JavaInspect - Utility to visualize java software
-Table of Contents
- -+
JavaInspect - Utility to visualize java software
+ +1 General
+-
-
- download latest snapshot +
- This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify +it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as +published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the +License, or (at your option) any later version. -
- This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify -it under the terms of version 3 of the GNU Lesser General Public -License or later as published by the Free Software Foundation. +
- Program authors:
+
-
+
- Svjatoslav Agejenko
+
-
+
- Homepage: https://svjatoslav.eu + +
- Email: mailto://svjatoslav@svjatoslav.eu + +
- Other software projects hosted at svjatoslav.eu + +
- - Program author: +
- Tony Bargnesi
-
-
- Svjatoslav Agejenko +
- GitHub fork for the project: +https://github.com/abargnesi/javainspect -
- Homepage: http://svjatoslav.eu +
- - Email: mailto://svjatoslav@svjatoslav.eu +
- Svjatoslav Agejenko
+
1.1 Source code
+-
+
- Download latest snapshot in TAR GZ format -
- other applications hosted at svjatoslav.eu +
- Browse Git repository online + + +
- Clone Git repository using command:
+
+git clone https://www2.svjatoslav.eu/git/javainspect.git + +
1 General
-2 Goal and operating principle
+Goal: simplify/speed up understanding the computer program code by automatically visualizing its structure.
-JavaInspect is a Java library that you can embed into your Java -project with a few lines of Maven configuration and then visualize any -part of your Java program structure with few simple JavaInspect API -calls at application runtime. +See example produced graphs for Sixth 3D - 3D engine project.
-JavaInspect uses Java reflection to discover class relations and -structure and produces GraphViz dot file that describes your -application. Then launches GraphViz to generate bitmap graph in PNG -format on your Desktop directory. +JavaInspect can be used as a standalone commandline utility as well as +java library. JavaInspect uses primarily Java built-in reflection to +discover and visualize any part of Java program.
-2 Current status
--This is simple utility, quickly written. Tested on GNU Linux (can be -relatively simply ported to other operating systems too). So far I -used it for my own needs. There might be bugs and missing -features. Feedback and code contributions are welcome. +JavaInspect currently has no GUI, configuration files, embedded +scripting support, direct Maven or Ant integration. See usage to learn +how to instuct Javainspect what to do.
-3 Example graphs
--Example visualization of Sixth project: architecture graphs. +After discovering application structure and optionally filtering out +unimportant parts, JavaInspect produces GraphViz dot file that +describes data to be visualized. Then launches GraphViz to generate +bitmap graph in PNG or SVG format.
-A very simple example: +Notes:
+-
+
- JavaInspect is developed and tested so far only on GNU/Linux. + +
- See: Madge - similar tool for JavaScript + +
3 Example graphs
+-
+
- A very simple example:
-
-
+
Graph legend:
--+ ++
+
4 Usage example 1
+4 Usage
-This example demonstrates generating of class graph from hand picked -classes. +JavaInspect can be controlled in 2 different ways:
+ +4.1 usage as commandline utility
++To enable commandline support, (study and) execute script: +
++commandline launcher/install -// Create graph -final ClassGraph graph = new ClassGraph(); +-// While classes and objects can be immediately passed to ClassGraph -// constructor as arguments, it is also possible to add them one by -// one as in the following example. ++Warning: It was tested only on Debian Stretch linux. +
-// Add some object to the graph. -graph.addObject(graph); ++Available commandline arguments: +
++-j (existing files)…
+
+ JAR file(s) to render.
+
+-n (mandatory, string)
+ Graph name.
+
+–debug
+ Show debug info.
+
+-k
+ Keep dot file.
+
+-h
+ Hide orphaned classes.
+
+-w (one to many strings)…
+ Whitelist glob(s).
+
+-b (one to many strings)…
+ Blacklist glob(s).
+
+-d (existingdirectory)
+ Target directory. Default is current directory.
+
+-t (options: png, svg)
+ Target image type. Default is: svg.
+
4.2 usage via Java API
++Requires that classes to be visualised are available in the classpath. +
-// Add some class to the graph. -graph.addClass(Utils.class); ++To get JavaInspect into same classpath with your projecs I so far came +up with 2 solutions: +
-// Produce bitmap image titled "JavaInspect.png" to the user Desktop -// directory and keep intermediary GraphViz DOT file for reference. -graph.generateGraph("JavaInspect", true); - --
+
- Add JavaInspect library in your project as a dependency. + +
- Create new Java project for the purpose visualizing your other +projects and include JavaInspect and your projecs binary artifacts +(Jar's) into new project classpath. Built binary Jar's (with no +source code) are sufficient because JavaInspect operates via +reflection. + +
+Simple Java based control/configuration code needs to be written for +each project. I usually put such code into directories devoted for +JUnit tests. Because it needs not to be compiled/embedded into final +product or project artifact I'm just willing to visualize. +
-Result: +Control code in general does the following:
+-
+
- Create graph object. + +
- Java reflection/classloaders does not provide mechanism for +discovering all classes under given package. Therefore you need to +declare at least some classes to be added to the graph by manually +adding individual classes to the graph. For every class added to +the graph, GraphViz will recursively inspect it and add all +referecned classes to the graph as well. + +
- Graphs easilly get very big and complex so optionally we filter +important code using classname glob patterns based blacklist and/or +whitelist. + +
- Optionally we can tune some rendering parameters like:
-
-
- Generated DOT file: JavaInspect.dot +
- Possibility to remove orphaned classes (classes with no +references) from the graph. -
- Generated PNG image: JavaInspect.png +
- Specify target directory for generated visualization +files. (Default is current directory) + +
- Keep intermediate GraphViz dot file for later inspection.
