Introduction
The Data Call Graph scope offers a view based on the individual Data Call Graphs that exist in the current Application. A "call graph" is a view showing "Entry Points to End Points/Data Entities".
- Data Call Graphs option will be deactivated if there are no call graphs.
For any call graph, you cannot hide a grouped node.
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In ≥ 2.20.0
In ≥ 2.20.0, Data Call Graph modal is consistent with Global search. Note that in comparison to previous releases, there is no longer a filter for excluding transactions "with end-point" and "without end-point" - instead the search modal will now only return complete transactions (i.e. broken transactions (with and without end-points) are no longer returned:
In ≤ 2.18.0
Accessing the Data Call Graph scope
To access the Data Call Graph scope, click the Data call graph entry in the Investigation panel:
Choose a specific Data call graph to display. Data call graphs are listed in alphabetical order in the Search for Data call graphs dropdown - by default the first in the list is displayed in the view. The number in square brackets indicates the number of Data call graphs that are available. If there are none, the option will be deactivated.
Filtering the list of available data call graphs
Sometimes the list of data call graphs is very large and it can therefore be difficult to locate the item you need. If this is the case, you can use the filter option to reduce the list:
This opens a set of filtering options - you can use any of these options in isolation, a combination, or all of them. Click Reset to clear any changes you have made, or Done to apply the filtering settings.
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| Input | Filter the available items based on the item's entry point. Choose an entry point from the list - only items that include the chosen entry point will be made available. | ||||||||
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| Link types | Filter the available items based on the link type used:
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| Output | Filter the available items with or without an end point. By default, the filtering is applied to WITH items: this means that only transactions WITH an end-point are displayed by default. You can alternatively (or in addition) choose an end point from the drop down list - only items that include the chosen end point will be made available. | ||||||||
| Tags | Available in ≥ 2.16. Filter the available Tags associated with the respective Transaction or Data Call Graph (DCG). Only items that include the chosen Tags will be displayed.
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| Technologies | Available in ≥ 2.17. Filter the available Technologies associated with the respective Transaction or Data Call Graph (DCG). Only items that include the chosen Technologies will be displayed.
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| Result list | The result list displays all items that match the filter applied in the left hand panel. If there are still too many items even after applying the filter, you can search the results using the Search bar at the top:
In addition, you can further refine the search options if required, using the icon highlighted below:
Note that it is possible to set a custom default setting for these two options via the Advanced Search Configuration options in Configuring display preferences. You can also sort on Name (by default the items are sorted in alphabetical ascending order) and No. of Objects (number of objects refers to the total number of objects in the Reduced Call Graph (not the Full Call Graph)):
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For example, to filter items where the entry point object type is a "Java Class", select the item, click Done and the right hand panel will update with the list of items that match your filter:
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Finally select the item you wish to investigate and it will be displayed in the view.
Perspective selection
By default, the perspective (how the data is displayed) will be set to CAST Taxonomy (the default layout configured by CAST Imaging and the only layout available) and Level 4 - you can find out more about the Perspective options in User Guide - GUI - Investigate panel.
Navigation flow
Levels
Levels 4, 5 and Objects are available for selection when CAST Taxonomy aggregation is selected in the Investigate panel - these levels provide ever greater details about the items within the selected layer:
Actions
In ≥ 2.18, Vignettes are replaced by Multiple Tabs (new tab/s).
| Action | Location | Result/Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Double click on node | Level 4 | In version ≥ 2.12, double clicking a node will transition to level 5. |
| Level 5 | Drill down to Vignette mode i.e.: Objects level + drill mode Children + Caller/Callee + Group by communities (depending on the object selected). See also User Guide - GUI - Investigate panel for more information on Drill and Communities modes. Click to expand
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| Vignette mode | Expand and investigate the selected object to show its sub-objects. Note that when all sub-objects of the selected object are displayed, a message is shown to explain this:
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| Objects | View source code of the object. See User Guide - Viewing source code. | |
| Right click on node | Level 4 |
If the object properties cannot be retrieved in a timely manner, a retry button will be displayed:
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| Level 5 |
If the object properties cannot be retrieved in a timely manner, a retry button will be displayed:
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| Objects and Vignette mode |
If the object properties cannot be retrieved in a timely manner, a retry button will be displayed:
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| Single click on edge | Levels 4 and 5 | N/A |
| Objects and Vignette mode | Displays all the methods that are linked between classes and provides additional actions such as:
See User Guide - Using the Method view for more information. | |
| Double click on edge | Levels 4 and 5, Objects and Vignette | N/A |
Call graph start and end points (input/output)
Call graph start (input) and end (output) points are highlighted in the view at Objects level using red circles around the items if they exist:
Legend
Click the Input or Output items in the right hand legend to highlight the items:
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Shortest path
A related feature available at Object level is known as the Shortest Path feature and is controlled by the option in the left panel - it is disabled by default:
This option highlights the shortest path between the entry point and end point nodes, where multiple entry point and end point nodes are present in the view:
| Shortest Path disabled | Shortest Path enabled |
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Note that if no shortest path exists, a message is displayed in the bottom right corner:
Huge Data Call Graph, content is filtered
You may see the following message when looking through the list of available transactions:
This indicates that during the data export/import process, the tool identified that the transaction contained more than 10,000 objects, and therefore stopped the processing action for this specific data call graph. In other words, the detail of this data call graph has not been exported and is therefore unavailable.
It is possible to modify the threshold (default 10,000 objects) at which the CAST Imaging exporter tool will consider that a data call graph is "huge" - see Configuring huge transaction or data call graph threshold.
