mdb
43cf7422ee
git-svn-id: https://samskivert.googlecode.com/svn/trunk@249 6335cc39-0255-0410-8fd6-9bcaacd3b74c
117 lines
5.0 KiB
Plaintext
117 lines
5.0 KiB
Plaintext
VIZTOOL: An extensible tool for visualizing Java classes
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--------------------------------------------------------
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As the catchy subtitle claims, viztool is used to generate visualizations
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of collections of Java classes. These visualizations are intended to be
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printed out and taped to the wall or set on the desk beside you or folded
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into paper airplanes and sailed around the room. Thus viztool does not
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include a sophisticated user interface for viewing these presentations
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onscreen (use ghostscript for that), although you can actually display
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them on the screen because the rendering is done via the Java 2D rendering
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engine.
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viztool was born from my repeated desire to be able to glance over all of
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the myriad classes that come to be involved in any large project. I knew I
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could go out and pay thousands of dollars for a single user license for
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some object oriented design tool that would diagram my classes three ways
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to Sunday, generate code, count my chickens and make toast on the side,
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but I couldn't find a free, simple tool for generating basic class
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diagrams.
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Thus, viztool aims to provide an extensible framework for generating
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visualizations of collections of classes. This initial release generates
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inheritance diagrams organized by package, with information on interfaces
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implemented and (non-anonymous) inner classes as well. It is somewhat
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modular, although not as thoroughly as I'd like because, like all
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projects, it was completed in haste and with an eagerness to see the final
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product that isn't entirely conducive to elaborate design. There are also
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various enhancements I'd like to make to the inheritance visualization.
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Excuses aside, the foundation is laid and adding other visualizations
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should be a reasonably straightforward process after having had a look at
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the existing code. So if you've got some handy visualization in mind, take
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a crack at it, or at least email me with the idea so that I can put it on
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a list and someone else might do it for you.
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Building viztool
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----------------
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Building viztool is very simple. First ensure that the necessary third
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party jar files are available either in the lib/ directory or in the
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system wide jar file location specified in build.xml. See lib/README for a
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list of the necessary third party jar files and how to get them.
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The library is built using ant, a modern build tool available from The
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Jakarta Project. If you aren't already using ant for other projects, it
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can be found here:
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http://jakarta.apache.org/ant/
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Invoke ant with any of the following targets:
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all: builds the class files and javadoc documentation
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compile: builds only the class files (dist/classes)
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javadoc: builds only the javadoc documentation (dist/docs)
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dist: builds the distribution jar file (dist/viztool.jar)
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Look at the build.xml file for configurable build parameters.
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Using viztool
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-------------
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Using viztool is easy if you make use of the included shell script
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(bin/viztool). Add the classes that you wish to visualize to your
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CLASSPATH environment variable and then invoke the viztool script with the
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package prefix you wish to visualize.
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For example:
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% export CLASSPATH=<here>/foo.jar:<there>/bar.jar:<everywhere>/baz.jar
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% ./bin/viztool --print com.whoever.mygreatpackage
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Because the classes are actually resolved by the JVM when visualizing, all
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classes that the visualized classes depend upon must also be loadable
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(meaning included in the class path).
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If you want to write your own script, take a look at the viztool script to
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see what arguments to pass to the visualization driver class.
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I plan to provide an additional visualization driver that allows for
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options to be provided in a properties file, so that one can set up a
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properties file with all their favorite visualization parameters and do
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things like incorporate the generation of diagrams into their build
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process.
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If you want to see the layout code deal with all sorts of boundary
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conditions (like packages that span multiple pages and monster inheritance
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hierarchies), try visualizing the Swing code (I exclude the plaf packages
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and the html and rtf packages because they are fairly uninteresting, it's
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the main javax.swing package that really puts us through the hoops):
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% ./bin/viztool --print --exclude=javax.swing.plaf:javax.swing.plaf.basic:javax.swing.plaf.metal:javax.swing.plaf.multi:javax.swing.text.html:javax.swing.text.html.parser:javax.swing.text.rtf javax.swing
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Distribution
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------------
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viztool is released under the GPL. The most recent version of the code is
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available here:
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http://www.waywardgeeks.org/code/viztool/
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Contribution
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------------
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Contributions are welcome. Control of the CVS repository is presently in
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the hands of mdb@samskivert.com, who should be emailed about
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submissions. Facilities for management of major contributions by external
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parties (ie. publicly accessible CVS server) will be provided if
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circumstances dictate.
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Contact Information
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-------------------
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The person primarily responsible for viztool is Michael Bayne and can be
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contacted at <mdb@samskivert.com>.
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$Id: README,v 1.2 2001/08/12 04:21:18 mdb Exp $
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