Deprecate JavaFXSmartGraph

[dimanyfantakis]

Description

The library we are currently using for visualizing our diagrams, is very limited and hard to extend. The diagrams we visualize in the integrated canvas of our front-end, don't look like UML diagrams, but rather a very simplistic graph representation of our model.
This makes sense since the library we are currently using is designed to render simplistic graphs and was extended to support different UML elements for our needs.

Scope

Some research needs to be made on what is the best approach to take when developing our own library.
Preferably, the library should not be embedded inside our tool but rather be an external library that we will use in a similar way to what we are doing now. This will make it easier to extend our current code rather than removing the old dependency and changing all API usages.
A first step would be to replace all calls to JavaFXSmartGraph classes by implementing an Adapter.

Material

• https://github.com/jabbalaci/graphviz-java-api
• https://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/
• https://github.com/nidi3/graphviz-java

Approach

Option One.

Represent our diagrams using DOT and then use a Graphviz reader library to render the diagram.

Pros

• Easy to implement
• Already existing Java reader libraries for Graphviz.

Cons

• Dependency towards Graphviz.
• We can probably achieve the same by having a dependency towards PlantUML and then visualize the diagram by calling PlantUML using the command line.

Option Two.

The second option would be to implement a library that uses the SVG format.

Pros

• A lot more flexibility/options.
• Can be visualized within our tool using JavaFX.
• We can supposedly generate an SVG from our existing PlantUML diagram.

Cons

• More complex to implement.