NAME¶
GraphViz::Data::Grapher - Visualise data structures as a graph
SYNOPSIS¶
use GraphViz::Data::Grapher;
my $graph = GraphViz::Data::Grapher->new($structure);
print $graph->as_png;
DESCRIPTION¶
This module makes it easy to visualise Perl data structures. Data structures can
grow quite large and it can be hard to understand the quite how the structure
fits together.
Data::Dumper can help by representing the structure as a text heirarchy, but
GraphViz::Data::Grapher goes a step further and visualises the structure by
drawing a graph which represents the data structure.
Arrays are represented by records. Scalars are represented by themselves. Array
references are represented by a '@' symbol, which is linked to the array. Hash
references are represented by a '%' symbol, which is linked to an array of
keys, which each link to their value. Object references are represented by
'Object', which then links to the type of the object. Undef is represented by
'undef'.
METHODS¶
new¶
This is the constructor. It takes a list, which is the data structure to be
visualised. A GraphViz object is returned.
my $graph = GraphViz::Data::Grapher->new([3, 4, 5], "Hello");
as_*¶
The data structure can be visualised in a number of different graphical formats.
Methods include as_ps, as_hpgl, as_pcl, as_mif, as_pic, as_gd, as_gd2, as_gif,
as_jpeg, as_png, as_wbmp, as_ismap, as_imap, as_vrml, as_vtx, as_mp, as_fig,
as_svg. See the GraphViz documentation for more information. The two most
common methods are:
# Print out a PNG-format file
print $graph->as_png;
# Print out a PostScript-format file
print $graph->as_ps;
AUTHOR¶
Leon Brocard <
acme@astray.com>
COPYRIGHT¶
Copyright (C) 2000-1, Leon Brocard
This module is free software; you can redistribute it or modify it under the
same terms as Perl itself.