One of my current projects is a VBA-programm that analyzes the structure of another MS Access Database. I’m not going to describe how this project works in this post as it is quite extensive.
Just to be quick, in the end I get a table that contains all relationships for example: which tables and queries are included in queries, which form refers to which query, which VBA function calls which other function. (In case you are wondering, I use this information to clear up obsolete code in large DB-Projects, so I need to be aware of all dependencies).
Now I have all these relationships and I thought just looking at them in structured table views, why not try to visualize in a more attractive manner?
So I grabbed my beloved Processing and started coding. What I was trying to do was to generate a view that contains all the relationships but is essentially sorting itself into the most effective structure.
Thanks to TRAER.PHYSICS I did not have to worry to much about that. Essentially I generate all related objects as particles. Objects that are related are connected to each other by a spring but all objects repel each other. That way all objects try to get as far away from each other as possible but are hindered by their relationship thus sorting themselves.
The final touch was adding colors:
If you want to have a look here you find the real thing. The relationships are from a moderately sized MS Access Project containing only few tables and mostly VBA code. You can actually grab each particle by clicking on it and dragging it to another position That particle will then be fixed. Releasing all fixed particles just press “r”. Pressing “d” will position all particles in the middle and releasing them. They will reorder themselves.
