diagrams

This tool generates library, directory, file, entity, and predicate diagrams for source files and for libraries of source files using the Logtalk reflection API to collect the relevant information and a graph language for representing the diagrams. Limited support is also available for generating diagrams for Prolog module applications. It’s also possible in general to generate predicate cross-referencing diagrams for plain Prolog files.

Linking library diagrams to entity diagrams to predicate cross-referencing diagrams and linking directory diagrams to file diagrams is also supported when using SVG output. This feature allows using diagrams for understanding the architecture of applications by navigating complex code and zooming into details. SVG output can also easily link to both source code repositories and API documentation. This allows diagrams to be used for source code navigation.

Diagrams can also be used to uncover code issues. For example, comparing loading diagrams with dependency diagrams can reveal implicit dependencies. Loading diagrams can reveal circular dependencies that may warrant code refactoring. Entity diagrams can provide a good overview of code coupling. Predicate cross-referencing diagrams can be used to visually access entity code complexity, complementing the code_metrics tool.

All diagrams support a comprehensive set of options, discussed below, to customize the final contents and appearance.

Diagram generation can be easily automated using the doclet tool and the logtalk_doclet scripts. See the doclet tool examples and documentation for details. See also the diagrams tool own lgt2svg Bash and PowerShell scripts.

Requirements

A recent version of Graphviz is required for generating diagrams in the final formats. It can be installed using a Graphviz installer or e.g. the following per operating-system commands:

macOS - MacPorts

$ sudo port install graphviz

macOS - Homebrew

$ brew install graphviz

Ubuntu

$ sudo apt install graphviz

Windows - Chocolatey

> choco install graphviz

Installers

https://www.graphviz.org/download/

On Linux systems, use the distribution own package manager to install any missing command.

API documentation

This tool API documentation is available at:

../../docs/library_index.html#diagrams

For sample queries, please see the SCRIPT.txt file in the tool directory.

Loading

This tool can be loaded using the query:

| ?- logtalk_load(diagrams(loader)).

Testing

To test this tool, load the tester.lgt file:

| ?- logtalk_load(diagrams(tester)).

Supported diagrams

The following entity diagrams are supported:

  • entity diagrams showing entity public interfaces, entity inheritance relations, and entity predicate cross-reference relations

  • predicate cross-reference diagrams (between entities or within an entity)

  • inheritance diagrams showing entity inheritance relations

  • uses diagrams showing which entities use resources from other entities

The following library diagrams are supported:

  • library loading diagrams showing which libraries load other libraries

  • library dependency diagrams showing which libraries contain entities with references to entities defined in other libraries

The following file diagrams are supported:

  • file loading diagrams showing which files load or include other files

  • file dependency diagrams showing which files contain entities with references to entities defined in other files

File dependency diagrams are specially useful in revealing dependencies that are not represented in file loading diagrams due to files being loaded indirectly by files external to the libraries being documented.

The following directory diagrams are supported:

  • directory loading diagrams showing which directories contain files that load files in other directories

  • directory dependency diagrams showing which directories contain entities with references to entities defined in other directories

Comparing directory (or file) loading diagrams with directory (or file) dependency diagrams allows comparing what is explicitly loaded with the actual directory (or file) dependencies, which are inferred from the source code.

Library and directory dependency diagrams are specially useful for large applications where file diagrams would be too large and complex to be useful, specially when combined with the zoom option to link to, respectively, entity and file diagrams.

A utility object, diagrams, is provided for generating all supported diagrams in one step. This object provides an interface common to all diagrams but note that some predicates that generate diagrams only make sense for some types of diagrams. For best results and fine-grained customization of each diagram, the individual diagram objects should be used with the intended set of options.

Graph elements

Limitations in both the graph language and UML forces the invention of a modeling language that can represent all kinds of Logtalk entities and entity relations. Currently we use the following Graphviz DOT shapes (libraries, entities, predicates, and files) and arrows (entity, predicate, and file relations):

