We just released our new generic jobbie, Structure101g.

If you already know Structure101 for Java or Structure101 for C/C++, you probably already have a good idea of what Structure101g might be. This is for those (and there are many, oh so many) who do not.

Graphviz is a wonderful tool that can be used to create graph visualizations of stuff. All you do is stick in a logical graph model via a text file and out pops a nice picture. For the seminal example, see this view of the Unix family tree (and here is the corresponding text input file). Visit their gallery for lots more examples.

Occasionally the input is written by hand, but mostly it is generated by some piece of code that parses the domain-specific artifacts. For example, Graphviz is widely used to obtain subset pictures in code-base scenarios, e.g. the set of files in a directory and the includes/imports relationships between those files.

Although it is generally totally wonderful, graphviz (and other tools of its ilk) have one big weakness: graph visualizations do not scale. Subset pictures work fine (as in the includes example above) but there is no way to get a meaningful visualization of all the files across all directories.

The key in Structure101g, as in all Structure101 products, is to view the big model through the prism of hierarchy. Divide & conquer – use slices as a mechanism to get both subset views and “big picture” views. The other key differentiators are rich browsing and analysis environment rather than bitmap (or SVG) image, and some nice stuff around plumbing so that end users can create models interactively without leaving the UI.

Ok, so far so product pitch. Here the important stuff:

  • To display data froma particular domain, Structure101g needs a meta-description (xml) of the entity and relationship types in that domain. We call this a flavor.
  • In nearly all real-world cases, a flavor has an associated runner: This is the piece of code that parses the domain specific artifacts (or perhaps just some glue on top of an existing parser).
  • At time of writing, there are flavor/runner implementations for the domains OSGi/Eclipse (bundles), Maven (POMs), Ant (targets and properties in a build.xml file), XSL (stylesheets), and Web (html pages and associated images, scripts, stylesheets, etc.).
  • Graphviz is completely free to all and sundry.
  • Structure101g is completely free for the above flavor/runner pairs, but we (Headway) have control-freakish tendencies so you need to talk to us about making a flavor generally available (either for free or commercially) or buy a domain license for proprietary usage.
  • Graphviz does lots of different graph types and layouts. Structure101g is hard-wired to directed graphs with hierarchical top-down layout.

For more info and background, see this demo or visit the Structure101g home page.

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