GENERATING AND USING CODE-BASED DIAGRAMS

• US 20100251211A1
• Filed: 03/26/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Silva, Joao Pedro, Dutta, Suhail
• Application Number:
  US12/411,399
• Publication Number:
  US 20100251211A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/75 Structural analysis for program understanding

Abstract

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to generating and using code-based diagrams. In aspects, analysis components analyze computer code to determine entities and interactions between the entities of the computer code. The entities and interactions or a subset thereof are displayed as a diagram. By interacting with a user interface, a user may instruct a tool to combine entities together and hide interactions between the entities, expand collapsed entities, zoom in on entities that contain other entities, zoom out on entities contained within other entities, move entities and interactions to other diagrams, navigate between diagrams, or perform other actions to generate or use diagrams related to computer code.

Claims

1. A method implemented at least in part by a computer, the method comprising:

at least in part by analyzing code, generating first data that represents entities and interactions between the entities of the code;

generating second data that indicates a first set of entities and interactions to associate with a first diagram, a second set of entities and interactions to associate with a second diagram, and a point at which the first and second diagrams are associated, the first set of entities and the second set of entities being represented by the first data; and

displaying the first diagram together with an indication of availability of the second diagram, the first diagram illustrating the first set of entities and interactions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving via a user interface an indication to associate the second set of entities and interactions with the second diagram.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising in response to receiving via the user interface the indication, logically moving the second set of entities and interactions from a third diagram to the second diagram, the third diagram including the entities and interactions represented by the first data, the third diagram being displayed on the user interface just prior to receiving the indication.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying a heuristic to determine whether to associate the second set of entities and interactions with the second diagram.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, via a user interface, an indication to combine two or more of the entities and in response displaying a diagram that includes a graphical representation of the two or more entities and hiding interactions between the two or more of the entities.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving via a user interface an indication to expand one of the entities and in response displaying a diagram that includes entities included in the one of the entities together with any interactions between the entities included in the one of the entities.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactions in the first set are illustrated in the first diagram in temporal order.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the code includes one or more of source code, executable code, intermediate language code, data, resources, variables, definitions, and relationships.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the first diagram together with an indication of availability of the second diagram, comprises displaying a graphical element that when selected indicates that the second diagram is to be displayed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the entities include one or more of objects, namespaces, components, classes, and processes.

11. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform actions, comprising:

at least in part by analyzing code, generating first data that represents entities and interactions between the entities of the code;

displaying a first diagram that indicates the entities and interactions between the entities.

receiving, via a user interface, input that indicates zooming in or out;

determining sub entities of one or more of the entities;

generating second data that represents interactions between the sub entities; and

displaying a second diagram that indicates the sub entities and the interactions between the sub entities.

12. The computer storage medium of claim 11, wherein the interactions comprise messages sent between the entities.

13. The computer storage medium of claim 11, wherein the first and second diagrams comprise sequence diagrams that indicate a temporal ordering of the interactions.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 11, wherein the entities comprise namespaces and wherein the sub entities comprise classes included in the one of the entities.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 11, further comprising receiving input that indicates one of the sub entities and in response generating third data the represents interactions between sub entities of the one of the sub entities.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 11, further comprising receiving, via the user interface, input that indicates that the sub entities are no longer to be displayed and in response displaying the first diagram again.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 11, wherein generating second data that represents interactions between the sub entities comprises generating the second data before receiving the input while displaying the first diagram.

18. In a computing environment, an apparatus, comprising:

a code store operable to provide access to code corresponding to one or more computer programs;

a code analyzer operable to analyze the code to generate data that represents entities and interactions between the entities of the code;

a diagram generator operable to create a first diagram from the data, the first diagram including graphical elements that represent the entities and the interactions between entities, the interactions being illustrated in temporal order, the first diagram including an indication of availability of a second diagram reachable from the first diagram, the second diagram representing other entities and interactions between the other entities; and

a user interface operable to receive input that indicates an instruction to move between the first diagram and the second diagram.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a post-generation filter operable to collapse and expand one or more of the entities to generate a third diagram.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a pre-generation filter operable to remove interactions and/or entities from a diagram based at least in part on a category of the interactions and/or entities.