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Visualization¶

The RedG Visualizer allows you to inspect the object graph of a RedG instance. This can be very useful for debugging purposes or to simply have a look at the dependencies of your entities.

Preparation¶

Note

RedG's visualization support has to be enabled during code generation time. Look at the documentation for your chosen integration method on how to enable support.

Enabling visualization support will have a small performance penalty and you'll need Jackson as extra dependencies.

After enabling visualization support you have to add jackson-core and jackson-databind as dependencies to your test code. These two are needed to generate the JSON output you'll need for the visualizer.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
    <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
    <version>2.8.5</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
    <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
    <version>2.8.5</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

Now there are two ways to obtain the entity graph as JSON code:

In the test, output the result of redG.getVisualizationJson() into a file or to the console.
Place a breakpoint somewhere in your test where you have access to the redG object, let the test run until it hits the breakpoint and evaluate redG.getVisualizationJson() with the help of your IDE. Copy the returned string.

Visualization¶

With the JSON output either in your clipboard or a file, visit the RedG Visualizer site and paste (or drag & drop) the JSON into the editor. Hit the "Visualize Me!" button and let the visualization render.

An example visualization

Entity view¶

The main panel of the visualizer shows a graphical representation of your RedG object graph. When the graph is rendered for the fist time a layout algorithm is applied. This results in a nice initial layout. When visualizing large object graphs, entities may appear below or right of your initial viewport. Either zoom out or pan to see them.

Feature	Controls
Zoom	Use your mouse wheel or double click (Pinch or double tap on touchscreens)
Pan / Move viewport	Click and drag on background (Cursor is default)
Select entity	Click an entity. Click again to deselect it
Move an entity	Click and drag an entity (Cursor is pointer)

Detail view¶

When you select an entity in the entity view, the detail view in the lower right corner will show all attributes (explicit & implicit) in full length and will show a list of all outgoing relations. You can click on a relation link to directly select the referenced entity.

Options¶

The upper right panel shows the available options and the export buttons.

Option	Type	Explanation
Show SQL names	Checkbox	If checked, the SQL table and column names will be shown instead of the Java identifiers
Show relation names	Checkbox	If checked, the relation arrows will show a text with the relation name
Dummy Entity Visibility	Combo-Box	Full: Show the full dummy entity (explicit & implicit fields) Minimal: Show only the header (class / table name) Invisible: Do not show the entity and their relations
Existing Entity Visibility	Combo-Box	Full: Show the full existing entity (explicit & implicit fields) Minimal: Show only the header (class / table name) Invisible: Do not show the entity and their relations
Export view as PNG	Button	Lets you export the current viewport (exactly what you see on the left) to a PNG file. Will show a popup where you can choose the image resolution
Export view as SVG	Button	Lets you export the current viewport (exactly what you see on the left) to a SVG file. All information (entities & relations) are included so you could manipulate the viewport later. Used fonts might not be available on a different computer