About CAST Imaging on CAST Imaging Documentation

What is CAST Imaging?

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CAST Imaging is a browser-based tool that turns application source code into an interactive graph. You can explore the structure of any enterprise application without reading code line by line.

What problem does it solve?

Large applications can contain millions of lines of code spread across many technologies. Understanding how the parts connect — and what breaks when you change something — is very difficult without a visual map.

CAST Imaging reads the output of a static code analysis and displays the results as a navigable graph. You can zoom in from a high-level architecture view all the way down to individual methods and database calls.

The CAST Imaging Stack

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CAST Imaging is not a single program. It is a set of four components that each do a specific job. You need all four to go from source code to a visible graph.

The four components

AIP Console

AIP Console is a web application you use to register applications, deliver source code, and start analyses. It is the main control panel for the analysis pipeline. You access it through a browser.

Applications and Snapshots

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Application

In CAST Imaging, an application is the unit of work. It corresponds to one software system — for example, a banking back-end or an e-commerce website. Each application has its own graph in the viewer.

An application is created in AIP Console, where you also deliver the source code and run analyses.

Snapshot

A snapshot is the result of one analysis run. Each time you run a full analysis, CAST produces a new snapshot. A snapshot captures the state of the application at a point in time: all objects, all links, all metrics.

Objects, Nodes, and Links

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Every graph in CAST Imaging is made of three things: objects, nodes, and links.

Objects

An object is a code artifact. Examples include:

A Java class or method
A C# interface
A SQL table or stored procedure
A REST endpoint
A configuration file

CAST Imaging discovers objects automatically during analysis.

Nodes

A node is the visual representation of an object on the canvas. At high zoom levels (Level 1–4), a node can represent a group of objects — for example, an entire technology layer or a module. At the lowest level (Objects level), each node represents one individual object.

Scopes

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A scope is a predefined way of looking at an application. Each scope shows the same objects but organizes them differently. Choose the scope that matches your current question.

Available scopes

Application scope

Shows the full application, organized by the CAST Taxonomy (front-end, middleware, back-end). This is the default view when you open an application.

Use it to: get a high-level overview, explore component structure.

Module scope

Shows objects grouped into functional or technical modules.

Aggregation Levels

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Within any scope, objects are organized into levels. Levels let you start with a broad view and drill down to the detail you need.

The levels

Level	What you see
Level 1	Very large groups — for example, one node per technology family
Level 2	Smaller groups — for example, one node per application layer
Level 3	Components or subsystems
Level 4	Packages or modules
Level 5	Individual classes, procedures, or similar objects
Objects level	The same as Level 5 but with full drill-down capability and contextual actions

Not all levels are available in every scope. The Transaction scope starts at Level 4, for example.

Call Graphs

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A call graph shows the objects involved in a transaction or a data access path, and the links between them. Because some transactions touch thousands of objects, CAST Imaging offers three display modes to balance detail against performance.

Reduced call graph

The default mode. CAST Imaging removes objects that are less important to understanding the flow. The result loads quickly and is easier to read.

Use this mode first. Switch to a different mode only if you need more detail.

Tags and Annotations

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CAST Imaging gives you two ways to add information to objects: tags and annotations. Both are stored on the server and visible to all users who have access to the application.

Modules and Custom Aggregation

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Modules

A module is a group of objects that belong together from a functional or technical point of view — for example, a payment processing module or an authentication module.

CAST Imaging computes modules automatically during the analysis. The analysis engine groups objects based on how they call each other and how they are organized in the source code. You can see modules in the Module scope.

Custom aggregation

Custom aggregation lets you create your own groupings when the automatically computed modules do not match your team’s understanding of the application.

Tenants and Roles

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Tenants

A tenant is an isolated workspace inside one CAST Imaging instance. Each tenant has its own set of applications, users, and settings. Users in one tenant cannot see the applications in another tenant.

Tenants are useful when:

You host applications for multiple clients on one server.
You want to separate production and test environments.
Different teams need isolated workspaces.

A Super Admin can create and manage tenants.

Roles

A role controls what a user can see and do inside a tenant. Every user must have at least one role before they can access application data.