callplot tool for generating call flows

[Jonathan Rosenberg <jdrosen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of the challenges in producing an Internet Draft is the creation of 
ASCII art call flow diagrams (aka sequence diagrams), such as those in 
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3665.txt. I tend to do a lot of these in the 
drafts I write.

To make the process easier, a colleague of mine, Dave Ladd, wrote a tool 
called callplot. Callplot takes a source file that describes the 
callflow, and then compiles it into an ASCII art version suitable for 
inclusion in Internet drafts. It does automatic message numbering, 
labeling, and so on. It can also spit out other formats that can be 
included in MS Office documents, for example.

To illustrate, running callplot on this input:

opt/columnPitch/15
guy/f/Fred
guy/b/Barney
f->b/Please
note/b/Gives bowling ball
b->f/Stuff
b..f/RTP
f->b/Thank You
b->f/You're Welcome

produces this diagram:

        Fred          Barney
          |              |
          |              |
          |              |
          |Please        |
          |------------->|
          |              |
          |              |
          |              |Gives bowling ball
          |              |
          |              |
          |              |
          |Stuff         |
          |<-------------|
          |              |
          |              |
          |RTP           |
          |..............|
          |              |
          |              |
          |Thank You     |
          |------------->|
          |              |
          |              |
          |You're Welcome|
          |<-------------|
          |              |
          |              |
          |              |
          |              |


I think this tool would be useful to the IETF community at large. As a 
result, we've decided to make the tool open source, available at 
sourceforge at:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/callplot

Callplot is written in Java. Please feel free to download, use, and 
provide improvements on this tool.

Thanks,
Jonathan R.
--
Jonathan D. Rosenberg, Ph.D.                600 Lanidex Plaza
Chief Technology Officer                    Parsippany, NJ 07054-2711
dynamicsoft
jdrosen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                     FAX:   (973) 952-5050
http://www.jdrosen.net                      PHONE: (973) 952-5000
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