Application Domains

The combination of yFiles FLEX and yFiles FLEX Client Layout Extension offers sophisticated functionality that can help in a variety of problem fields. Following are some example drawings of diagrams from different kinds of application domains. All of these drawings have been computed automatically by layout algorithms that are part of the yFiles FLEX Client Layout Extension.

In database design as well as database management and administration Entity-Relationship diagrams (E-R diagrams) are used to sketch and to visualize entities together with their relations. Figure 1.5, “Entity-Relationship diagram” shows an example of an E-R diagram.

Figure 1.5. Entity-Relationship diagram

Entity-Relationship diagram.

In software engineering the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is widely recognized as the standard to model the relationships between classes. Figure 1.6, “Software engineering” presents a high-quality UML diagram of a mid-sized project.

Figure 1.6. Software engineering

Software engineering with UML.

The UML notation is also used in software documentation. yDoc, for instance, a Javadoc™ extension that can embed UML diagrams into API documentations, uses the yFiles for Java library to automatically generate drawings that reflect the class and/or package dependencies inherent to a Java project. Figure 1.7, “Software documentation” shows the UML diagram of a small excerpt of such a project.

Figure 1.7. Software documentation

Software documentation using UML.