Rapid Visualization Development based on Visual Programming Developing a Visualization Prototyping Language
Benedikt Stehno, Martin Haidacher · 2012
In this paper we introduce a dataflow visual programming language (DFVPL) and a visual editor for the rapid development of visualizations. It enables users with only little programming experience to develop custom visualizations. With this programming language, called OpenInsightExplorer, users can develop visualizations by connecting graphical representations of modules rather than writing source code. Each module represents a part of a processing step in the visualization pipeline. Modules are designed to function as an independent black box and they start to operate as soon as data is sent to them. This black box design and execution model allows to reuse modules more frequently and simplifies their development. The usability of the programming language was evaluated by implementing two example visualizations with it. Each example originates from different areas of visualization (scientific and information visualization), therefore demanding different data types, data transformation tasks and rendering.