5 Usage example 2
-4.2.1 example 1: individually picked objects
+-Recursively scan current directory for Java source code and attempt to -detect class names from there to be added to the graph. +This example demonstrates generating of class graph from hand picked +classes and visualizing GraphViz itself.
graph.addProject("."); +// Create graph +final ClassGraph graph = new ClassGraph(); + +// Add some random object to the graph. GraphViz will detect Class from +// the object. +graph.add(graph); + +// Also add some random class to the graph. +graph.add(Utils.class); + +// Keep intermediary GraphViz DOT file for reference. +graph.setKeepDotFile(true); -// Blacklist example classes from being shown on the graph -graph.getFilter().blacklistClassPattern( - "eu.svjatoslav.inspector.java.structure.example.*"); +// Produce bitmap image titled "JavaInspect.png" to the user Desktop +// directory +graph.generateGraph("JavaInspect"); + ++
+Note: if desired, more compact version of the above: +
+new ClassGraph().add(randomObject, RandomClass.class) + .setKeepDotFile(true).generateGraph("JavaInspect");
Result:
-
-
- Generated PNG image: JavaInspect full project.png +
- Generated DOT file: JavaInspect.dot + +
- Generated PNG image: JavaInspect.png
6 Embedding JavaInspect in your Maven project
-4.2.2 example 2: GraphViz embedded in another project
+-
+
- Download project Sixth code snapshot. + +
- Inspect and run DataGraph.java. + +
4.2.3 Embedding JavaInspect in your Maven project
+Declare JavaInspect as dependency:
@@ -335,7 +534,7 @@ Declare JavaInspect as dependency: <dependency> <groupId>eu.svjatoslav</groupId> <artifactId>javainspect</artifactId> - <version>1.3</version> + <version>1.7</version> </dependency> ... </dependencies> @@ -361,10 +560,12 @@ Add Maven repository to retrieve artifact from:7 Requirements
-5 Requirements
+GraphViz - shall be installed on the computer.
@@ -372,56 +573,174 @@ Add Maven repository to retrieve artifact from:On Ubuntu/Debian use:
--sudo apt-get install graphviz ++ +sudo apt-get install graphviz
8 TODO
-6 TO DO
++Note: Because this is side project (and I have many of them) I can +only contribute few hours per year at average. Any help is welcome. A +LOT of cool ideas could be implemented. For intstance: +
+- BUG: Should not hide references if there are too many of them to classes if referring classes are not visible anyway because of blacklist/whitelist rules. Basically reference counting should exclude not visible classes. -
- BUG: Current code is quite messy (because of lack of time) things -were implemented ad-hoc. Needs cleanup/refactoring for better -readability. + +
- BUG: Orphaned class removal does not work always. There are many +bugs and corner cases to find and fix still. + + +
- BUG: Code is not very readable. Document and refactor for better +maintainability. + + +
- FEATURE: Create installable DEB package.
+
-
+
- Submit it to some Debian developer for integration or become +Debian package maintainer. + +
+
+ - FEATURE: Make it modular. That is: central part, an application
+model could be standalone and serializable.
+
+
-
+
- There could be multiple ways to acquire model:
+
-
+
- By introspecting application via Java reflections (current mode +of operation). + +
- By parsing java source. (unfinished) + +
+
+ - There could be ways to manipulate model:
+
-
+
- Store/load/compare. + +
- Trim uninteresting parts. + +
- Highlight important parts. -
- FEATURE: add dark theme +
+
+ - There could be multiple ways to render model:
+
-
+
- PNG/SVG (currently implemented) + +
- PlantUML (TODO) + +
- Interactive 3D visualization (TODO) + +
- - FEATURE: sort Class fields by alphabet +
- - There could be multiple ways to acquire model:
+
- FEATURE: visualize also concrete field values so it could be used as -ultra cool runtime logging framework + +
- FEATURE: Implement (or integrate existing java parser +https://javaparser.org/) to be able to produce code visualizations +based on source code (in addition to current reflection based +approach). -
- FEATURE: possibility to visualize structure and data from JVM -snapshot + +
- FEATURE: Integarte with PlantUML. -
- FEATURE: possibility to attach to remote process to visualize + +
- FEATURE: Add dark theme for generated graphs. + + +
- FEATURE: Sort Class fields by alphabet. + + +
- FEATURE: Visualize also concrete field values so it could be used as +ultra cool runtime logging/debugging framework. + + +
- FEATURE: Possibility to visualize structure and data from JVM +snapshot. + + +
- FEATURE: Possibility to attach to remote process to visualize data/structure using JVM debug port and mechanism. -
- FEATURE: possibility to attach to JVM using JVM agent + +
- FEATURE: Possibility to attach to JVM using JVM agent. + + +
- FEATURE: Possibility to inspect graphs in 3D using Sixth 3D engine. -
- FEATURE: possibility to script javainspect behavior + +
- FEATURE: Possibility to select classes/fields/values to be +visualized in some graph query language. For greater flexibility in +comparison to currently supported glob syntax. -
- FEATURE: possibility to select classes/fields/values to be -visualized in SQL like syntax + +
- FEATURE: Add option to control JavaInspect via JSON or XML config +file. For example different graphs for given project could be +defined once in plain text config, possibly with the aid of some +interactive utility. Then defined graphs could be updated as part of +project build or release process. -
- FEATURE: configurable maven plugin to generate graphs as part of the -project build/release process + +
- FEATURE: Configurable maven plugin to generate graphs as part of the +project build/release process.
7 See also
++Similar or alternative solutions: +
+ +