[bxparks]

Yup, I have the same problem with UML diagrams. I always end up drawing the UML or ER diagrams by hand (i.e. manually), incorporating the tables/fields/relationships that seem interesting, leaving out the things that aren't. Then I update the diagrams multiple times as I start to understand the system better, or make changes to it.

[kgilpin]

Hi, if you are working in Ruby or Java, you might be interested in my project which is called AppLand (https://app.land). AppLand dynamically draws visualizations of web services, code paths, and SQL queries. The information is obtained primarily by running test cases; a browser plugin can also be used to step through the app and create a recording, which is then visualized in AppLand. AppLand gives you an end-to-end depiction of your code and data flows, so it's broader in scope than a static analysis (e.g. class diagram). And unlike APM (e.g. New Relic) you get detailed information about code internals (parameter values, function calls, etc).

Best of all, you can filter the views down to specific classes, keywords, and web service routes, which solves the scaling problem ("too many nodes!") that one generally finds with UML or ERD on large projects.

[Hooopo]

Great! may i ask what is the tool you draw the diagram?

[kgilpin]

For the first version we used Mermaid, but in order to make it more interactive it’s now custom d3 code. It uses many of the same dependencies as Mermaid, for example graph layout.

[Hooopo]

Awesome!