Design
Data Explorer is a system of tools and user interfaces for visualizing data. In general terms the visualization of data can be considered a 3-stage process:
- Describing and importing data
- Processing the data through a visualization program
- Presenting the resulting image.
The principal components of OpenDX are
- Data model
- This is the set of definitions, rules, and conventions used to describe Data Explorer entities (including data fields, geometrical objects, and images).
- Data Prompter
- A user interface for describing data to be imported into Data Explorer.
- Data Browser
- A user interface for viewing a data file, determining the layout and organization of the data it contains, and transferring this information to the Data Prompter.
- Scripting Language
- A high-level language for creating visualization programs. It can also be used directly in a command mode to perform various tasks. Visual programs--i.e., the visualization programs displayed in the Visual Program Editor window as networks of module icons--are also written in the scripting language. A visual program constructed in this window by the user is translated into the same language when it is saved to disk.
- Visual Program Editor (VPE)
- A graphical user interface for creating and modifying visual programs (networks). Programs created with this editor are translated into the scripting language by Data Explorer and are stored in that form.
- Modules
- The building blocks (visualization tools) that constitute a visual program network. They can be directly accessed and manipulated in the Visual Program Editor.
- Module Builder
- A user interface for creating customized modules to be used in visual programs.
- Image Window
- An interactive window for viewing and modifying the presentation of the image produced by a visual program.
- Control Panels
- A user interface for changing the parameter values used by a visual program.
Read more about this topic: IBM OpenDX
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