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To connect to the CAST Imaging, browse to the URL given by your administrator. For example:
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≥ 2.0.0-beta6: http://<server_IP_address>:8083/imaging/login http://<server_host_name>:8083/imaging/login ≤ 2.0.0-beta5: http://<server_IP_address>/imaging/login http://<server_host_name>/imaging/login |
Enter your credentials and then click LOG IN.
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If necessary, click the eye icon to view or to check if the password is correct.
Error messages
Following error message is displayed if either the username or password is incorrect:
Following error message is displayed if Login Services do not start correctly.
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Once an application is selected the scope is narrowed to that application:
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Toolbar menu options
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Available options:
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This option displays the App Insight panel:
Click to enlarge
This panel provides a general overview of the current application, providing information such as:
- LOC (line of code) value
- Total number of nodes
- Total number of links
- Total number of transactions
- Total number of data call graphs
- Technologies included
In addition, to kick-start the investigation process, various links are provided that will take users direct to a specific view, for example:
- Investigate Level 5 nodes
- Display all database objects
- Display all tables
- Display table access links
- etc.
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Displays the Application Information card:
Click to enlarge
Application info
- Lines of Code: This is the value reported by the metric Number of Code Lines (10151) for the entire application.
- Number of Artifacts: This is the value reported by the metric Number of Artifacts (10152) for the entire application - see By default a maximum of 6 views can be saved. This restriction can be changed in Configuring display preferences. for more information.
- Number of Decisions Points: This is the value reported by the metric Number of Decision Points (10506) for the entire application.
Taxonomy of Levels
"Taxonomy" information to show how the various "levels" in the application are classified.
- Abstracted Service level (Level 1)
- Service level (Level 2)
- Concept level (Level 3)
- Technology / Framework level (Level 4)
- Object Type level (Level 5)
Investigation Path
Shows how to navigate through the various levels:
- Move down levels >> double click
- Move back through levels >> SHIFT + double click
Version details
Indicates the version number of the ETL tool used to import the Application into CAST Imaging:
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See Admin Center - API key generation and usage.
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| Only visible to users with the ADMIN or SUPER ADMIN role AND when working in the Admin Center. |
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Admin/User menu - see below.
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This icon is only displayed when logged in as a user with the ADMIN role and when working in the Admin Center GUI. Shows the installed release of CAST Imaging and will prompt when the installed release has been superseded:
A link to download the latest release is also available.
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This icon is only displayed when logged in as a user with the ADMIN role and when working in the Admin Center GUI. Indicates the current "health" of all CAST Imaging services. A red dot indicates that at least one service is not functioning. Clicking the icon will show the status of all services:
You can use the refresh icon to get a current status update.
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| If you have not yet configured the source code viewer or your configured CAST Storage Service/PostgreSQL instance is down or not accessible, the Source Code service will show a red dot, indicating an issue. |
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Available menu options
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Menu option
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Description
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Provides access to the Admin Center. Only displayed when logged in as a user with the ADMIN role. Refer to: Configuration options - Admin Center GUI.
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Allows you to logout of CAST Imaging.
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Available in ≥ 2.1.0-funcrel. Documentation below shows ≥ 2.2.0-funcrel. |
The Investigate panel is a slide in panel that provides navigation options for the current view. To toggle the panel, use the 
icon in the top left corner. This option opens or closes the slide in panel:
The position of the Investigate panel is stored in memory and persists between logins. Note that the panel can be manually resized by dragging the divider and will lock to a "minimized" display:
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The Perimeter options determine what is displayed in the view:
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Scope
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Enables you to switch between the various available scopes. For example:
- Application scope
- Module scope
- Transaction mode
- Data Call Graph scope
- Architecture layer scope
- Service scope
- Custom scope
For all Scopes (except Application), a sub scope selector is available, for example for Data Call Graph mode - this allows you to select specific items within that scope:
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The Perspective options largely govern how the selected Scope is displayed:
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Aggregated by
Enables you to choose how to group the objects in the Application, for example:
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This is the standard grouping option determined by CAST Imaging (and is equivalent to the grouping used in previous releases of CAST Imaging). It is available across all Scopes:
Click to enlarge
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Displays the Application by individual Modules - these Modules are determined during source code delivery/analysis using AIPCONSOLE:
Click to enlarge
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| The User Guide - Module scope displays similar, but only individual Modules can be selected. |
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Displays the Application by individual Microservices - these Microservices are determined when the Application in question has been analyzed with a specific extension installed, before it is exported/imported into CAST Imaging:
Click to enlarge
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The User Guide - Service scope displays similar, but only individual Services can be selected. |
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Provides a choice of Architecture Models available in the selected Application (these are configured using AIPCONSOLE). When one is selected, the view displays all Architecture Model layers available in the selected Architecture Model:
Click to enlarge
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The User Guide - Service scope displays similar, but only individual Services can be selected. |
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Available only in CAST Imaging ≥ 2.6.0 and when the imported Application contains SAP ABAP source code. |
Displays only ABAP Package objects and shows the interdependencies between them:
Click to enlarge
In addition, this aggregation mode can be customized using the Custom Aggregation option (unlike other default Aggregation Modes such as CAST Taxonomy).
