Application to generate Java class hierarchy diagram

Question

Looking for a tool that:

• Produces a visually pleasing (not garish), orthogonally structured graph hierarchy
• Outputs high-quality PNG images (300dpi+)
• Visually differentiates classes, abstract classes, interfaces, and enumerated types (preferably by colour)
• Interactive user interface
• Allows pruning of packages and/or individual classes from the diagram
• Seeds (e.g., File » Open) using a set of:
  • Directories
  • JAR files
  • Individual source files
  • Individual compiled classes
• Performs a fully automatic analysis of class dependencies
• Searches classpath to resolve as many unmet dependencies as possible
• Uses a single executable
• Is lightweight (~5MB) and fast (loads in under one second on an average 1.5GHz machine)
• Is simple (under 10 clicks to generate a graph)
• Is quick (graph 100 objects in a few seconds)
• Is easy to use (minimal interface, focused on graph generation)
• Is OSS or GPL
• (Optional) Generates a call-graph hierarchy

Tools that will not accomplish this task include:

• Doxygen + GraphViz (or dot)
• Eclipse
• UML modellers
• Structural Analysis for Java (cannot parse source files)
• JUDE Community (awkard interface, unsuitable autogeneration)
• Integrated development environments (too complex, and use too much memory)

Any ideas?

Solution 1

It seems that Class Visualizer meets all your requirements (except of saving diagram as PNG).

Solution 2

The answer is probably "no such OSS / free application exists". Why? Because:

1. Most people who want an inheritance diagram for a large number of classes are already working in the context of an IDE or similar. Ergo there is little motivation for OSS developers to produce such a tool.
2. Automatically creating visually appealing diagrams of large numbers of classes is next to impossible.

I suggest that you relax your requirements. I mean, what is wrong with using a large scale IDE or UML modeller? Memory is cheap. What is wrong with waiting a few seconds to load / run the diagrammer? Patience grasshopper! What high-school student with 2 days of training is going to be looking at source-code base with 10,000+ classes???

Solution 3

The Netbeans UML plugin will cover some of your requirements.

• Produces a visually appealing graph hierarchy: a matter of taste
• Writes high-quality PNG images (300dpi+): I don't know
• Visually differentiates classes, abstract classes, interfaces, and enumerated types: yes it does as it uses UML
• Interactive user interface: yes
• Allows pruning of packages and/or individual classes from the diagram: yes
• Seeds (e.g., File » Open) using a set of: it work with netbeans projects
  • Directories
  • JAR files
  • Individual source files
  • Individual compiled classes
• Performs a fully automatic analysis: maybe
• Uses a single executable: not applicable, it's a plugin of Netbeans
• Is lightweight and fast: like netbeans
• Is simple, quick, and easy to use: depends of user
• Is OSS or GPL: I think it is OSS, surely it is free as in free drink
• (Optional) Generates a call-graph hierarchy (in addition to a class hierarchy): I don't think it does

Comments

[Stephen C]

My basic points still stands. Your requirements are not likely to be met by any existing OSS product.

[Admin]

maven with some plugins is probably a better solution. JXR is way more useful than diagrams.

[Pratik Khadloya]

According to the author class-visualizer.net is the latest version of the class visualizer. The latest release 0.7.0 only works with Java 7+