VisAnt Running Modes

Advantage:

Most common way to run VisANT. With a java-compatible browser, VisANT can be started any time at any place with internet access.
Always run the latest version of VisANT

Disadvantage:

Can not access the local resources (such as save/load networks from local disk, printing...) due to the security restriction
Latest release of Java and Web browser blocks Applet by default, here is the instruction to make it run

When running as Web Application you will see the security warning on the right. Click "Yes" to allow the application to run and read/write network files on your computer.

Advantage:

Access full set of functions to read and write local files (text and images).
Create shortcut just as standard local application
Automatically access the latest version of VisANT, bug fixes, etc.

Disadvantage:

Requires Java Web Start, which is automatically installed when you install JRE/JDK with version 1.4.2 above

Advantage:

Standard application with full functions to access local resources.
Useful if you need a local copy of the application to use offline
Keeps functions to store networks online, share by email
Useful if you need to develop plug-ins for VisANT

Disadvantage:

VisANT is under active development, you will need to manually download VisANT to get the latest updates.
VisANT also provides upgrade function under Help menu to check the latest version and upgrade itself

Note:

Requires the Java Run-Time Engine. After download VisANT.jar, double mouse-click the VisANT.jar to run it.
Windows: If double-clicking doesn't work, open a DOS command window and change the directory to the place where the VisAnt.jar is located, type following line to start VisANT:
java -classpath VisAnt.jar cagt.bu.visant.VisAntApplet
If the version of VisANT is less than 2.43, please use following command:
java -classpath VisAnt.jar VisAntApplet
On some systems, the VisAnt.jar is changed to VisAnt.zip after download. Simply change the file extension back to jar, and follow the above steps to run VisANT.
In case loading large network files, please run the VisANT using following command:
java -Xmx512M -classpath VisAnt.jar cagt.bu.visant.VisAntApplet
If the version of VisANT is less than 2.43, please use following command:
java -Xmx512M -classpath VisAnt.jar VisAntApplet
the -Xmx512M parameters tells Java virtual machine the maximum memory it can use. This parameter may vary between different platform. Above example is tested for MS windows system.

Advantage:

automated processing of multiple process
handle time-consuming tasks with much better performance
can be used to run VisANT on the super/cluster computer
can handle large network with millions of nodes and edges. This capability has been tested with a network with 1.7M edges, try out yourself!

Disadvantage:

no user interaction
not all functions are available as the commands
please email us if you need new commands

Note:

This mode requires VisANT 3.19 or above.
This mode requires a command file to list the commands that need to be carried out. Detailed information regarding the format of the command file, as well as all available commands can be found here.
The way to start batch mode is
java -Djava.awt.headless=true -jar VisAnt.jar -b res/batch_cmd.txt
"-Djava.awt.headless=true" must be presented, "-b" tells VisANT to run in the batch mode, "res/batch_cmd.txt" indicates the the place of the command file.
In case handling large network files, please use -Xmx to specify the maximum size of the memory that java can use:
java -Xmx512M -Djava.awt.headless=true -jar VisAnt.jar -b res/batch_cmd.txt
where 512M indicates that java can use up to 512M memory. If you are not sure how many memory that may be required for your network, set it to the maximum number that you computer can handle. Please reference here for examples and more information to handle large-scale network.

Running VisANT: Detailed Information

Online Java Applet ( Run As Java Applet )

Java Web Application ( Run As Java Web Application )

Java Local Application ( Run As Java Local Application )

Batch Mode ( Run Without User Interface )