  • libraries
    tab (lightsalmon)
  • library loading and dependency relations
    normal (arrow ending with a black triangle)
  • objects (classes, instances, and prototypes)
    box (rectangle, yellow for instances/classes and beige for prototypes)
  • protocols
    note (aqua marine rectangle with folded right-upper corners)
  • categories
    component (light cyan rectangle with two small rectangles intercepting the left side)
  • modules
    tab (plum rectangle with small tab at top)
  • public predicates
    box (springgreen)
  • public, multifile, predicates
    box (skyblue)
  • protected predicates
    box (yellow)
  • private predicates
    box (indianred)
  • external predicates
    box (beige)
  • exported module predicates
    box (springgreen)
  • directories
    tab (lightsalmon)
  • directory loading and dependency relations
    normal (arrow ending with a black triangle)
  • files
    box (pale turquoise rectangle)
  • file loading and dependency relations
    normal (arrow ending with a black triangle)
  • specialization relation
    onormal (arrow ending with a white triangle)
  • instantiation relation
    normal (arrow ending with a black triangle)
  • extends relation
    vee (arrow ending with a “v”)
  • implements relation
    dot (arrow ending with a black circle)
  • imports relation
    box (arrow ending with a black square)
  • complements relation
    obox (arrow ending with a white square)
  • uses and use module relations
    rdiamond (arrow ending with a black half diamond)
  • predicate calls
    normal (arrow ending with a black triangle)
  • dynamic predicate updates
    diamond (arrow ending with a black diamond)

The library, directory, file, entity, and predicate nodes that are not part of the predicates, entities, files, or libraries for which we are generating a diagram use a dashed border, a darker color, and are described as external.

Note that all the elements above can have captions. See below the diagrams node_type_captions/1 and relation_labels/1 output options.

Supported graph languages

Currently only the DOT graph language is supported (tested with Graphviz version 10.0 on macOS; visit the http://www.graphviz.org/ website for more information). There’s also preliminary support for Mermaid (which is not loaded by default as its current version lacks required features for parity with Graphviz).

The diagrams .dot files are created on the current directory by default. These files can be easily converted into a printable format such as SVG, PDF, or Postscript. For example, using the dot command-line executable we can simply type:

dot -Tpdf diagram.dot > diagram.pdf

This usually works fine for entity and predicate call cross-referencing diagrams. For directory and file diagrams, the fdp and circo command-line executables may produce better results. For example:

fdp -Tsvg diagram.dot > diagram.svg
circo -Tsvg diagram.dot > diagram.svg

It’s also worth to experiment with different layouts to find the one that produces the best results (see the layout/1 option described below).

Some output formats such as SVG support tooltips and URL links, which can be used for showing e.g. entity types, relation types, file paths, and for navigating to files and directories of files (libraries) or to API documentation. See the relevant diagram options below in order to take advantage of these features (see the discussion below on “linking diagrams”).

Sample helper scripts are provided for batch converting a directory of .dot files to .svg files:

  • lgt2svg.sh for POSIX systems

  • lgt2svg.ps1 for Windows systems

  • lgt2svg.js and lgt2svg.bat for Windows systems (deprecated)

The scripts assume that the Graphviz command-line executables are available from the system path (the default is the dot executable but the scripts accept a command-line option to select in alternative the circo, fdp, or neato executables).

When generating diagrams for multiple libraries or directories, it’s possible to split a diagram with several disconnected library or directory graphs using the ccomps command-line executable. For example:

ccomps -x -o subdiagram.dot diagram.dot

For more information on the DOT language and related tools see:

http://www.graphviz.org/

When using Windows, there are known issues with some Prolog compilers due to the internal representation of paths. If you encounter problems with a specific backend Prolog compiler, try if possible to use another supported backend Prolog compiler when generating diagrams.

For printing large diagrams, you will need to either use a tool to slice the diagram in page-sized pieces or, preferably, use software capable of tiled printing (e.g. Adobe Reader). You can also hand-edit the generated .dot files and play with settings such as aspect ratio for fine-tuning the diagrams layout.

Customization

A set of options are available to specify the details to include in the generated diagrams. For entity diagrams the options are:

