muad33b has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I've looked around, and found some information out there regarding this, including some threads on this site... however, I am wondering if I am the first person to try this with perl and if I really need to go mess around with java script, flash, or just give it up and go with the file explorer look.

Here is my situation:

I'm a support tech (for a suite of complex interrelated network performance products) making a knowledge base that currently has a static flowchart made in SmartDraw (for the auto-image map creation) - that serves as a front-end into a cgi/perl/html script with a tree structure of leaf-pages that is controlled by a flatfile index. I have multiple description fields that can be edited (text-file storage), as well as text tech notes that are dynamically linked to based on "parent" catagory page, pulled from a list of catagory's from the technote header.

Here's the kicker, I allow links to be added from any part of the tree to any other part.... or deleted, as well as adding / deleting "children"... thereby updating the tree structure on the fly... allowing us to collaberate on reverse-engineering our engineering department.

As you can imagine, the whole idea behind this knowledge base if for folks to store data in a catagorical structure, thereby having the structure itself lend to the understanding of the complex components of our products.

Note: My boss is really hooked on the flowchart frontend as a visualization tool for the comples relationships.

Here is my question:

I am desperately trying to find a way to dynamically generate a flowchart based on my index, instead of updating it manually every day. I can easilly see how to do it with a directory structure looking graphical output... CGI::Explorer seems to be a module made just for that. I'm looking for something more like the "familly tree" script outputs I've seen...

Has anyone attempted this? Imagine a dynamically generated, visio/dia like flowchart (each shape a link), based on an index which represents parents/children/links.

The only ideas that I've come up with conceptually is to make a very complex table structure, and to use borders as lines... or maybe try some top-down view hack of the explorer like deals with a lot of gifs...

I tried to explain the situation briefly, but it seems I've failed, however, please let me know if I'm unclear.

Any and all ideas appreciated. Thanks.

-Jeff

Edit by tye, replace PRE tag with P tags

  • Comment on Dynamic FlowChart / Tree from KB relationship index

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Re: Dynamic FlowChart / Tree from KB relationship index
by diotalevi (Canon) on Feb 04, 2003 at 02:53 UTC
[reply]
      Wow - I'm gonna check it out, it got the capabilities I was looking for, however it looks complex... guess it needs to be - as far as the "dot" language, that is... Hopefully it wont be to hard to set up an "org chart" looking view... since it's hierarchical.

      Too bad there isn't something easier. I'm lazy in a good way(usually), and was really thinking of a template "explorer" not like the javascript click open deal, accepting the reload request delay from the server-side script, where I give each entry its own level - like html header tags, based on how deep into the structure, what "parent" it was under, what "children" and "link children" it had - or even a mock underlying directory structure with soft-links to mimic "links".

      Maybe I've written my own enhancement request. I know it's a pretty specific application, but I'm just surprised that someone hasn't already done this. Maybe I'll also look into adapting the "familly tree" concept in greater detail before embarking on the GraphViz expedition.

      Thanks... GraphViz looks pretty awesome, and if lazier routes fail, I'm sure to end up using it... and learning "dot"!

      -Jeff

[reply]

        I said GraphViz nature. There may be something that uses it on CPAN that corresponds closer to your actual need. If there isn't then you can always use it to write something for yourself. Please also learn to format your posts at Writeup Formatting Tips. This <pre> thing you're doing sucks.

        Seeking Green geeks in Minnesota

[reply]
[d/l]
        Guess who wrote an article about it? :)

        While I'm pretty happy with it, the number of objects in our database is a bit too large for the layout engine to cope (the image is like five meters wide on the wall behind me :). So... are there any alternatives to GraphViz?


        /J

[reply]

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