A program written for the lecture
Informations visualisation (summer term 2004)

Michael Wohlfahrt, 9825026
Jürgen Platzer, 0025360

Functionality of the program

Starting the program

Our program was written in Java. At the time we developed this application the Java Development Kit 1.4.2_01 was used.

On this webpage we provide the source code (themeriver_source.zip) as well as the compiled files (themeriver.zip). (These files were compiled on Windows XP with the JDK 1.4.2_01.)

To compile the program the files have to be extracted into a directory (e.g. C:\ThemeRiver). Afterwards the following commands have to be executed:

javac -classpath "C:\ThemeRiver" *.java
javac -classpath "C:\ThemeRiver" data\*.java
javac -classpath "C:\ThemeRiver" drawing\*.java

To start the program the command

java -classpath "C:\ThemeRiver" ThemeRiver

has to be executed in the directory, in which the file ThemeRiver.class is stored. Afterwards the following window appears on the screen.

Screenshot of the program
Picture 2: Screenshot of the program

The menu data

To create a first visualization a dataset has to be loaded. By using the menu data / load or the shortcut ctrl+o a text file in the csv format can be loaded. The semi colon is used as separator. The data format is here: 

      <Time unit>;<Attribute 1>;<Attribute 2>;...;<Attribute n>
      <Point in time 1>;<Numerical data attribute 1>;<Numerical data attribute 2>;...;<Numerical data attribute n>
      <Point in time 2>;<Numerical data attribute 1>;<Numerical data attribute 2>;...;<Numerical data attribute n>
      ...              ;...                         ;...                         ;...;...
      <Point in time m>;<Numerical data attribute 1>;<Numerical data attribute 2>;...;<Numerical data attribute n>

By calling the menu data / export image the current visualization can be saved as JPG or PNG image. For the image generation the current export properties are used. These can be changed in the menu data / export properties.

The menu visualization

In this menu several configurations concerning

can be made. Additionally the mode can be switched between the classic ThemeRiver and a histogram visualization.

The menu visualization / color properties opens a window to modify, save and load colors for the rivers.

The menu Magic Lens

When the menu Magic Lens / Create is called, an area in the current visualization is created, in which a different visualization style is shown. The visualization in this area can be steered in the Magic Lens menu. The area can be moved by dragging it with the mouse. When the black border surrounding the area is dragged, the magic lens can be resized. The area can be removed by using the menu Magic Lens / Delete.