LTfLL Files

FOSSA: flexible graph rendering with class

>> Start fossa.html to see this text in your <<
>> favorite browser -- together with a demo. <<

Fossa is a self-contained flex executible which runs in any browser
that supports flash. It reads graphML files and renders the contained 
network of nodes connected by edges on the screen with the help
of a force-directed layout. Fossa uses the visualisation tool-kit 
prefuse flare.

Fossa will use the image 'images/logo.jpg' for the waiting screen 
shown while fetching data.

Fossa will open the graphML file at the URL handed over in the 
flashvar 'text', see the HTML code of this page for an example.

Fossa does interpret the following graphML properties:

    * node.name: the label of the node (character string)
    * node.colour: the fill colour of the node (hex values: rrggbb)
    * node.size: the expansion factor of the node (in pixels)
    * node.alpha: the transparency of the node (0..1, default 0.8)
    * node.linecolour: the line colour of the node symbol (hex values: rrggbb, default black = 000000), 
	   the line will have an alpha of 0.8 (slightly transparent) and has 2 pixel width
    * node.shape: geometrical shape type of the node symbol (square, circle, for more shapes see here)
    * node.zoom: URL of the next graphML file: when clicking on the node, the 
	   graphML data file at URL will be loaded and displayed
    * edge.name: the label of the edge (character string)
    * edge.colour: the colour of the line connecting to nodes (alpha = 1.0)
    * edge.weight: the thickness of the line

You can find a couple of examples in the data directory coming with this release.

Use firebug for Mozilla firefox to see log messages. Watch out for the cross-domain 
scripting problem: you may have to adjust your browser's flash security settings, 
if you want to use Fossa across domains (but if you use a same-origin URL, e.g. a 
relative path, everything should be fine).

Fossa has been written by Fridolin Wild, KMi, The Open University.

This is release 0.2 dating July 26th, 2010. Fossa is GPL-3.

Fossa uses code of a couple of other open source projects, without them Fossa 
would not have been possible: SWFObject by Geoff Stearns (MIT License) is used for 
creating the HTML embed object. It uses the visualisation tool kit prefuse 
flare (BSD License) and the ThunderBolt AS3 logger (Mozilla Public License 1.1).