Method and system for generating and displaying an interactive dynamic culling graph view of multiply connected objects

• US 8,669,982 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2008
• Issued: 03/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Breeds, Robert J., Taunton, Philip R., Thornton, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): Brier, Jeffery A
• Application Number:
  US12/243,902
• Publication Number:
  US 20100079461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,987 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440
• 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:

receiving, using a hardware processor, graph data including graph data objects transformed into lightweight object data from a server; and

rendering, using the hardware processor, an interactive dynamic graph view on a user interface based on the lightweight object data by a client;

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;

wherein the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data; and

wherein, the hardware processor is further employed for detecting objects that have connections to other objects beyond said threshold, and representing said objects beyond said threshold by specialized representation indicating a graph truncation.

2. 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 received.

3. The method of claim 1, further including examining relationships in the graph of objects and counting the number of objects in 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, wherein the computing environment comprises a service-oriented architecture and the data source comprises a service registry.

5. The method of claim 3 further including:

upon receiving user selection of a specialized representation, receiving additional graph data and rendering the additional graph data.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the graph depth control information includes:

unlimited depth, wherein the hardware processor is further employed for traversing all the relationships in the hierarchy of objects starting at a root object until there are no more relationships to follow.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

receiving the graph depth control information from a user.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

at a server, employing another hardware processor for generating the graph data for a graph representing multiply connected objects;

transmitting the transformed graph data objects to a client as lightweight object data;

wherein 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. The method of claim 3 wherein the graph depth control information includes:

automatic depth, wherein the hardware processor is further employed for performing a breadth-first traversal of the object graph data, retrieving objects until the number of objects reaches a threshold.

10. A computer program product for generating a graph view on a user interface in a computing environment, comprising a non-transitory 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:

receiving, using a hardware processor, graph data for a graph representing multiply connected objects comprising graph data objects transformed into lightweight object data by a client; and

rendering, using the hardware processor, 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, and the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data received; and

wherein the hardware processor is further employed 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.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the computing environment comprises a sevice-oriented architecture and the data source comprises a service registry.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 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 received;

and

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

13. 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.

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

upon receiving user selection of a specialized representation, receiving additional graph data and rendering the additional graph data.

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

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.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 further including instructions for receiving the graph depth control information from a user.

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

a server employing a hardware processor for generating graph data for a graph representing multiply connected objects, for transforming graph data objects into lightweight object data and transmitting the lightweight object data,

wherein the transmitted lightweight object data is used for rendering an interactive dynamic graph view of the multiply connected objects 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, and the graph depth display control information includes a threshold for controlling the amount of graph data transmitted;

wherein the server detects objects that have connections to other objects beyond said threshold, and the rendering represents said objects beyond said threshold by a specialized representation indicating a graph truncation.

18. 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 transmitted.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the server examines relationships in the graph of objects and counts the number of objects in 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; and

the computing environment comprises a service-oriented architecture and the data source comprises a service registry, the server comprises a server application on a server computing module.