NAME
Devel::Graph - Turn Perl code into a Graph::Flowchart object
SYNOPSIS
use Devel::Graph;
my $graph = Devel::Graph->graph( \'$a = 9 if $b == 1' );
print $graph->as_ascii();DESCRIPTION
This module decomposes Perl code into blocks and generates a Graph::Flowchart object out of these. The resulting object represents the code in a flowchart manner and it can return you a Graph::Easy object.
This in turn can be converted it into all output formats currently supported by Graph::Easy, namely HTML, SVG, ASCII art, Unicode art, graphviz text etc.
Parsing
The parsing is done by PPI, so everything that is supported properly by PPI should work.
Customizing the flowchart
Per default, the flowchart will have certain properties, like bold start/end blocks, diamond-shaped if-blocks and so on. You can change these by setting class attributes on the returned graph object:
use Devel::Graph;
my $g = Devel::Graph->graph( '$a = 9 if $b == 1' );
$g->set_attribute('node.if', 'fill', 'red'); # if blocks: red
$g->set_attribute('node.for', 'fill', 'blue'); # for blocks: blue
$g->set_attribute('edge.true', 'style', 'bold');# true edges: bold
print $g->as_html_file();Subclasses for node include if, for, start, end, continue etc. For a list of all possible classes see Graph::Flowchart, and for a list of all possible attributes and their values, see Graph::Easy.
EXPORT
Exports nothing.
METHODS
graph() provides a simple function-style interface, while all other methods are for an object-oriented model.
graph()
my $graph = Devel::Graph->graph( \$code );
my $graph = Devel::Graph->graph( $filename );Takes Perl code in $code (as SCALAR ref or scalar filename) and returns a flowchart as Graph::Easy object. It will strip all POD before composing the flowchart.
This is a shortcut to avoid the OO interface described below and will be equivalent to:
my $code = \'$a = 9;';
my $flow = Devel::Graph->new();
$flow->decompose( $code );
$flow->finish( $code );
my $graph = $grapher->as_graph();Please see Graph::Easy for further details on what to do with the returned object.
new()
my $flow = Devel::Graph->new( $options );
my $flow_2 = Devel::Graph->new( { strip_pod => 0 } );Creates a new Devel::Graph object.
The optional $options is a hash reference with parameters. The following arguments are valid:
strip_pod Strip all POD before doing the graph. Defaults to true.
POD sections are usually very large, resulting in huge
nodes, that can, f.i. crash graphviz or result in
poor output quality.option()
my $option = $flow->option($name);Return the option with the given name from the Devel::Graph object.
decompose()
$flow->decompose( \$code ); # \'$a = 1;'
$flow->decompose( $filename ); # 'lib/Package.pm'Takes Perl code (scalar ref in $code) or Perl file (filename in $code) and decomposes it into blocks and updates the internal structures with a flowchart representing this code.
If called more than one time, the code will be added to the flowchart. To get a new, empty flowchart, use reset().
finish()
$flow->finish();Finish the flowchart by attaching an end node to the current node.
reset()
$flow->reset();Reset the internal state of the object, so that decompose() will create a new flowchart.
as_graph()
my $graph = $flow->as_graph();Return the internal data structure as Graph::Easy object.
as_ascii()
print $flow->as_ascii();Return the flow chart as ASCII art. Shortcut for $grapher-as_graph->as_ascii()>.
as_flowchart()
my $chart = $flow->as_flowchart();Return the internal data structure as Graph::Flowchart object.
BUGS
Not all Perl constructs are implemented yet, especially the more esoteric Perl constructs.
Also, things like <$a = 9 if $b == 9> (no () around the condition) are buggy and/or incomplete.
SEE ALSO
Graph::Easy, Graph::Flowchart, PPI.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms of the GPL version 2. See the LICENSE file for information.
AUTHOR
Copyright (C) 2004-2006 by Tels http://bloodgate.com