NAME

GraphViz::XML - Visualise XML as a tree

SYNOPSIS

use GraphViz::XML;

my $graph = GraphViz::XML->new($xml);
print $g->as_png;

DESCRIPTION

This module makes it easy to visualise XML as a tree. XML is hard for humans to grasp, especially if the XML is computer-generated. This modules aims to visualise the XML as a graph in order to make the structure of the XML clear and to aid in understanding the XML.

XML elements are represented as diamond nodes, with links to elements within them. Character data is represented in round nodes.

Note that the XML::Twig module should be installed.

METHODS

new

This is the constructor. It takes one mandatory argument, which is the XML to be visualised. A GraphViz object is returned.

my $graph = GraphViz::XML->new($xml);

as_*

The XML can be visualised in a number of different graphical formats. Methods include as_ps, as_hpgl, as_pcl, as_mif, as_pic, as_gd, as_gd2, as_gif, as_jpeg, as_png, as_wbmp, as_ismap, as_imap, as_vrml, as_vtx, as_mp, as_fig, as_svg. See the GraphViz documentation for more information. The two most common methods are:

# Print out a PNG-format file
print $g->as_png;

# Print out a PostScript-format file
print $g->as_ps;

BUGS

GraphViz tends to reorder the nodes. I hope to find a work around soon (possibly with ports).

AUTHOR

Leon Brocard <acme@astray.com>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2001, Leon Brocard

This module is free software; you can redistribute it or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.