This project uses Java instrumentation capabilities to captures the dynamic execution flow of a Java program, which enable you to better understand the execution of your Java program.
The program generates a set of .dot files which can bee visualized using the tools from (http://www.graphviz.org/'>http://www.graphviz.org/).
use ZGRViewer or xdot.py (http://www.graphviz.org/Resources.php'>http://www.graphviz.org/Resources.php) for viewing large graphs. You can also use gvpr or standard unix grep to extract a subset of a large graph.
The generated graph can be seen as UML activity diagram (which is by the way isomorph to the UML sequence diagram).
I've included a gawk script in the scripts directory that pretty prints the generated .dot files to a format reminiscent of UML sequence diagram. You can use it like this: gawk -f sequence.awk yourDotFile.dot | less (Windows users can download "Minimalist GNU for Windows" http://www.mingw.org/'>http://www.mingw.org/). This will help you understand the execution flow of a Java program and draw UML sequence diagrams for an undocumented Use Case of your Java application.
The project uses javassist for code instrumentation (you have to download this library for your own and put it inside a "lib" folder with the source code).

How To use this library :

1 - You need a Java runtime 1.6 (or higher).


2 - Download javassist.jar (from http://www.jboss.org/javassist/downloads).


3 - Download javashot.zip (via Downloads tab) and then extract it to a directory of your choice. 


You now have a directory like this "myChoiceDir/javashot".


4 - Add an Environment Variables in your System, called JAVASHOT_HOME which contains the path to the directory you just created (in our example "myChoiceDir/javashot").


5 - Put javassist.jar inside "myChoiceDir/javashot/lib/".


6 - Open file "myChoiceDir/javashot/javashot.properties" to configure the capture.


7 - Run the application you want to instrument like this:


-> For a standalone application:


java MyClass -javaagent:myChoiceDir/javashot/dist/javashot.jar


-> For an embedded application inside an application server you need to add the following JVM argument "-javaagent:myChoiceDir/javashot/dist/javashot.jar".


8 - All the captured data will be kept in myChoiceDir/javashot/capture directory.

Screen Shots
The section download contains some screen shots (*.png) Also the tutorial http://code.google.com/p/javashot/wiki/HitchhikersGuideToTheJettyServer'>http://code.google.com/p/javashot/wiki/HitchhikersGuideToTheJettyServer describes in depth the process used in generating thoses screen shots
Source Code
You can download the source code (via Source tab), this is an eclipse project.

If you encounter any problem, have a suggestion or comment please email mailto:javashotj@gmail.com