mscgenjs

mscgen_js - core package

Implementation of MscGen and two derived languages in JavaScript.

This is the JavaScript library that takes care of parsing and rendering MscGen. You might be looking for one of these in stead:

• online interpreter - mscgen_js
• atom package - mscgen-preview
• command line interface - mscgenjs-cli
• how to embed MscGen in html.

Features

• Parses and renders MscGen
  • Accepts all valid MscGen programs and render them correctly.
  • All valid MscGen programs accepted by mscgen_js are also accepted and rendered correctly by the original mscgen command.
  • If you find proof to the contrary: tell us.
• Parses and renders Xù
  Xù is a strict superset of MscGen. It adds things like alt and loop.
• Parses and renders MsGenny
  Same as Xù, but with a simpler syntax.
• Translates between these three languages
• Spits out svg, GraphViz dot, doxygen and JSON.
• runs in all modern browsers (and in Node.js).

I'm still here. How can I use this?

You already know how to npm install mscgenjs, right?

Good. For examples on how to use the mscgen_js core package, have a look at the source code of any of the above mentioned tools.

• the atom package mscgen-preview (CoffeeScript alert)
  • specifically the renderer
  • ... which is just 6 lines of code
• the embedder (Any modern browser. Using require.js)
• the unit tests from mscgenjs-core itself:
  • parse (Node.js)
  • render (Node.js with jsdom)
• the on line interpreter (Any modern browser. Using require.js)
  • ~ where parsing happens
  • ~ where rendering happens
• the command line interface (Node.js, PhantomJS and some spit)

Hint: for rendering graphics the library needs a DOMElement (with a unique id) to perform its rendering in.

Building mscgen_js

See build.md.

How does mscgen_js work?

You can start reading about that over here

License

This software is free software licensed under GPLv3. This means (a.o.) you can use it as part of other free software, but not as part of non free software.

Dependencies and their licenses

We built mscgen_js on various libraries, each of which have their own license (incidentally all MIT style):

• mscgen_js uses requirejs and amdefine for modularization.
• We generated its parsers with pegjs.
• mscgen_js automated tests use mocha, chai, chai-xml and jsdom.

It uses istanbul, jshint, plato and nsp to maintain some modicum of verifiable code quality. You can see the build history in Travis and an indication of the shape of the code at Code Climate.

Thanks

• Mike McTernan for creating the wonderful MscGen language, the accompanying c implementation and for releasing both to the public domain (the last one under a GPLv2 license to be precise).
• David Majda for cooking and maintaining the fantastic and lightning fast PEG.js parser generator.
• Elijah Insua for jsdom, which allows us to test rendering vector graphics in Node.js without having to resort to outlandish hacks.

Build status