary to invoke said tool from a user, preparing a parameter definition file for providing a description defining producing a parameter file in accordance with the Shell Script for transferring said predetermined information to said framework as tool invocation information, and preparing an invocation command definition file for providing a description defining generation of a tool invocation command for defining an invocation sequence of said tool in accordance with an invocation of the Shell Script.

Claim 2

A method of encapsulating a tool for designing an object of design with computer aided design (CAD) in a plurality of frameworks for the CAD, each framework having a Shell Script as a command sequence and having a different unique extension language for tool encapuslation, comprising the steps of: preparing a file for commonly providing to said plurality of frameworks regardless of said extension language a common description defining a tool encapsulation specification dependent process in which processing contents variously change according to an encapsulation specification of said tool; preparing a plurality of processing systems, each processing system being encapsulated to only a respective framework and defining a respective tool independent framework function dependent process in which processing contents are determined depending only on a function of said respective framework but independently of said encapsulation specification of said tool and for defining a tool independent procedure for making said respective framework execute said respective framework function dependent process and also defining a tool dependent procedure for making said respective framework execute said tool encapsulation specification dependent process defined by the description in said file; and executing encapsulation of said tool into said plurality of frameworks by providing said file to each of said respective frameworks to which said respective processing system is encapsulated; wherein the step of preparing said file includes at least one of the steps of preparing a user interface definition file providing a description defining user interface for acquiring predetermined information necessary to invoke said tool from a user, preparing a parameter definition file for providing a description defining producing a parameter file in accordance with the Shell Script for transferring said predetermined information to said framework as tool invocation information, and preparing an invocation command definition file for providing a description defining generation of a tool invocation command for defining an invocation sequence of said tool in accordance with an invocation of the Shell Script.

Claim 4

An apparatus for encapsulating a tool for designing an object of design with computer aided design (CAD) in a plurality of frameworks for the CAD, each framework having a Shell Script as a command sequence and having a different unique extension language for tool encapsulation, comprising: a file for commonly providing to said plurality of frameworks regardless of said extension language a common description defining a tool encapsulation specification dependent process in which processing contents variously change according to an encapsulation specification of said tool; and a plurality of processing systems, each processing system being encapsulated to only a respective framework and defining a respective tool independent framework function dependent process in which processing contents are determined depending only on a function of said respective framework but independently of said encapsulation specification of said tool and for defining a tool independent procedure for making said respective framework execute said respective framework function dependent process and also defining a tool dependent procedure for making said respective framework execute said tool encapsulation specification dependent process defined by the description in said file; wherein encapsulation of said tool into said plurality of frameworks is executed by providing said file to each of said respective frameworks to which said respective processing system is encapsulated; wherein said file comprises at least one of a user interface definition file providing a description for defining user interface for acquiring predetermined information necessary to invoke said tool from a user, a parameter definition file for providing a description defining producing a parameter file in accordance with the Shell Script for transferring said predetermined information to said framework as tool invocation information, and an invocation command definition file for providing a description defining generation of a tool invocation command for defining an invocation sequence of said tool in accordance with an invocation of the Shell Script.

Claim 5

An apparatus for encapsulating a tool for designing an object of design with computer aided design (CAD) in a plurality of frameworks for the CAD, each framework having a Shell Script as a command sequence and having a different unique extension language for tool encapsulation, comprising: a file for commonly providing to said plurality of frameworks regardless of said extension language a common description defining a tool encapsulation specification dependent process in which processing contents variously change according to an encapsulation specification of said tool; and a plurality of processing systems, each processing system being encapsulated to only a respective framework and defining a respective tool independent framework function dependent process in which processing contents are determined depending only on a function of said respective framework but independently of said encapsulation specification of said tool and for defining a tool independent procedure for making said respective framework execute said respective framework function dependent process and also defining a tool dependent procedure for making said respective framework execute said tool encapsulation specification dependent process defined by the description in said file; wherein encapsulation of said tool into said plurality of frameworks is executed by providing said file to each of said respective frameworks to which said respective processing system is encapsulated; wherein said file comprises at least one of a user interface definition file providing a description for defining user interface for acquiring predetermined information necessary to invoke said tool from a user, a parameter definition file for providing a description defining producing a parameter file in accordance with the Shell Script for transferring said predetermined information to said framework as tool invocation information, and an invocation command definition file for providing a description defining generation of a tool invocation command for defining an invocation sequence of said tool in accordance with an invocation of the Shell Script.