Why Should You Choose ILOG JViews Diagrammer?
When selecting a product to create a specialized diagram display, Java developers generally consider two important questions: do the products have the necessary features, and how reliable is the company behind the product? Every product has some key features which set it apart from the competition, so why should you choose JViews Diagrammer?

Solid MVC architecture
JViews Diagrammer is built on an optimized Model-View architecture, familiar to Java Swing developers. Pre-built Data connectors allow developers to easily read XML, flat files, or Java database connectivity (JDBC) tables. Updates can be made automatically whenever data changes. Changing the way on-screen elements appear or update is simple: Cascading Style sheet (CSS) files make it easy to define or change the visual style of your diagram, even at runtime. This architecture provides a clean separation of the model from the graphics, and sets JViews Diagrammer apart from other solutions.

Advanced Graph diagram support
Graphs—diagrams composed of nodes and interconnected links or edges—are found in a wide variety of application domains, and JViews Diagrammer provides the broadest range of features to display them, including:

• All popular node layout algorithms
• Link routing algorithms
• Label placement (simulated annealing) algorithms
• Sub-graph support (including inter-graph link routing)
• Complete pool and swim lane support
• Customizable nodes and links
• Real-time, automated updates of nodes and links
• Changeable look-and-feel
• Pin and port support
• Ability to display the graph diagram on top of a map display, with nodes in correct georeferenced positions

Customizable Graph Layout Algorithms
The way nodes are interconnected in a graph is called their topology. One layout algorithm may produce a better result over another based on that topology. The algorithms built into JViews Diagrammer were designed to be customized, typically by setting pre-defined parameters. This fine tuning of algorithms gives top-notch results. The following table lists the main algorithm families in JViews Diagrammer, along with the number of parameters for each, so that you have a sense of the intricacy of each of the layout implementations.

The above diagrams represent nearly 200,000 lines of (commented) source code for layout—nearly 20x the size of a shareware graph layout package diagrams.

Built for Interactivity
JViews Diagrammer displays are built to be interactive. The core functionality, such as panning, zooming, node and link creation is built into the software. Developers who need to define a new type of user interaction can customize and extend existing behaviors to get the exact look and feel that their end users require . Model-View (MV) architecture is ideal for creating supervision and simulation displays. Developers will find the MV architecture, with its efficient update capability, ideal for creating supervision and simulation displays, in which the elements on screen change color or shape as the underlying system data changes. JViews Diagrammer displays are not static snapshots; they are living models that can be manipulated and updated by the user or the backend system. This holds true for both desktop and web-based applications.

Special Features for Business Process Management
Packaged with additional features, JViews Diagrammer is ideal for building business process management displays, both for modeling and for monitoring. These include out-of-the-box support for Business Process Management (BPM) notation, as well as traditional flowchart icons. Especially noteworthy in JViews Diagrammer are the pre-built modeler samples—complete applications that are ready to be customized and re-branded for shipping to your end users as the modeling tool for your application.

Eclipse Integration
ILOG JViews Diagrammer offers two ways for developers to integrate into an Eclipse RCP application, using an Abstract Window Solution (AWT) bridge or with a Graph Editing Framework (GEF) plugin.

The AWT solution uses an enhanced SWT-to-AWT bridge provided by the product, drawing to an AWT canvas within the greater SWT application. For developers who prefer to work solely with native SWT, Diagrammer provides an integration of its graph layout services with GEF.

A Dedicated Team of Industry Leaders
ILOG is the leader in visualization software component creation and development. At the head of the JViews Diagrammer development team are Dr. Georg Sander, top graph layout specialist, and Dr. Julian Payne, project lead. These highly-regarded developers and their teams contribute frequently to conferences and trade journals. JViews Diagrammer is the most sophisticated product in the JViews family, requiring skills in graph theory, architecture and web deployment.

You’ve just read some of the benefits Diagrammer has to offer. Read on to find out more.

Key benefits common to all ILOG JViews products.