Introduction
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:
Perimeter options
The Perimeter options determine what is displayed in the view:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Scope |
Enables you to switch between the various available scopes. For example:
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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Perspective options
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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| Levels | 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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| Scope of callers/callees | Available only in CAST Imaging ≥ 2.12.0 Provides "scope of callers/callees" for the current scope view and application level view. This option is available when you drill down to any node at Level 5 from the following scopes:
By default, the current view scope (Transaction or Data Call Graph or module, etc) of caller/callee will always be selected. You can, however, switch the scope of the caller/callees to the Application level (clicking the Application option) and check the details of add caller, add callees, add linked objects and so on.
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Drill down / Communities mode options
These options are only available when drilling down beyond Level 5 in the Application scope with the CAST Taxonomy Perspective:
| Icon/Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Determines the type of "expand" action that is performed when drilling down beyond Level 5:
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 and/or caller/callee objects of the objects in the selected node will be displayed in a new view. When a "group by communities" option is chosen, the objects are grouped in the new view based on their packages (i.e. their "Community). Click to enlarge
Note about Children + Caller/Callee drill downs When the Children + Caller/Callee option is selected, some callers/callees are automatically grouped into special "grouped nodes" depicted using a pentagon shaped node:
Starting CAST Imaging 2.12, an "Expand all" option is available for grouped nodes (this also functions when multiple "grouped nodes" (pentagon shaped nodes) are selected):
Note about Communities drill downs In Object Views, CAST Imaging uses Communities to regroup objects according to the code organization used during the development process. For instance, packages in Java, classes in .NET, programs in Cobol... Communities are automatically created by CAST Imaging during the analysis process for supported technologies and cannot be customized. Communities simplify the display of views: they reduce the number of objects in an Object View. As this organization often represents the functional/business part of an application, it can help when investigating a specific functional part or when trying to obtain clearer adherence between functional areas. Communities are only available in when drilling down from Level 5 and when the Perspective is set to CAST Taxonomy. The following icon depicts a community node:
Where the Children + caller/callee, group by communities mode is used, any caller/callee nodes that are also communities will feature the communities badge in the bottom left corner as well as the technology badge:
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| Only visible when a drill down option that includes the "group by communities" is chosen.
Click to expand
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Layout options
| Icon/Option | Action | Description | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graph layout feature | 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. You can also define a default layout at global level via the display preferences - see Preferred Graph Layout in Configuring display preferences. In Hierarchical, Sequential and Force layouts, additional options are available: Hierarchical and Sequential (available in ≥ 2.11)
Force (available in ≥ 2.11)
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| See User Guide - Using the Annotate feature for more information. | |||||
| 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:
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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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| Only available when:
This option (when clicked) will update the view to display the selected Transaction's call graph in full mode. By default a simplified transaction call graph (reduced call graph) is always displayed so that view loading time is kept as short as possible (particularly useful when the standard call graph is very large): specific nodes and links that are less important are automatically hidden from the view. The nodes/links that are displayed when in simplified/reduced mode are determined automatically during the Application export process. Before using the option (default simplified/reduced mode):
After switching to full call graph mode:
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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. | ||||||
| Only available:
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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| Exports the current view to a number of different output formats. See Export views. | ||||||
| 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, additional options are available:
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| Only available:
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| Only available when you click on any tab/link from the Welcome page. This option redisplays the Welcome Guide popup which explains the custom layout you are using. | ||||||
| Presents the data (i.e. all objects/nodes) in the current Graphical view in tabular format:
Functions at all levels in CAST Imaging:
You may filter the objects based on its type, count of children and external type.
Click on Hide Tabular View button |
