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

  • I am developing a web application using CGI, HTML::Templates , Frames etc. I need to keep track of things as how things are flowing. That includes what happens when you click on the various links on webpage, the input-output params for the script, templates etc.. I don't mean to go in details of modules or functions. Some visual representation would please my eyes for quick overview of development process. I welcome your inputs.
  • I would appreciate methods to test my web application.

    Thanks.

  • Replies are listed 'Best First'.
    Re: OT: Web Dev Flow Chart
    by matija (Priest) on May 12, 2004 at 16:09 UTC
    Re: OT: Web Dev Flow Chart
    by dragonchild (Archbishop) on May 12, 2004 at 16:46 UTC
      There are various tools for sale that can automate some of this for you, like SiteMill. However, this sounds like your standard design question. One possibility is to use UML, but treat each page as a class.

      Another is to write up the state machine (because every web application is really a state machine) and look at it that way. Circles and arrows with notations on them, essentially.

      ------
      We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

      Then there are Damian modules.... *sigh* ... that's not about being less-lazy -- that's about being on some really good drugs -- you know, there is no spoon. - flyingmoose

      I shouldn't have to say this, but any code, unless otherwise stated, is untested

    Re: OT: Web Dev Flow Chart
    by simonm (Vicar) on May 12, 2004 at 19:34 UTC
      I would expect that there are free web-link visualization tools available online, although there's no guarantee that they'll do a good job of illustrating your site.

      Alternately, you could build your own using WWW::Mechanize and GraphViz, but this may consume development time best spent on you application itself.

    Re: OT: Web Dev Flow Chart
    by raptnor2 (Beadle) on May 13, 2004 at 11:07 UTC
      Devel::Diagram may be what you are looking for. I haven't used it yet, but it looks really cool. From reading its documentation, it says that it takes a perl module (or modules) and generates an XML representation that can then be rendered into HTML.

      Cheers,

      John