user's manual
This user's manual is intended to help new users become familiar with the toolkit and provide a reference in addition to the Javadoc API Documentation. In particular, the first chapter deconstructs an example application to highlight the main aspects of the toolkit. The subsequent chapters focus on particular features of the toolkit, providing more detailed information.
One possible approach to learning the toolkit is to read the first chapter of this manual, then experiment with some of the different demos provided with the prefuse toolkit distribution. The other sections of the manual can then be read as specific interests or application needs arise.
If you encounter any errors or typos, or would like to contribute material to the manual, please send an e-mail to prefuse-admin (at) lists (dot) sourceforge (dot) net. In the future we hope to make the manual more interactive, allowing users to post comments directly within the manual itself.
table of contents
- introduction - An introduction to the toolkit structure, illustrated with a sample application
- overview - An overview of the prefuse visualization toolkit
- toolkit structure - The high-level structure of the toolkit
- application building - The application building process
- example application - A step-by-step deconstruction of a visualization
- data - Representing and processing data
- tables - The Table data type
- graphs and trees - The Graph and Tree data types
- expressions - An expression language for writing queries and creating derived data fields
- data input / output - Reading and writing data to formatted files
- database connectivity - Reading data from relational databases
- visualization - Creating interactive visualizations
- visualizing data - Adding data to a visualization
- actions - Processing visual items, including layout, color, size, and shape
- renderers - Controlling the visual appearance of items
- displays - Providing an interactive view onto a visualization
- interaction - Manipulating visual items and display views
- controls - Basic interaction mechanisms
- dynamic queries - Interactive components for querying data
- misc - Various other toolkit facilities
