JohT · JohT · Nov 15, 2025 · Nov 15, 2025 · Nov 15, 2025
diff --git a/GETTING_STARTED.md b/GETTING_STARTED.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ This document describes the steps to get started as quickly as possible.
 
 ## 🛠 Prerequisites
 
-Please read through the [Prerequisites](./README.md#hammer_and_wrench-prerequisites) in the [README](./README.md) file for what is required to run the scripts.
+Please read through the [Prerequisites](./README.md#hammer_and_wrench-prerequisites) in the [README](./README.md) file for what is required to run the scripts or simply run the [checkCompatibility.sh](./scripts/checkCompatibility.sh) script to verify that your environment is set up correctly.
 
 ## The easiest way to get started
 
@@ -40,8 +40,6 @@ Use these optional command line options as needed:
 
 ### 1. Setup
 
-- Have a look at the [prerequisites](./README.md#hammer_and_wrench-prerequisites).
-
 - Choose an initial password for Neo4j if not already done.
 
     ```shell
@@ -96,12 +94,18 @@ Use these optional command line options as needed:
   ./../../scripts/analysis/analyze.sh --report Python
   ```
 
-- Graph visualizations when Node.js and npm are installed:
+- Graph visualizations with GraphViz installed or npx to run it indirectly:
 
   ```shell
   ./../../scripts/analysis/analyze.sh --report Visualization
   ```
 
+- Markdown reports:
+
+  ```shell
+  ./../../scripts/analysis/analyze.sh --report Markdown
+  ```
+
 - All reports with Python, Conda (or venv), Node.js and npm installed:
 
   ```shell

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ Here are some fully automated graph visualizations utilizing [GraphViz](https://
 
 ## :hammer_and_wrench: Prerequisites
 
+Run [scripts/checkCompatibility.sh](./scripts/checkCompatibility.sh) to check if all required dependencies are installed and available in your environment.
+
 - Java 21 is [required since Neo4j 2025.01](https://neo4j.com/docs/operations-manual/current/installation/requirements/#deployment-requirements-java). See also [Changes from Neo4j 5 to 2025.x](https://neo4j.com/docs/upgrade-migration-guide/current/version-2025/upgrade).
 - Java 17 is [required for Neo4j 5](https://neo4j.com/docs/operations-manual/current/installation/requirements/#deployment-requirements-java).
 - On Windows it is recommended to use the git bash provided by [git for windows](https://github.com/git-guides/install-git#install-git-on-windows).

diff --git a/init.sh b/init.sh
@@ -4,31 +4,51 @@
 
 # Note: This script needs to be executed in the root of this directory (= same directory as this file)
 
+# Requires analyze.sh, startNeo4j.sh, stopNeo4j.sh, checkCompatibility.sh
+
 # Fail on any error ("-e" = exit on first error, "-o pipefail" exist on errors within piped commands)
 set -o errexit -o pipefail
 
+# Overrideable Defaults
 ARTIFACTS_DIRECTORY=${ARTIFACTS_DIRECTORY:-"artifacts"}
 SOURCE_DIRECTORY=${SOURCE_DIRECTORY:-"source"}
 
-# Read the first (and only) parameter containing the name of the analysis.
+## Get this "scripts" directory if not already set
+# Even if $BASH_SOURCE is made for Bourne-like shells it is also supported by others and therefore here the preferred solution. 
+# CDPATH reduces the scope of the cd command to potentially prevent unintended directory changes.
+# This way non-standard tools like readlink aren't needed.
+SCRIPTS_DIR=${SCRIPTS_DIR:-$( CDPATH=. cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd -P )} # Repository directory containing the shell scripts
+
+# Local constants
+SCRIPT_NAME=$(basename "${0}")
+ERROR_COLOR='\033[0;31m'
+NO_COLOR='\033[0m'
+
+fail() {
+    echo -e "${ERROR_COLOR}${SCRIPT_NAME}: ${1}${NO_COLOR}" >&2
+    if [ -n "${2}" ]; then
+        echo -e "${ERROR_COLOR}${SCRIPT_NAME}: ${2}${NO_COLOR}" >&2
+    fi
+    exit 1
+}
+
+# Validate the first (and only) parameter containing the name of the analysis.
 analysisName="${1}"
 if [ -z "${analysisName}" ]; then
-    echo "init: Error: Missing parameter <analysisName>." >&2
-    echo "init: Usage example: ${0} <analysisName>" >&2
-    exit 1
+    fail "Please specify the name of the project you want to analyze." "Example: ${0} my-project"
+fi
+if [ -d "./temp/${analysisName}" ]; then
+    fail "Analysis project '${analysisName}' already exists in './temp/${analysisName}' directory." "Choose another name or delete it using 'rm -rf ./temp/${analysisName}' first and re-run the script."
 fi
 
