SiteVisz User Guide

To start the application, you need the SiteVisz.jar. Usually a version number is attached to the file (for example SiteVisz10.jar), but it is possible to rename this file in whatever you like.
On a Windows-platform, you should be able to start the application with a simple double-click on the .jar-File (like a normal .exe-File). If this doesn’t work, or if you use another platform, you have to start it in the command line:

java – jar SiteVisz.jar

The GUI should be open afterwards.

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2. Getting familiar with the GUI

2.1. The elements of the GUI

1 – Main menu
2 – URL input-field
3 – Main action-buttons
4 – Graph-depth selector
5 – View-selector
6 – Status-bar

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2.2. Main menu

In the main menu, the basic functionality of the GUI is available.
Here, you can:
save and re-open sitemaps
export them to html
set the export-options
change the look and feel (skin) of the GUI
open a help-window

Some of these steps are explained in some of the following chapters of this user guide.

2.3. URL input-field

In this text-field, you have to write the URL of the page, you want to parse. An additional option is to paste the content of the clipboard into this field by pressing the button on the right site.

2.4. Main action-buttons

From left to right:
1.OK – starts a job with the URL in the text-field
2.Cancel – cancels a running job
3.Undo – goes to the previous node in the graph-view (explained later)
4.Exit – quits the GUI

2.5. Graph-depth selector

This input field provides the possibility to select the depth of the graph-view.

2.6. View-selector

Each tab represents a different view on the sitemap.
1.Graph:
Presents the sitemap in a graph.
2.Tree:
Presents the sitemap in a tree.

2.7. Status-bar

The status-bar provides different information during the session.
It is used to give feedback from the application (for example error-messages or page-count) and to show the titles of selected URLs in the graph/tree.

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3. Generating a sitemap

3.1. Running a job

To generate a sitemap, you simply have to insert a URL into the input-field and to press OK.
Immediately the parser starts his job.
While the tree-view is updated at the end of each job, the graph-view is updated continuously. After a couple of seconds, the graph should start to evolve.
During the parsing-process it is NOT possible to navigate through the single nodes of a graph.
The end of a job is displayed in the status-bar (“Generating Sitemap finished!”) and the graph is “imploding” to the depth, set in the input field.

3.2. Cancelling a job

If the job takes to long, it is possible to cancel it and to display all pages, the parser has collected to this moment.
After pressing the Cancel-button, the sitemap is generated again, with the current data. That’s why it can take a couple of seconds to finish the job.

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4. Navigating through the sitemap

4.1. Graph-view

The current selected URL-node is coloured yellow. From this node, all child-nodes down to the chosen depth are displayed and connected with edges.
A click on an other node sets it as selected node an reorganizes the graph. The title of the node appears in the status-bar.
A double-click on a node does the same. In addition it opens the selected URL in a browser.
The undo-button gets the last selected node and sets it as current node. This is for example useful if you have reached one end of the graph, where no child-nodes are available.

It is possible to move the graph, by dragging a node, which is not selected.

4.2. Tree-view

In the tree-view the structure of a site is broken down to a tree. Eventual cycles in the site-structure are ignored.
The navigation is similar to the tree-model of the Windows folders. A click on the left side of a folder expands it.
A click on the entry itself displays the title of the selected URL in the status-bar.
A double-click on an entry opens it in the browser.
The undo-button and the depth input-field have no functionality in this view.

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5. Save/Open sitemap

After generating a sitemap, it is possible to save it. Therefore, it is necessary to select File – Save in the main menu.
A dialog opens and asks you to specify a filename. SiteVisz uses the ending .sv for its files. If you insert a name without, or with a wrong ending, .sv will be attached at the end.

While no job is running, it is possible to open a saved .sv –File. Therefore select File – Open in the main menu. After selecting the file, the sitemap will be generated and both views are available.

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6. Export sitemap

6.1. Export as JPEG

To export the current graph-view as image, select File – Export – as jpeg in the main menu.
A dialog opens and asks you to specify a filename with .jpeg ending. If you insert a name without, or with a wrong ending, .jpeg will be attached at the end.
The image contains everything you see in the graph-view. Nodes, which are not visible in this view, won’t be visible in the image.

6.2. Export as html

To export the current tree-view, select File – Export – as html in the main menu.
The tree-view will then be transferred to a html-file. It is then displayed in a list, completely expanded.

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