The Sunburst Viewer Alpha initially generates a random tree of XML (sometimes
TOO random, so if you get a blank file or a line just try refresh) , creates a
random list of small changes over time, and then renders it into a dynamic, hierarchical
pie
chart looking thing. The grey buttons are for animating it through time (though
they don't loop, so if it stops just hit the backward button).
It's primary use is the same motivation as an animated pie chart, except for
hierarchies. Some potential examples:
Looking at your harddrive (or a server harddrive) to see how folders are
created, which take up the most space.
Determining of a given spectrum of signals which are most relevant
over time.
Alternately looking at a financial investment portfolio, as investments
grow and shrink.
The animated speed (or lack of it) is due to the Flash player bogging down as
pie cells get drawn, and movieClips get created and destroyed every frame of
animation, not the summing and layout algorithms behind it. Sadly this is the
determining factor of how much I can speed this up.
To Be Implemented:
Some performance enhancements via not rendering non-visible rings.
Partially implemented is the zoom (right now it just cycles back and
forth), still needs a user interface control. Which is a whole task in
itself.
Tags/buttons for the cells so you can tell who they are.
A more coordinated color selection scheme. Right now its' random
(sometimes too random and really dark values end up looking like black).
There are more growth rates for the concentric rings. Right now they grow
as you get farther down the hierarchy, they can also shrink, or stay
constant.
