METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING AND DISPLAYING AN INTERACTIVE DYNAMIC CULLING GRAPH VIEW OF MULTIPLY CONNECTED OBJECTS

• US 20100079461A1
• Filed: 10/01/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Thornton, Gray, Breeds, Robert J., Taunton, Philip R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,669,982 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

A method and system for generating a graph view on a user interface in a computing environment, is provided. One implementation involves, at a server, generating coordinate data for a graph representing multiply connected objects; transmitting the coordinate data to a client as lightweight object data; and at the client, based on the lightweight object data rendering an interactive dynamic graph view on a user interface; wherein the rendered graph view includes representations of a plurality of the multiply connected objects selected by depth culling the graph according to graph depth display control information.

Claims

1. A method for generating a graph view on a user interface in a computing environment, comprising:

at a server, generating coordinate data for a graph representing multiply connected objects;

transmitting the coordinate data to a client as lightweight object data; and

at the client, based on the lightweight object data rendering an interactive dynamic graph view on a user interface;

wherein the rendered graph view includes representations of a plurality of the multiply connected objects selected by depth culling the graph according to graph depth display control information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data sent to a client form the server.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the graph view includes visual elements connected by edges, such that the visual elements represent the objects and the edges represent relationships between the objects, and the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data sent to a client form the server;

the method further including examining relationships in the graph of objects and counting the number of objects added to the graph, such that when the number of objects reaches said threshold, no additional objects are added to the graph.

4. The method of claim 3 further including:

detecting objects that have connections to other objects beyond said threshold, and representing said objects beyond said threshold by a specialized representation indicating a graph truncation.

5. The method of claim 4 further including:

upon receiving user selection of a specialized representation, request additional graph data from the server and rendering the additional graph data at the client.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the graph depth control information includes:

unlimited depth, wherein the server traverses all the relationships in the hierarchy of objects starting at a root object until there are no more relationships to follow;

or

automatic depth, wherein the server performs a breadth-first traversal of the object graph data, retrieving objects until the number of objects reaches a threshold.

7. The method of claim 6 further including receiving the graph depth control information from a user.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing environment comprises a service-oriented architecture and the data source comprises a service registry, the client comprises a web browser on a thin client computing module, the server comprises a server application on a server computing module, wherein the client module and the server module may be connected via a communication link.

9. A computer program product for generating a graph view on a user interface in a computing environment, comprising a computer usable medium including a computer readable program including program instructions, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer system causes the computer system to:

at a server, generate coordinate data for a graph representing multiply connected objects, and transmit the coordinate data to a client as lightweight object data; and

at the client, based on the lightweight object data rendering an interactive dynamic graph view on a user interface;

wherein the rendered graph view includes representations of a plurality of the multiply connected objects selected by depth culling the graph according to graph depth display control information.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data sent to a client from the server.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the graph view includes visual elements connected by edges, such that the visual elements represent the objects and the edges represent relationships between the objects, and the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data sent to a client form the server;

and

the computer program product further including instructions for examining relationships in the graph of objects and counting the number of objects added to the graph, such that when the number of objects reaches said threshold, no additional objects are added to the graph.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 further including instructions for detecting objects that have connections to other objects beyond said threshold, and representing said objects beyond said threshold by a specialized representation indicating a graph truncation.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 further including instructions for:

upon receiving user selection of a specialized representation, request additional graph data from the server and rendering the additional graph data at the client.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the graph depth control information includes:

unlimited depth, wherein the computer program product further includes instructions for traversing all the relationships in the hierarchy of objects starting at a root object until there are no more relationships to follow;

or

automatic depth, wherein the computer program product further includes instructions for performing a breadth-first traversal of the object graph data, retrieving objects until the number of objects reaches a threshold.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 further including instructions for receiving the graph depth control information from a user.

16. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the computing environment comprises a service-oriented architecture and the data source comprises a service registry, the client comprises a web browser on a thin client computing module, the server comprises a server application on a server computing module, wherein the client module and the server module may be connected via a communication link.

17. A system for generating a graph view on a user interface in a computing environment, comprising:

a server function configured for generating coordinate data for a graph representing multiply connected objects, and transmitting the coordinate data to a client as lightweight object data; and

a client rendering function configured for rendering an interactive dynamic graph view of the multiply connected objects on a user interface at the client, based on the lightweight object data;

wherein the rendered graph view includes representations of a plurality of the multiply connected objects selected by depth culling the graph according to graph depth display control information.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data sent to a client from the server.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the graph view includes visual elements connected by edges, such that the visual elements represent the objects and the edges represent relationships between the objects, and the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data sent to a client form the server;

the server function further configured for examining relationships in the graph of objects and counting the number of objects added to the graph, such that when the number of objects reaches said threshold, no additional objects are added to the graph.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein:

the graph depth control information includes;

unlimited depth, wherein the server traverses all the relationships in the hierarchy of objects starting at a root object until there are no more relationships to follow; and

automatic depth, wherein the server performs a breadth-first traversal of the object graph data, retrieving objects until the number of objects reaches a threshold;

the server function is further configured for detecting objects that have connections to other objects beyond said threshold, and the client function is further configured for representing said objects beyond said threshold by a specialized representation indicating a graph truncation;

the client function is further configured such that, upon receiving user selection of a specialized representation, the client function requests additional graph data from the server and rendering the additional graph data at the client; and

the computing environment comprises a service-oriented architecture and the data source comprises a service registry, the client comprises a web browser on a thin client computing module, the server comprises a server application on a server computing module, wherein the client module and the server module may be connected via a communication link.