OPTIMAL MENU INQUIRY SYSTEM AND SYSTEM FOR EDITING STRUCTURE DATA BY HIERARCHICAL MENU INQUIRY PROCESSING

An optimal menu inquiry system includes a skeleton data generating means, a tree structure data constructing means, a menu display means, a control means, and a menu candidate determining means. The skeleton data generating means generates inquiries, from a rule description describing the context of the inquiries, as skeleton data by sequentially linking the inquiries, from the first inquiry to the subsequent inquiries, in the form of a tree structure. The tree structure data constructing means constructs and updates tree structure data by sequentially retracing the skeleton data from first data. The menu display means displays menu items corresponding to constructed/updated tree structure data. The control means controls the tree structure data constructing means to update the tree structure data when one of the menu items displayed by the menu display means is selected. The menu candidate determining means evaluates an evaluable expression in the skeleton data by referring to the updated structure data, and determines menu item candidates to be displayed by the menu display means.