Generating layouts for graphs of data flow applications

摘要

An embodiment of the invention provides a method of displaying a data flow, wherein a description of a data flow application to be displayed is received. The data flow application includes nodes and edges connecting the nodes, wherein the nodes represent operators and the edges represent data connections for data flowing between the operations. A reason that a user is to view the data flow and/or a user constraint on a complexity of the data flow application to be displayed is determined with a processor; and, the time required to render a display of the data flow application is estimated. A transformed representation of the data flow application is created with the processor. The transformed representation is created based upon the user reason, the user constraint, the estimated time of rendering, and/or a layout strategy. The transformed representation is displayed on a graphical user interface.

主权项

1. A method, executed by a processor, of displaying a data flow, said method comprising:
receiving a description of a data flow application to be displayed, the data flow application including nodes and edges connecting the nodes, the nodes representing operators and the edges representing data connections for data flowing between the operators; determining at least one of a reason that a user is to view the data flow application and a user constraint on a complexity of the data flow application to be displayed with the processor; creating a transformed representation of the data flow application based upon at least one of the user reason and the user constraint, wherein said creating of the transformed representation of the data flow application is further based on a set of rules that map at least one of the user reason and the user constraint to suitable transformations of the data flow application, and wherein said creating of the transformed representation of the data flow application progressively reduces the complexity of the data flow application to be displayed until objectives are satisfied, wherein the objectives are based upon at least one of the user reason and the user constraint; and displaying the transformed representation.