Comments on: A Zesty Summer

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:14:40 +0000

Oh another thing to consider might be to somehow write a JNI interface to the graphviz libraries. I don’t know to what degree the layout algrithms have a proper interface, but at least the OmniGraffle guys (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/OmniGraffle/) also managed to integrate just the graphviz layout algorithms into their product while their rendering engine is still their own.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:11:33 +0000

Another possibility to use the dot executable for the layouting stuff. I think a few third party dot viewers like the zgvrviewer (http://zvtm.sourceforge.net/zgrviewer.html) do it that way. They use some feature of graphviz that just outputs the layouted coordinates. So all that would be needed is somekind of layout-adapter that calls the dot executable.

By: Ian Bull

Ian Bull — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:06:38 +0000

This is a great idea Moritz! Mateusz has done a really good job updating the Zest layouts and adding a new layout (like graphviz) is entirely feasible. The problem is now a legal one (not a technical one). I’m pretty sure graphviz is CPL, but we have to look at the legal ramifications of porting their algorithms to Zest.

By: Moritz

Moritz — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:54:37 +0000

hi,

its good to hear that Graphviz and Zest are getting closer together. Are there any plans to port layout-algorithms from Graphviz to Zest? I’m amazed by what Graphviz can do in terms of layout, but its just nasty that it is only available as a native binary (and not as java library).

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:28:49 +0000

Thanks for the explanations Fabian. I’ll give this a try when the emfmodelvisualizer is ready. I’m sorry to say that this is unfortunately all that i am interested in, but in any case this is what i am extremely looking forward to

By: Ian Bull

Ian Bull — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:17:44 +0000

Lars,

The re-organization is not even in CVS yet . It’s coming as patches right now, and I will be integrating it throughout the summer. I will blog about the changes as the summer goes in, and we will be looking for advice as we harden the Zest API.

By: Fabian Steeg

Fabian Steeg — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:32:12 +0000

Ben, I actually use both Xpand and JET for different things: with Xpand I generate the Zest graph from a DOT file, while with JET I export a Zest graph to DOT. The idea here was that with JET I’m able to implement the export without any new dependency (once JET generated the template class). Also, this approach allows export of any Zest graph, even without an Xtext-based DOT model (i.e. for Zest graphs not imported from DOT).

On the viewing topic, what’s currently there is compilation from DOT to Zest files. The main goal was to provide a way to easily author Zest graphs using DOT as a DSL, which can then be used in applications idependently of their DOT origin. However, I do plan to add support for the Zest view in the EMF model visualizer project (http://code.google.com/p/emfmodelvisualizer/). This hopefully will allow exactly what you describe: writing DOT and viewing it dynamically using Zest.

And about giving it a try when it’s ready: if you feel adventurous you can check it out any time, details can be found on the project’s wiki page (http://wiki.eclipse.org/Graphviz_DOT_as_a_DSL_for_Zest). I’d be happy about any kind of feedback.

By: Fabian Steeg

Fabian Steeg — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:11:26 +0000

Peter, not yet. In particular because I’m not directly using Xtext myself. I use Xpand with the existing Xtext grammar for Graphviz DOT in the org.openarchitectureware.graphviz package. It would be great if we could get all of this updated to the new versions. See also bug 277397 (http://bugs.eclipse.org/277397).

By: Peter Friese

Peter Friese — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:24:04 +0000

Fabian, are you using Xtext 0.7?

By: Lars Vogel

Lars Vogel — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:43:43 +0000

Is the re-orged code base of Zest part of 3.5 or only in cvs?