CityPlot: CityPlot

In CityPlot: Visualization of structure and contents of a database

Description

CityPlot generates an extended version of a traditional entity-relationship diagram for a database. It provides a combined view of database structure and contents.
The graphical output applies the metaphor of a city (that's why it's called CityPlot):
Each entity corresponds to a building, relationships between entities correspond to the underground distribution network of a city.
The size of an entity box is adjusted according to available database contents for this entity:
Wide boxes represent entities with many attributes, high boxes represent entities with many records.
Each available data point is represented by a colored small spot within the corresponding entity box.
Each column of spots corresponds to a certain attribute and is colored according to its data type.
Numeric data points are colored in blue, categorical in green, date/time in yellow (time: light yellow, date: dark yellow), others in red. White spots correspond to missing data.

Input: A csv-file for each database table and a controlfile describing relations between tables (see examples)
Output: An extended ER diagram

Usage

 CityPlot(controlfile = "", pdfmode = "",shownames=T) 

Arguments

controlfile	File name of controlfile describing database tables and their relations. File format: see examples. If omitted, file.choose()-dialog is started
pdfmode	value "y" or "Y": graphical output as pdf-file
shownames	value T or F: display names of entities

Author(s)

Martin Dugas ([e-mail])

References

CityPlot: colored ER diagrams to visualize structure and contents of databases (manuscript submitted)

Examples

   ## Not run: 
CityPlot(controlfile=file.path(path.package("CityPlot"),"extdata","ER_control.txt"))
   
## End(Not run)

CityPlot documentation built on May 1, 2019, 8:21 p.m.