Documentation for building and using the library

objectscript · Jan 24, 2017 · 29206d3 · 29206d3
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 # iKnowGraphBrowser
 
-Build/run steps: 
+iKnowGraphBrowser is a software library that helps you visualize graphs coming from iKnow REST endpoint. 
+User can apply filters to graph, select nodes, export them to CSV file.
+
+## Preparing to work with:
+
+This will get you prepared to either running demo version of iKnowGraphBrowser or modifying and building it.
 
 1. Get node.js version 4+ and npm version 3+ for your OS
 2. Clone this repository
 3. Resolve dependencies with `npm install`
-4. Set IKNOW_ENDPOINT and IKNOW_AUTH environmental variables or edit end of `webpack.demo.config.js` to specify what iKnow REST endpoint to use.
-5. Run `npm run demo` to build application and run proxy server
-6. Point your browser to `http://localhost:5000` to view UI
+
+## Running demo
+
+This will run the demo with UI to select iKnow data scenario and ability to select seed word. 
+Data will be fethed from iKnow REST endpoint you specify via enviromental variables.    
+
+1. Set IKNOW_ENDPOINT and IKNOW_AUTH environmental variables or edit end of `webpack.demo.config.js` to specify what iKnow REST endpoint to use.
+2. Run `npm run demo` to build application and run proxy server. This will launch webpack build process and start development server.
+3. Point your browser to `http://localhost:5000` to view UI
+
+
+## Building library
+
+Library is built using `npm run build` which produce dist/iKnowBrowser.js file with all the JS dependencies of the project. 
+
+## Using library
+
+This is minimal html code to run the library:
+
+```
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+   <html lang="en">
+   <head>
+       <meta charset="UTF-8">
+       <title>iKnowGraphBrowser Demo</title>
+   
+       <!-- bootstrap styles and some javascript. Dependency on bootstrap is not crucial and can be removed in the future. -->
+       <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0-alpha.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-rwoIResjU2yc3z8GV/NPeZWAv56rSmLldC3R/AZzGRnGxQQKnKkoFVhFQhNUwEyJ" crossorigin="anonymous">
+   
+       <style>
+           html, body, #root {
+               height: 100%;
+               overflow: hidden;
+           }
+   
+           #root {
+               display: flex;
+           }
+       </style>
+   </head>
+   <body>
+   <div id="root"></div>
+   <!-- to build iKnowBrowser.js see docs in README.md -->
+   <script src="libs/iKnowBrowser/iKnowBrowser.js"></script>
+   <script>
+    var demo = new iKnowBrowser(document.getElementById('root'), IKNOW-REST-GRAPH-RESPONSE);
+   </script>
+  </body>
+</html>
+```
+
+## Architecture
+
+Library is written in JavaScript ES6 language, it uses modules and webpack to build library bundle with all dependencies.
+UI of the library is written using React framework, graph visualization used Linkurious build of sigma.js.
+
+Dependencies:
+
+* file-saver - cross-browser support of launching `Save As` dialog for exporting JSON file
+* linkuroius - sigma.js graph visualization library enhanced with numerous plugins, some of them are used
+* lodash - general purpose algorithmic/helper library
+* react - library by Facebook used to create UI
+* react-dom - react library helper
+* bootstrap - basic styles/some UI components. Not a strict dependency, could be removed if nessesary.