-nameOfThisScript=$(basename "${0}")
-if [ ! -f "./${nameOfThisScript}" ]; then
-    echo "init: Error: Please execute the script in the root directory of the code-graph-analysis-pipeline repository." >&2
-    echo "init:        Change to the directory of this ${nameOfThisScript} script and execute it from there." >&2
-    exit 1
+# Validate the execution directory
+if [ ! -f "./${SCRIPT_NAME}" ]; then
+    fail "Please re-execute the script in the root directory of the repository." "Use 'cd <path-to-repo>' and re-run the script."
 fi
 
-# Check if initial password environment variable is set
+# Assure that the environment variable containing the Neo4j password is set
 if [ -z "${NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD}" ]; then
-    echo "init: Error: Environment variable NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD is recommended to be set first. Use 'export NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD=<your-own-password>'."
-    exit 1
+    fail "Please set NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD before running this script to avoid Neo4j startup issues later." "Use 'export NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD=<your-own-password>' and re-run the script."
 fi
 
 createForwardingScript() {
@@ -60,4 +80,15 @@ createForwardingScript "./../../scripts/analysis/analyze.sh"
 createForwardingScript "./../../scripts/startNeo4j.sh"
 createForwardingScript "./../../scripts/stopNeo4j.sh"
 
-echo "init: Successfully initialized analysis project ${analysisName}" >&2
+source "${SCRIPTS_DIR}/scripts/checkCompatibility.sh"
+
+echo ""
+echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: Successfully initialized analysis project ${analysisName}"
+echo ""
+echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: Next steps:"
+echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}:   1) Place your artifacts (e.g., Java jar/ear files) into this directory:"
+echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}:      $(pwd)/${ARTIFACTS_DIRECTORY}"
+echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}:   2) (Optional) Place your source code projects/repositories into this directory:"
+echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}:      $(pwd)/${SOURCE_DIRECTORY}"
+echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}:   3) Run './analyze.sh' inside 'temp/${analysisName}' to start the analysis."
+echo ""
diff --git a/scripts/activatePythonEnvironment.sh b/scripts/activatePythonEnvironment.sh
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ VENV_DIRECTORY=".venv"
 if [ ! -d "${ROOT_DIRECTORY}/${VENV_DIRECTORY}" ]; then
     deactivate_conda_if_necessary
     echo "activatePythonEnvironment: Creating ${VENV_DIRECTORY} environment..."
-    python3 -m venv "${ROOT_DIRECTORY}/${VENV_DIRECTORY}"
+    python -m venv "${ROOT_DIRECTORY}/${VENV_DIRECTORY}"
 else
     echo "activatePythonEnvironment: Already created ${VENV_DIRECTORY} environment."
 fi

