SpaceTree

SpaceTree is a novel tree browser that builds on the conventional layout node link diagrams along a single preferred direction. It adds dynamic rescaling of branches of the tree to best fit the available screen space, optimized camera movement, and the use of preview icons summarizing the topology of the branches that cannot be expanded. In addition, it includes integrated search and filter functions.

Getting Started

SpaceTree requires that Java 1.4 is installed on your computer. Once you have Java installed double-click on the /spacetree/spacetree.jar file. SpaceTree will start and present you with an open file dialogue box. Open one of the samples files in /spacetree/data/, such as orgchart.xml, to get started. SpaceTree can open any valid XML file, to open a new file choose File->Open from the file menu.

Once your file has been loaded try clicking on some of the nodes in the tree. When you click on a node it becomes the focus node and it and its ancestors are colored blue. SpaceTree will change the tree layout based on the focus node that you have set and the amount of screen space that is available.

Searching

SpaceTree supports searching and pruning of the tree. As you type your search matching nodes in the tree will be highlighted. If a matching node is not visible the thumbnail of its visible ancestor will be highlighted.

When you press the Go button SpaceTree will change the layout so that only nodes that match the search and their ancestors are shown. Also all children of the current focus node will be shown. Press the Reset button to change back to the normal layout.

Preferences

SpaceTree comes with many preferences allowing you to configure the display and browsing interaction. To view the preferences panel choose File->Preferences. Note that you may save a particular set of preferences for a given XML data file. To do this choose File->Save Preferences and the current set of preferences will be saved for the current open XML file. Preferences are stored as a separate XML file in spacetree-prefs.

Here is a short description of the available preferences:

• Root Orientation - Lets you specify the layout direction of the tree.
• Label Justification - Lets you specify how sibling nodes are aligned relative to each other.
• Sibling Separation - Lets you specify the spacing distance between sibling nodes.
• Subtree Separation - Lets you specify the spacing distance between subtrees in the tree layout.
• Level Separation - Lets you specify the separation between children and parent nodes.
• Node Type - Lets you specify the type of node that should be used in your layout. The Single Line type will display the text content of your XML file's elements in a single line. The Multi-Line type will display the text content in multiple lines if it finds any return characters. The Manual Close type is similar to the Multi-Line type except it adds a different layout behavior. Instead of having the tree automatically do space filling layout from the focus node the Manual Close nodes works more like a standard tree widget. Click on a node to open its children, click on the node again to close its children. Finally the Node With Attachments type allows you to attach windows files to a node. This is done by right-clicking on the node and then typing in the names of the files to attach.
• Animation Duration - Lets you specify (in ms) the amount of time that the focus change animation should take.
• Key Focus Change Delay - Lets you specify (in ms) the amount of time that SpaceTree will wait before changing the focus when you are navigating with the keyboard.
• Mouse Focus Change Delay - Lets you specify (in my) the amount of that that SpaceTree will wait before changing the focus when you are navigating with the mouse.
• Thumbnail Style - SpaceTree replaces the parts of the tree that cannot be displayed because of space constraints with thumbnail icons. A number of different icons are supplied. The Arrow displays a simple one size arrow to indicate hidden parts of the tree. The Triangle displays a triangle to indicate hidden parts of the tree. The size and color of the triangle vary to encode the size (number of nodes represented) and depth (number of tree levels represented) of the subtree represented by that triangle. The Triangle and Miniature Tree shows a triangle icon, or if the hidden tree is small enough it will show an icon representation of each node in that entire hidden tree. The Numeric Label shows a single number showing the total number of nodes represented. The Numeric Label and Miniature Tree combines the Numeric Label and Miniature Tree icons.
• Numeric Scale - Some thumbnails (most notably the triangle thumbnail) encode attributes of the subtree that they represent (such as tree size and tree depth) into visual attributes such as size and color. To do this they need to calculate there attributes against some base set, such as the total size of the tree. The numeric scale lets you specify the scale upon which  this relationship is calculated.
• Relative to Root - Used to determine how the triangle icon calculates its size. If relative to root is checked then the size will be calculated relative to all nodes in the tree, else the size will be calculated relative to its parents subtree.
• Code size by color - If checked the triangle icon will encode the size of the subtree that it represents to determine the color that it is drawn with.
• Width Height by Size - If checked the triangle will encode its width and height by the size of the subtree that it represents.
• Draw Border - Used to determine is thumbnail nodes should draw a black border.
• Thumbnail Maxwidth - The maximum width that a thumbnail should ever be.
• Thumbnail Maxheight - The maximum height that a thumbnail should ever be.

Command Line Options

SpaceTree may be run with a number of command line options.

• To launch SpaceTree from the command line use: java -jar spacetree.jar
• To specify a file to open use: java -jar spacetree.jar filename
• To specify a initial node to focus on use: java -jar spacetree.jar filename nodename
• To specify an initial search use: java -jar spacetree.jar filename nodename searchstring
• To specify IVContest format user: java -jar spacetree.jar filename nodename searchstring ivcontestdisplayattribute

For example, with the orgchart.xml file in the same directory as spacetree.jar you could type:

• java -jar spacetree.jar orgchart.xml focus ventures

Java Web Start

SpaceTree may be run as a stand alone application, or it can be run as a Java Web Start application. To run it as a Java Web Start application you need to:

1. Have Java Web Start installed on your client computer, download it here
2. Copy spacetree.jar, spacetree.jnlp, and the spacetree/lib folder to your web server.
3. Modify the spacetree.jnlp file with your web server's information (codebase will need to be changed for example)
4. Now access http://www.yourdomain.com/spacetreedirectory/spacetree.jnlp and that will launch the spacetree application.

OutOfMemoryException

When opening very large tree's SpaceTree may need more then the default 64mb of memory that is available to Java. If you get an OutOfMemoryException while loading a tree you need to.

1. Quit SpaceTree.
2. Create a run.bat file with the following line: java -Xmx256m -jar spacetree.jar
3. Then launch SpaceTree by double clicking on the run.bat file instead of on the spacetree.jar file. This will give Java a maximum of 256 mb of memory to use before it runs out.

IVContest Format

SpaceTree can import files that conform to the IVContest format (XML tree format validated with the included tree.dtd). To import such a file:

1. Launch SpaceTree from the command line or by using a .bat file so that the dos console is available.
2. Choose import IVContest Format from the File menu
3. Choose an IVContest formatted xml file. Note that if that file refers to the tree.dtd then the tree.dtd needs to be available. This may means putting the tree.dtd file in the same directory as the file you are opening.
4. Once you have chosen a file you will be prompted in the dos console for the attribute to display. The IVContest format allows for multiple attributes, but SpaceTree only displays one (in a tree nodes text area), so you need to tell it which attribute to display.
5. NOTE: If you launch spacetree so that no console is available (for examples you just double click on the spacetree.jar file) then when importing the IVContest format it will default to choosing the "name" attribute from that file.