  • layout(Layout)
    diagram layout (one of the atoms {top_to_bottom,bottom_to_top,left_to_right,right_to_left}; default is bottom_to_top)
  • title(Title)
    diagram title (an atom; default is '')
  • date(Boolean)
    print current date and time (true or false; default is true)
  • versions(Boolean)
    print Logtalk and backend version data (true or false; default is false)
  • interface(Boolean)
    print public predicates (true or false; default is true)
  • file_labels(Boolean)
    print file labels (true or false; default is true)
  • file_extensions(Boolean)
    print file name extensions (true or false; default is true)
  • relation_labels(Boolean)
    print entity relation labels (true or false; default is true)
  • externals(Boolean)
    print external nodes (true or false; default is true)
  • node_type_captions(Boolean)
    print node type captions (true or false; default is true)
  • inheritance_relations(Boolean)
    print inheritance relations (true or false; default is true for entity inheritance diagrams and false for other entity diagrams)
  • provide_relations(Boolean)
    print provide relations (true or false; default is false)
  • xref_relations(Boolean)
    print predicate call cross-reference relations (true or false; default depends on the specific diagram)
  • xref_calls(Boolean)
    print predicate cross-reference calls (true or false; default depends on the specific diagram)
  • output_directory(Directory)
    directory for the .dot files (an atom; default is './dot_dias')
  • exclude_directories(Directories)
    list of directories to exclude (default is []); all sub-directories of the excluded directories are also excluded; directories may be listed by full or relative path
  • exclude_files(Files)
    list of source files to exclude (default is []); files may be listed by full path or basename, with or without extension
  • exclude_libraries(Libraries)
    list of libraries to exclude (default is [startup, scratch_directory])
  • exclude_entities(Entities)
    list of entities to exclude (default is [])
  • path_url_prefixes(PathPrefix, CodeURLPrefix, DocURLPrefix)
    code and documenting URL prefixes for a path prefix used when generating cluster, library, directory, file, and entity links (atoms; no default; can be specified multiple times)
  • url_prefixes(CodeURLPrefix, DocURLPrefix)
    default URL code and documenting URL prefixes used when generating cluster, library, file, and entity links (atoms; no default)
  • entity_url_suffix_target(Suffix, Target)
    extension for entity documenting URLs (an atom; default is '.html') and target separating symbols (an atom; default is '#')
  • omit_path_prefixes(Prefixes)
    omit common path prefixes when printing directory paths and when constructing URLs (a list of atoms; default is a list with the user home directory)
  • zoom(Boolean)
    generate sub-diagrams and add links and zoom icons to library and entity nodes (true or false; default is false)
  • zoom_url_suffix(Suffix)
    extension for linked diagrams (an atom; default is '.svg')

In the particular case of cross-referencing diagrams, there are also the options:

  • recursive_relations(Boolean)
    print recursive predicate relations (true or false; default is false)
  • url_line_references(Host)
    syntax for the URL source file line part (an atom; possible values are {github,gitlab,bitbucket}; default is github); when using this option, the CodeURLPrefix should be a permanent link (i.e. it should include the commit SHA1)
  • predicate_url_target_format(Generator)
    documentation final format generator (an atom; default is sphinx)

For directory and file diagrams the options are:

  • layout(Layout)
    diagram layout (one of the atoms {top_to_bottom,bottom_to_top,left_to_right,right_to_left}; default is top_to_bottom)
  • title(Title)
    diagram title (an atom; default is '')
  • date(Boolean)
    print current date and time (true or false; default is true)
  • versions(Boolean)
    print Logtalk and backend version data (true or false; default is false)
  • directory_paths(Boolean)
    print file directory paths (true or false; default is false)
  • file_extensions(Boolean)
    print file name extensions (true or false; default is true)
  • path_url_prefixes(PathPrefix, CodeURLPrefix, DocURLPrefix)
    code and documenting URL prefixes for a path prefix used when generating cluster, directory, file, and entity links (atoms; no default; can be specified multiple times)
  • url_prefixes(CodeURLPrefix, DocURLPrefix)
    default URL code and documenting URL prefixes used when generating cluster, library, file, and entity links (atoms; no default)
  • omit_path_prefixes(Prefixes)
    omit common path prefixes when printing directory paths and when constructing URLs (a list of atoms; default is a list with the user home directory)
  • relation_labels(Boolean)
    print entity relation labels (true or false; default is false)
  • externals(Boolean)
    print external nodes (true or false; default is true)
  • node_type_captions(Boolean)
    print node type captions (true or false; default is false)
  • output_directory(Directory)
    directory for the .dot files (an atom; default is './dot_dias')
  • exclude_directories(Directories)
    list of directories to exclude (default is [])
  • exclude_files(Files)
    list of source files to exclude (default is [])
  • zoom(Boolean)
    generate sub-diagrams and add links and zoom icons to library and entity nodes (true or false; default is false)
  • zoom_url_suffix(Suffix)
    extension for linked diagrams (an atom; default is '.svg')

For library diagrams the options are:

