Large component diagrams visualization

Lukas Holy

DCSE, FAS, University of West Bohemia

Pilsen, CZ

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Structure of this presentation• Introduction of software components and problems in

visualization of component-based software

• Proposed techniques for improving diagram visualization

• Tool demonstration

• Summary of contribution

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Introduction

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Software components - briefly

•Clearly defines its interfaces

•UML component diagram

•Can be started independently•Have a black-box nature•They are a subject of third party

composition

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Options in visualizing component software

• Component model-specific tool/notation▫ Better comprises the model specifics▫ Not well-know visual syntax

• Generic component-aware tool/notation▫ Model independent▫ Probably unable to represent specific features

• UML with profiles▫ Enables to further specify semantics▫ But specific features will probably not be easily accessible

• Plain UML▫ Well-known▫ May not capture all the specifics

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Large component diagrams visualization

•How to handle the complexity of large UML component diagrams?

•Applications can easily consist of hundreds nodes

•Either overview or detailed view

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Proposed techniques

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Factors influencing graph visualization

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Presented Ideas & Techniques

• Visual clutter reduction▫Based on removing highly connected components

▫ Interface clustering

▫ Interactive highlighting Details on demand

▫Groups and clusters identification

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Application wireframe

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Clustered Interfaces and Symbols - Component

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Clustered Interfaces and Symbols - Group

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SeCo technique - design overview

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Complex Component Application Explorer tool demonstration

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Viewport for component diagrams

•Better exploration and understanding •Clustering, proxy elements and detailed view

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CoCA-Ex - Viewport integration

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Preliminary validation - Removing nodes with highest degrees

Nuxeo application visualized by AIVA

All 202 components Removed 7 components with highest degrees

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Summary

• Lines reduction, by removing the selected components from the diagram area.

• Symbolic delegates instead of lines.

• Useful in the reverse engineering process

• It helps to create the mental model of shown application

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Q & A

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