TMV is a graphical generic Topic Map browser. It is used in the TMwiki as display and navigation interface for Topic Maps. TMV is very easy to use. To open TMV just click on the Topic Map link with an eye symbol. If a topic ID is specified in the link code the appropriate topic will be displayed otherwise the overview page of the Topic Map is shown.

Find more information about how to add a link to the TMV on a wiki page in the relevant help page (TMVcall-Plugin).

To see how TMV is working - take a look at  bibmap.xtm.

Developer: Hendrik Thomas

The TMV Topic Map browser consists of the following components:

1. Topic Map graph viewer - a clickable net graphic, where all associations the topic is involved are displayed
2. Class Filter
3. Topic Map Search
4. View Options
5. Authoring Tools
6. Information Table - where all available information about the Topic are displayed
7. Topic Map Overview
8. Index of the Topic Map

The graph viewer enables a user-friendly navigation and browsing in the current Topic Map. The graph shows all associations of the current topic. In the standard view only the direct association will be displayed.

The current topic is placed at the centre in a diamond shape. All association members are grouped as circle shapes around the topic. The colours of the different members depend on their class. The type of the association (if specified) is added as a label to the connection line between the nodes. If more than 10 member are available only empty circles are displayed. If less then 10 member are displayed the first (alphabetic) base name of the member are displayed in the nodes.

If the mouse pointer is moved above a node a information box with the following information is displayed:

• the topic id
• the base names
• the classes of the topic and
• the occurrence references to relevant sources.

Navigation in the Topic Map is very easy. When users click on a associated topic, the Topic Map Graph Viewer switches to a new graph structure that displays the chosen member as centroid.

In the upper left corner the Class Filter Table is available. TMV identifies all members of associations the current topic is involved in. All classes of these members are listed in the “Class Filter Table”.

Every class gets a unique colour. With these colour codes you can easily identify the type of the different association members in the topic net graphic.

The class filter allows you to filter out topics of a specific class - just activate the checkbox beside the name of the class and click the filter button. The page will be reloaded and all topics of the specified types will be filtered out of the topic net graphic and the information table. To display these topics again just click on the show all button. This allows users to select a customize view of the semantic structure by hiding classes that are currently not required.

In TMV you can search for Topics and their attributes. Just enter a search keyword in the search field and push the button. Afterwards the result page will be displayed. Be aware that the search is case-sensitiv. You can search for the following topic attributes:

• Topic IDs
• base names
• Occurrences

If the search keyword is found - a link to the topic and the habitat of the search keyword is displayed. For example the word “wfi” can be found as an ID and as a base name.

During the search process the search keyword will be automated truncated. This means if you search for the keyword “topic” you will find “topicmaps” but also for example “atopic”. Currently boolean search operator are not supported.

In the topic net graphic only topics are displayed which are directly associated to the current topic node. In the View Options you can expand the view with the Expand View link. The page will be reloaded and all associated topics of the associated topics of the current topic will be displayed.

Example:

standard view	expand view

To return to the standard view click on the Reduce View link.

In the authoring tools links are available for editing topics, for adding new topics and for adding new associations. To add new topics or associations just insert a appropriate id and click the button.

Find more information about editing and adding new topics and associations hear.

In the information table the following information of the topics are displayed (if available) on the bottom at the pages:

• topic names and their scopes
• the subject identity of the topic
• classes of the topic
• occurrences (references and internal data) and their scopes and classes
• associated topics including role specification of the members and the association class
• all topics that are an instance of the current topic
• all topics that have the current topic referenced as a scope in a base name
• all topics that have the current topic referenced as a scope in a occurrence
• all topics that have the current topic referenced as a scope in a involved association
• all association that have the current topic referenced as the association type

On the top of the information table the id of the current topic and a link for editing are displayed. An edit link is displayed for every association. If no base name is specified for the current topic, a red warring will be shown in the base name information field.

A red warning will be displayed, if a topic is referenced as a member and the topic doesn’t exist in the current Topic Map. In this situation an additional link is provided for a quick generation of the topic.

If you click on the overview link in the head line of TMV, the Topic Map overview page will be displayed. You reach the overview page automatically if no topic id is specified in a TMV link. The following information are listed (if available):

• all topic classes
• all association types
• all scope topics
• all role specifications which are used in associations

These information shell give you an idea of the structure of the map. For example if you select the topic class person, you will get an overview of all persons mentioned in the Topic Map.

At the bottom line of the TMV you can access the Index of the current Topic Map. In some cases it is helpful to view all topics and all associations of the current Topic Map. The index provides you with a list of all ids.

Beware that Topic Map often contains a lot of topics. Therefore it will need some time to generate the list.

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