jnet: a successor to gnet nick ryan n.s.ryan@ukc.ac.uk computing laboratory university of kent at...

jnet: a successor to gnet

Nick Ryann.s.ryan@ukc.ac.uk

Computing LaboratoryUniversity of Kent at Canterbury

CT2 7NF, UK

http://www.cs.ukc.ac.uk/people/staff/nsr

Graph Store

Painter

Graphmodel

Controller

Canvas Webserver

Computerised Stratigraphya selective early history

• 1975 Wilcock: STRATA Harris: reservations about automation

• 1985 Haigh: identifies sequence problem as poset ordering Ryan: modified tsort; initial version of gtree

• 1988 Ryan: gnet – an interactive approach “…basis for an interactive front-end to a database in which textual and graphical data are combined to provide an integrated model of an excavated site.”

• 1990 Herzog & Scollar: graph-theoretic approach

• 1989 Alvey: Hindsite – ‘single-context plans’, AutoCAD

gnet

• interactive editing• interface to

excavation database• alternative views:

• all links• sequence

gnet

• interactive editing• interface to

excavation database• alternative views:

• all links• sequence• phasing

gnet

• interactive editing• interface to

excavation database• alternative views:

• all links• sequence• phasing• 2.5D plans

gnet

• interactive editing• interface to

excavation database• alternative views:

• all links• sequence• phasing• 2.5D plans

• not just stratigraphy,

a generic graph tool

Motivation: why jnet?

• Relevance to my current research interests:

• Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing• mostly applied to field survey

• others have developed excavation tools, but few for stratigraphy

• Collaborative tools in ad hoc networks

• Pressure from colleagues to resurrect gnet!

Design Requirements

• Provide graph visualization and editing functions comparable with those of gnet

• Support wide range of computing environments:• Stand-alone desktop/laptop/handheld• 2/3 tier client-server

• Enable querying and visualization via Internet:• Maximise use of existing software/technologies

• Collaborative

jnet architecture

Graphmodel

Graph Model:

• holds a representation of the graph

• provides methods for layout, manipulation and editing.

jnet architecture

Graphmodel

Controller

Controller:

• links the graph model with other components

• routes commands between components

jnet architecture

Painter

Graphmodel

Controller

Painter:

• draws views of the graph

Canvas

• uses plug-in Canvas to render the graph in required format

• Canvas may be:• output only

• fully interactive

jnet architecture

Painter

Graphmodel

Controller

Graph Store:

• a plug-in interface to graph sources

• implementations include support for local filestore, databases (JDBC) and other remote sources using XML

Graph Store

Canvas

stand-alone configuration

Graph Store

Painter

Graphmodel

database

Controller

Canvas

JDBC

client-server configuration

Graph Store

Painter

Graphmodel

database

Controller

Canvas

JDBC

RemoteDatabase

server

Graph Store

Painter

Graphmodel

database

Controller

Canvas

servlet configuration 1

Webserver

(HTML, XML,SVG,

VRML, X3D…)

Webbrowser

XML/SVG: graph

XML/SVG: sequenced graph

XML: list of graphs

XML: graph data

Graph Store

Painter

Graphmodel

database

Controller

Canvas Webserver

servlet configuration 2

Handheldjnet client

client configuration

XMLGraph Store

Painter

Graphmodel

Controller

Canvas

localstorage

XML

jnetservlet

+Web

server

Graph Store

Painter

Graphmodel

Controller

Canvas Webserver

Jnet handheld client

Summary

• jnet is a work in progress, do not expect imminent release!

• Support for collaborative working either as a

stand-alone program, or as part of a network

• server, desktop, laptop or handheld devices.

• Enable querying and visualization via Internet.

• Provides graph visualization and editing functions comparable with those of gnet, plus