Patent ID: 7934171
Filing Date: 2011-04-26
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method of providing in an engineering system user information related to a screen object selected by a user using a pointer tool within a graphical user interface, the method comprising: detecting the selected screen object in a first screen area comprising a plurality of graphical representations of at least one of an electrical, an electronic and/or a logic circuit component; continuously registering a position of the selected screen object within the graphical user interface while the screen object is being moved by the user via the pointer tool; displaying a movable window following the registered position of the selected screen object, the movable window having text-based information based on the registered position of the selected screen object, wherein the text-based information indicates if a drag-and-drop operation intended by the user via the pointer tool is permissible for the selected screen object, and, in the event the intended drag-and-drop operation is impermissible, the text-based information further indicates at least a reason for the impermissible drag-and-drop operation; in the event the intended drag-and-drop operation is permissible, dragging the selected screen object to a second screen area comprising a graphical representation of a circuit being designed that includes at least one of an electrical, an electronic and/or a logic circuit component; graphically coupling an interface port of the selected screen object to an interface port of said at least one of the electrical, the electronic and/or the logic circuit component of the circuit being designed; and indicating in the text-based information at least one incompatibility occurring between the selected screen object and said at least one of the electrical, the electronic and/or the logic circuit component of the circuit being designed; wherein the displaying of the movable window having the text-based information with said at least one incompatibility is arranged so that the user is aware of said at least one incompatibility prior to constructing a physical embodiment of the circuit, and is further arranged so that the user is aware of said at least one incompatibility without having to run a subsequent simulation of the circuit for detecting said at least one incompatibility.