IBM OpenDX - Design

Design

Data Explorer is a system of tools and user interfaces for visualizing data. In general terms the visualization of data can be considered a 3-stage process:

• Describing and importing data
• Processing the data through a visualization program
• Presenting the resulting image.

The principal components of OpenDX are

Data model

This is the set of definitions, rules, and conventions used to describe Data Explorer entities (including data fields, geometrical objects, and images).

Data Prompter

A user interface for describing data to be imported into Data Explorer.

Data Browser

A user interface for viewing a data file, determining the layout and organization of the data it contains, and transferring this information to the Data Prompter.

Scripting Language

A high-level language for creating visualization programs. It can also be used directly in a command mode to perform various tasks. Visual programs--i.e., the visualization programs displayed in the Visual Program Editor window as networks of module icons--are also written in the scripting language. A visual program constructed in this window by the user is translated into the same language when it is saved to disk.

Visual Program Editor (VPE)

A graphical user interface for creating and modifying visual programs (networks). Programs created with this editor are translated into the scripting language by Data Explorer and are stored in that form.

Modules

The building blocks (visualization tools) that constitute a visual program network. They can be directly accessed and manipulated in the Visual Program Editor.

Module Builder

A user interface for creating customized modules to be used in visual programs.

Image Window

An interactive window for viewing and modifying the presentation of the image produced by a visual program.

Control Panels

A user interface for changing the parameter values used by a visual program.