  • layout(Layout)
    diagram layout (one of the atoms {top_to_bottom,bottom_to_top,left_to_right,right_to_left}; default is top_to_bottom)
  • title(Title)
    diagram title (an atom; default is '')
  • date(Boolean)
    print current date and time (true or false; default is true)
  • versions(Boolean)
    print Logtalk and backend version data (true or false; default is false)
  • directory_paths(Boolean)
    print file directory paths (true or false; default is false)
  • path_url_prefixes(PathPrefix, CodeURLPrefix, DocURLPrefix)
    code and documenting URL prefixes for a path prefix used when generating cluster, library, file, and entity links (atoms; no default; can be specified multiple times)
  • url_prefixes(CodeURLPrefix, DocURLPrefix)
    default URL code and documenting URL prefixes used when generating cluster, library, file, and entity links (atoms; no default)
  • omit_path_prefixes(Prefixes)
    omit common path prefixes when printing directory paths and when constructing URLs (a list of atoms; default is a list with the user home directory)
  • relation_labels(Boolean)
    print entity relation labels (true or false; default is false)
  • externals(Boolean)
    print external nodes (true or false; default is true)
  • node_type_captions(Boolean)
    print node type captions (true or false; default is false)
  • output_directory(Directory)
    directory for the .dot files (an atom; default is './dot_dias')
  • exclude_directories(Directories)
    list of directories to exclude (default is [])
  • exclude_files(Files)
    list of source files to exclude (default is [])
  • exclude_libraries(Libraries)
    list of libraries to exclude (default is [startup, scratch_directory])
  • zoom(Boolean)
    generate sub-diagrams and add links and zoom icons to library and entity nodes (true or false; default is false)
  • zoom_url_suffix(Suffix)
    extension for linked diagrams (an atom; default is '.svg')

When using the zoom(true) option, the layout(Layout) option applies only to the top diagram; sub-diagrams will use their own layout default.

The option omit_path_prefixes(Prefixes) with a non-empty list of prefixes should preferably be used together with the option directory_paths(true) when generating library or file diagrams that reference external libraries or files. To confirm the exact default options used by each type of diagram, send the default_options/1 message to the diagram object.

Be sure to set the source_data flag on before compiling the libraries or files for which you want to generated diagrams.

Support for displaying Prolog modules and Prolog module files in diagrams of Logtalk applications:

  • ECLiPSe
    file diagrams don’t display module files
  • SICStus Prolog
    file diagrams don’t display module files
  • SWI-Prolog
    full support (uses the SWI-Prolog prolog_xref library)
  • YAP
    full support (uses the YAP prolog_xref library)

Linking diagrams

When using SVG output, it’s possible to generate diagrams that link to other diagrams, to API documentation, to local files and directories, and to source code repositories.

For generating links between diagrams, use the zoom(true) option. This option allows (1) linking library diagrams to entity diagrams to predicate cross-referencing diagrams and (2) linking directory diagrams to file diagrams to entity diagrams to predicate cross-referencing diagrams. The sub-diagrams are automatically generated. For example, using the predicates that generate library diagrams will automatically also generate the entity and predicate cross-referencing diagrams.

To generate local links for opening directories, files, and file locations in selected text editors, set the URL code prefix:

  • VSCode: url_prefixes('vscode://file/', DocPrefix)

  • VSCodium: url_prefixes('vscodium://file/', DocPrefix)

  • Cursor: url_prefixes('cursor://file/', DocPrefix)

  • Zed: url_prefixes('zed://file/', DocPrefix)

  • BBEdit: url_prefixes('x-bbedit://open?url=file://', DocPrefix)

  • MacVim: url_prefixes('mvim://open?url=file://', DocPrefix)

  • TextMate: url_prefixes('txmt://open?url=file://', DocPrefix)

In this case, the DocPrefix argument should be the path to directory containing the HTML version of the application APIs.

As most of the text editor URL scheme handlers require local links to use absolute paths, the omit_path_prefixes/1 option is ignored. Note that local links require text editor support for URL schemes that can handle both file and directory links.

