NAME

       GraphViz::Data::Grapher - Visualise data structures as a graph

SYNOPSIS

         use GraphViz::Data::Grapher;

         my $graph = GraphViz::Data::Grapher->new($structure);
         print $graph->as_png;

DESCRIPTION

       This module makes it easy to visualise Perl data structures. Data structures can grow
       quite large and it can be hard to understand the quite how the structure fits together.

       Data::Dumper can help by representing the structure as a text heirarchy, but
       GraphViz::Data::Grapher goes a step further and visualises the structure by drawing a
       graph which represents the data structure.

       Arrays are represented by records. Scalars are represented by themselves. Array references
       are represented by a '@' symbol, which is linked to the array. Hash references are
       represented by a '%' symbol, which is linked to an array of keys, which each link to their
       value.  Object references are represented by 'Object', which then links to the type of the
       object. Undef is represented by 'undef'.

METHODS

   new
       This is the constructor. It takes a list, which is the data structure to be visualised. A
       GraphViz object is returned.

         my $graph = GraphViz::Data::Grapher->new([3, 4, 5], "Hello");

   as_*
       The data structure can be visualised in a number of different graphical formats. Methods
       include as_ps, as_hpgl, as_pcl, as_mif, as_pic, as_gd, as_gd2, as_gif, as_jpeg, as_png,
       as_wbmp, as_ismap, as_imap, as_vrml, as_vtx, as_mp, as_fig, as_svg. See the GraphViz
       documentation for more information. The two most common methods are:

         # Print out a PNG-format file
         print $graph->as_png;

         # Print out a PostScript-format file
         print $graph->as_ps;

AUTHOR

       Leon Brocard <acme@astray.com>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2000-1, Leon Brocard

       This module is free software; you can redistribute it or modify it under the same terms as
       Perl itself.