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Use this option to further refine the aggregation using the levels mechanism. The levels available differ according to the scope/aggregation mode you are working in:
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| CAST Taxonomy | Modules | Architecture Model | ||
| Level 1 | Highest level, objects grouped into nodes such as:
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| Level 2 |
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| Level 3 |
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| Level 4 | Specific object groupings such as:
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| Level 5 | More detailed object groupings such as:
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| Objects | Individual object display in vignette mode: Click to enlarge
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These options are only available when drilling down beyond Level 5:
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Determines the type of "expand" action that is performed when drilling down beyond Level 5:
- Children + caller/callee, group by communities
- Children only, group by communities
- Children + external objects, group by communities
These options are available for parent nodes that group together package based objects, for example Java Classes, some database objects etc. On selecting any of the options, all child or caller/callee objects of the objects in the selected node will be displayed in a new view together with external objects (depending on the option selected). The objects are grouped in the new view based on their packages:
Click to enlarge
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| Only visible when a drill down option that includes Communities is chosen. |
- Keep Immediate (default option) > Here all the other groups related to the selected group remain in the view and objects belonging to the selected group will be added to the view as square nodes and all other groups which are not related to the selected group are regrouped into a single parent node.
- Group Others > Here objects belonging to the selected group are added to the view as square nodes and all other groups are regrouped into a single parent node.
- Keep All > Here all the other groups remain the same where as objects belonging to the selected group are added to graph as square nodes.
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Use these options to choose an auto-layout for the nodes. For specific scopes, a specific layout maybe predefined (for example, Hierarchical is always used for Data Call Graph mode. In Hierarchical layout, additional options are available:
Use these to:
- change the distance between nodes, horizontally
- change the distance between nodes, vertically
- change the ranking direction ( "TB"|"BT"|"LR"|"RL") - top-bottom/bottom-top, left-right/right-left)
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Add a document view
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Hide external libraries
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Allows you to filter on the type of objects that are displayed in the view. Toggling the options will remove and re-display corresponding objects from the view:
- External > External objects are those originating in third-party libraries or system assemblies.
- Isolated Nodes > Nodes that are not linked to any other node.
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Hide isolated nodes
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This option hides any nodes that entirely isolated, i.e. do not have any links to other nodes:
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Reduced call graph
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Only available when:
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This option (when clicked) will update the view to display the selected Transaction's call graph in reduced mode - this is a simplified transaction call graph that is particularly useful when the standard call graph is very large: specific nodes and links that are less important will be removed from the view. The nodes/links that are displayed when this option is selected are determined automatically during the Application export process.
Before using the option - note the nodes highlighted in red - these are the nodes that are displayed after enabling the option:
After:
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Shortest path
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This displays the critical (i.e. shortest) path between two objects (source and target). The view will show the critical (i.e. shortest) path between the input node (i.e. the selected transaction/node) and a "dummy" output node (any nodes/objects not involved will be temporarily hidden). For example, a JSP transaction is selected in the Investigation panel and the critical path is highlighted on drill down beyond Level 5:
Click to enlarge
Disabling the option will return to the main layout.
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Main objects only
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Only available:
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Toggles the view to show main objects and sub-objects (default when not enabled) and main objects only (when enabled):
Before using the option - note the nodes highlighted in red - these are the nodes that are displayed after enabling the option:
After:
Note that some right click options on nodes are disabled when Main objects only is enabled:
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Export all objects and links
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Save a view / Updated saved view
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To save the current view with a view name (available in all view types across all levels in ≥ 1.10.0). To view the saved view, see Saved views.
When you are viewing an existing saved view, this option will re-save the view.
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Removed saved view
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Only available:
- in the Search view - allows you to clear the Search view of all objects.
- in a Saved view - allows you to delete the Saved view (cannot be reversed)
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Left sidebar menus
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See above.
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Available in CAST Imaging ≥ 2.7.0. |
See User Guide - Reports.
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Use this option to help build layouts with nodes/objects that are equidistance from each other. When enabled, additional guide lines will be added to the view when arranging nodes/objects:
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Provides two menu options:
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Rectangle selection - allows the selection of multiple items.
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Lasso selection - allows the selection of multiple items free hand.
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Note that you can also select items in the view as follows:
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Grouping feature. Two options available:
- Group selected nodes
- Ungroup selected nodes
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The selection enables you to group and ungroup specific sets of objects/technologies.
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Group selected nodes:
- Select the nodes, using either Rectangle or Lasso selection.