To generate links to API documentation and source code repositories, use the options path_url_prefixes/3 (or url_prefixes/2 for simpler cases) and omit_path_prefixes/1. The idea is that the omit_path_prefixes/1 option specifies local file prefixes that will be cut and replaced by the URL prefixes (which can be path prefix specific when addressing multiple code repositories). To generate local file system URLs, define the empty atom, '', as a prefix. As an example, consider the Logtalk library. Its source code is available from a GitHub repository and its documentation is published in the Logtalk website. The relevant URLs in this case are:

Git source code URLs should include the commit SHA1 to ensure that entity and predicate file line information in the URLs remain valid if the code changes in later commits. Assuming a GitHub variable bound to the SHA1 commit URL we want to reference, an inheritance diagram can be generated using the goal:

| ?- GitHub  = 'https://github.com/LogtalkDotOrg/logtalk3/commit/eb156d46e135ac47ef23adcc5d20d49dd8b66abb',
     APIDocs = 'https://logtalk.org/library/',
     logtalk_load(diagrams(loader)),
     set_logtalk_flag(source_data, on),
     logtalk_load(library(all_loader)),
     inheritance_diagram::rlibrary(library, [
         title('Logtalk library'),
         node_type_captions(true),
         zoom(true),
         path_url_prefixes('$LOGTALKUSER/', GitHub, APIDocs),
         path_url_prefixes('$LOGTALKHOME/', GitHub, APIDocs),
         omit_path_prefixes(['$LOGTALKUSER/', '$LOGTALKHOME/', '$HOME/'])
     ]).

The two path_url_prefixes/3 options take care of source code and API documentation for entities loaded either from the Logtalk installation directory (whose location is given by the LOGTALKHOME environment variable) or from the Logtalk user directory (whose location is given by the LOGTALKUSER environment variable). As we also don’t want any local operating-system paths to be exposed in the diagram, we use the omit_path_prefixes/1 option to suppress those path prefixes, Note that all the paths and URLs must end with a slash for proper handling. The git library may be useful to retrieve the commit SHA1 from a local repo directory.

For both path_url_prefixes/3 and omit_path_prefixes/1 options, when a path prefix is itself a prefix of another path, the shorter path must come last to ensure correct links.

See the SCRIPT.txt file in the tool directory for additional examples. To avoid retyping such complex goals when updating diagrams, use the doclet tool to save and reapply them easily (e.g. by using the make tool with the documentation target).

Creating diagrams for Prolog module applications

Currently limited to SWI-Prolog and YAP Prolog module applications due to the lack of a comprehensive reflection API in other Prolog systems.

Simply load your Prolog module application and its dependencies and then use diagram entity, directory, or file predicates. Library diagram predicates are not supported. See the SCRIPT.txt file in the tool directory for some usage examples. Note that support for diagrams with links to API documentation is quite limited, however, due to the lack of Prolog standards.

Creating diagrams for plain Prolog files

This tool can also be used to create predicate cross-referencing diagrams for plain Prolog files. For example, if the Prolog file is named code.pl, simply define an object including its code:

:- object(code).
    :- include('code.pl').
:- end_object.

Save the object to an e.g. code.lgt file in the same directory as the Prolog file and then load it and create the diagram:

| ?- logtalk_load(code),
     xref_diagram::entity(code).

An alternative is to use the object_wrapper_hook provided by the hook_objects library:

| ?- logtalk_load(hook_objects(loader)).
...

| ?- logtalk_load(code, [hook(object_wrapper_hook)]),
     xref_diagram::entity(code).

Other notes

Generating complete diagrams requires that all referenced entities are loaded. When that is not the case, notably when generating cross-referencing diagrams, missing entities can result in incomplete diagrams.

For complex applications, diagrams can often be made simpler and more readable by omitting external nodes (see the externals/1 option) and/or using one of the alternatives to dot provided by Graphviz depending on the type of the diagram (see the section above on supported graph languages for more details).

When generating entity predicate call cross-reference diagrams, caller nodes are not created for auxiliary predicates. For example, if the meta_compiler library is used to optimize meta-predicates calls, the diagrams may show predicates that are not apparently called by any other predicate when the callers are from the optimized meta-predicate goals (which are called via library generated auxiliary predicates). A workaround in this case would be creating a dedicated loader file that doesn’t load (and apply) the meta_compiler library when generating the diagrams.

The zoom icons, zoom.png and zoom.svg have been designed by Xinh Studio:

https://www.iconfinder.com/xinhstudio

Currently, only the zoom.png file is used. A copy of this file must exist in any directory used for publishing diagrams using it. The lgt2svg scripts take care of copying this file.

When generating diagrams in SVG format, a copy of the diagrams.css file must exist in any directory used for publishing diagrams using it. The lgt2svg scripts also take care of copying this file.

The Graphviz command-line utilities, e.g. dot, are notorious for random crashes (segmentation faults usually), often requiring re-doing conversions from .dot files to other formats. A possible workaround is to repeat the command until it completes without error. See for example the lgt2svg.sh script.