- Using Grouping Features option, select Group selected nodes. All the selected nodes are grouped:
- Right click on "Grouped node" to rename the group.
To ungroup, repeat the process and this time select Ungroup selected nodes.
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The Visual Grouping option enables you to visualize a specific level grouping in another level. For example, if you are working in level 5 you can choose to view the nodes in level 5 using the grouping from any of the other levels 1 - 4. Choosing Level 1 when in Level 5 (for example) will show the following: the rectangle shapes are added to the view to indicate which nodes would be grouped in their respective grouping - e.g. in this example:
- Service
- User Interaction
- Data Services
To remove the visualization, choose the Remove Visualisation option:
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| Only visible when working in drill down investigation mode, beyond Level 5. |
See User Guide - Working with tags.
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Diagram options:
- Legend
- Object Label
- Relationship Label
- Badge
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Legend: Hide/unhide the legend located in the top right corner.
The legend is interactive - clicking an item in the legend will hide/unhide the associated objects in the view:
All items enabled:
Web interaction disabled:
In addition you can use the Unselect All / Select All options to toggle hide and unhide all nodes in the view:
When the Application scope and any aggregation mode is selected, colours are now used to identify the specific grouped items (Modules, Service etc.) in the view:
Click to expand
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Object Label: Hide/unhide:
This option helps to hide and unhide the Object Label.
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Relationship Label: Hide/unhide:
This option shows the relationship between two objects.
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Badge: Shows the number of objects in a node (it does not include objects of other nodes). You can hide/unhide it.
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| Only functions when working in drill down investigation mode, beyond Level 5. |
Toggles between grouped links/edges (default position) and ungrouped.
Explanation: some links/edges in the drill down view will be "highlighted". This indicates that there is more than one link between the objects and therefore these links/edges are grouped:
Using the Ungroup links option, all links between the two objects will be displayed:
Use the option again to toggle between the two states (grouped/ungrouped).
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| Only visible when working in drill down investigation mode, beyond Level 5. |
Enables you to hide selected objects from the view. Also available in the right click contextual menu.
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Only visible when the Tutorial is enabled for your login.
Displays the Tutorial - an interactive guide to help understand the various features available in CAST Imaging. It provides an application walkthrough using three major steps to explain application architecture, drill down capabilities and annotations. Each step has a set of actions defined for you to work through. Certain actions also have a help button to identify the elements. Following all the steps and actions will provide a better understanding of the core CAST Imaging capabilities:
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Click to enlarge
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Top right corner
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When a node is selected, clicking this icon will show the Object Properties dialog:
If the object properties cannot be retrieved in a timely manner, a retry button will be displayed:
Bottom left corner
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This icon is only visible in in Saved views and Search views modes. It enables you to create multiple "views" or "vignettes" to investigate a specific set of items. Vignettes can be created from the "base" view in Saved views and Search views modes.
View creation
To create the view, select the items you are interested in, then click the Create View option. The view "vignette" will be created (click to enlarge):
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| By default a maximum of 6 views can be created. This restriction can be changed in Configuring display preferences. |
View
- Each view can be dragged holding on to the drag icon present in the bottom right and dragging it.
The view can be re-centered by clicking the icon in the bottom left.
Save view
You can save the contents of the currently selected vignette in a "saved view", by clicking the Save icon in the top right;
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Please note the following:
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Delete view
Each view can be deleted by clicking the close icon in the top right corner of the view. You will be prompted before the delete occurs.
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These options are available only at Level 5 and Objects mode (and also in Saved views which have objects and sub-objects included). They allow you to undo/redo actions such as:
- adding callers/callees
- add custom objects/links
- when auto-grouped objects (i.e. nodes that are automatically grouped together by CAST Imaging) are manually ungrouped. Note that the undo/redo actions are not available for nodes that have been manually grouped together.
The keyboard commands CTRL + X and CTRL + Y are also supported.
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Use this to change levels. Only available in Application scope and CAST Taxonomy aggregation mode. This has the same effect as using the drop down:
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In the majority of scenarios, this button will be disabled (gray). However, when accessing a node (double click) which contains more than 3000 child nodes, or more than 9000 edges (thresholds can be changed in Configuring display preferences), a progressive rendering system is invoked in order to avoid situations where the rendering process locks the browser. Portions of the full graph are displayed progressively in steps and when this occurs, a message will be displayed in the bottom right corner:
Closing the message will reveal the Stop icon enabled and flashing in a blue colour. You can click this button to stop the progressive loading.
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Visible only in Level 5 views when using the view/vignette, or in other views in where the vignette is available (Architecture model mode, Module view mode etc.):
The options will:
- expand all (ungroup) all nodes in one go
- collapse all (regroup) all nodes in one go (only displayed once the Expand All option has been selected).
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Investigate panel / Toolbar / Menu & Icons
See the pages below for more information:
Children Display
UI error handling
If the UI hangs when consulting an application, a popup will appear, for example:
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