diff --git a/scripts/checkCompatibility.sh b/scripts/checkCompatibility.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Check environment dependencies and tool availability.
+
+# Fail on any error ("-e" = exit on first error, "-o pipefail" exist on errors within piped commands)
+set -o errexit -o pipefail
+
+# Overrideable Defaults
+
+## Get this "scripts" directory if not already set
+# Even if $BASH_SOURCE is made for Bourne-like shells it is also supported by others and therefore here the preferred solution. 
+# CDPATH reduces the scope of the cd command to potentially prevent unintended directory changes.
+# This way non-standard tools like readlink aren't needed.
+SCRIPTS_DIR=${SCRIPTS_DIR:-$( CDPATH=. cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd -P )} # Repository directory containing the shell scripts
+#echo "checkCompatibility: SCRIPTS_DIR=${SCRIPTS_DIR}"
+
+checkCommand() {
+    local cmd="$1"
+    local description="$2"
+    local missing_icon="$3"
+    local present_icon="${4:-✅}"
+
+    if command -v "${cmd}" &> /dev/null; then
+        echo "  ${present_icon} ${cmd} - ${description}"
+    else
+        echo "  ${missing_icon} ${cmd} - ${description}"
+    fi
+}
+
+checkRequiredCommand() {
+    checkCommand "$1" "$2" "❌" ""
+}
+
+checkOptionalCommand() {
+    checkCommand "$1" "$2" "⚠️ " "✅"
+}
+
+checkRequiredJavaVersion() {
+    required_java_version="$1"
+
+    if [ -z "${required_java_version}" ]; then
+        echo "Usage: check_java_version <major-version>" 1>&2
+        return 2
+    fi
+
+    if ! command -v "java" &> /dev/null; then
+        echo "  ❌ java - Java Development Kit (https://adoptium.net/) for running Java applications is not installed."
+        return 0
+    fi
+    # Capture the first line of `java -version` (macOS & Linux both print to stderr)
+    java_version_output=$(java -version 2>&1 | head -n 1)
+
+    # Extract the version inside the first quotes
+    # Examples:
+    #   openjdk version "17.0.2"
+    #   java version "1.8.0_312"
+    # Use shell parameter expansion instead of external sed for portability and performance
+    full_java_version="${java_version_output#*\"}"
+    java_version="${full_java_version%%\"*}"
+
+    # Extract major version number supporting both Java 8 and older (1.x) and Java 9+ formats
+    case "${java_version}" in
+        1.*)
+            # Java 8 and older -> "1.8.0_xxx" → major = 8
+            java_version="${java_version#1.}"
+            java_version="${java_version%%.*}"
+            ;;
+        *)
+            # Java 9+ -> "17.0.2" → major = 17
+            java_version="${java_version%%.*}"
+            ;;
+    esac
+
+    # Compare numeric versions
+    if [ "${java_version}" -ge "${required_java_version}" ]; then
+        echo "  ✅ java - Java version ${java_version} meets required version ${required_java_version}"
+    else
+        echo "  ❌ java - Java version ${required_java_version} or higher is required, but found version ${java_version}"
+    fi
+}
+
+oneOf() {
+    for option in "$@"; do
+        if command -v "$option" &> /dev/null; then
+            echo "✅"
+            return 0
+        fi
+    done
+    echo "❌"
+}
+
+allOf() {
+    for option in "$@"; do
+        if ! command -v "$option" &> /dev/null; then
+            echo "❌"
+            return 0
+        fi
+    done
+    echo "✅"
+}
+
+isFailed() {
+    if [ "$1" = "❌" ]; then
+        return 0
+    else
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
+echo ""
+echo "Checking environment dependencies and tool availability..."
+echo ""
+echo "--------------------------------"
+
+# Check required main dependencies
+icon=$(allOf "bash" "awk" "wc" "sed" "grep" "curl" "jq" "git" "java")
+echo "${icon} Minimum required dependencies:"
+checkRequiredCommand "bash" "Bourne Again SHell (https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/) for running the shell scripts"
+checkRequiredCommand "awk" "Text processing tool (https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/) for processing text files"
+checkRequiredCommand "wc" "Word, line, character, byte count tool (https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/wc/) for counting lines in files"
+checkRequiredCommand "sed" "Stream editor (https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/) for parsing and transforming text"
+checkRequiredCommand "grep" "Text search tool (https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/) for text searching with regular expressions"
+checkRequiredCommand "curl" "Command line tool for transferring data with URLs (https://curl.se/) for HTTP requests to Neo4j"
+checkRequiredCommand "jq" "Command-line JSON processor (https://stedolan.github.io/jq/) for parsing JSON results from Neo4j"
+checkRequiredCommand "git" "Version control system (https://git-scm.com/) for managing source code repositories"
+checkRequiredJavaVersion "21"
+
+if isFailed "${icon}"; then
+    echo ""
+    echo "${icon} One or more minimum required dependencies are missing. Please install them and re-run this script."
+    echo "--------------------------------"
+    echo ""
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Check dependencies for Typescript project analysis:
+icon=$(allOf "npx" "npm")
+echo ""
+echo "${icon} Typescript project analysis dependencies:"
+checkRequiredCommand "npx" "Tool to run npm packages without installing them globally (https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v9/commands/npx)"
+checkRequiredCommand "npm" "Node.js package manager (https://docs.npmjs.com/) for managing JavaScript packages"
+
+# Check dependencies for Python environments
+icon=$(oneOf "conda" "venv")
+echo ""
+echo "${icon} Python environment dependencies (for ./analyze.sh --report Python/Jupyter):"
+checkOptionalCommand "conda" "Conda package and environment manager (https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/)"
+checkOptionalCommand "virtualenv" "Python virtual environment module (https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html)"
+
+# Check dependencies for Python reports
+icon=$(allOf "python" "pip")
+echo ""
+echo "${icon} Python reports dependencies (for ./analyze.sh --report Python/Jupyter):"
+checkRequiredCommand "python" "Python interpreter (https://www.python.org/) for running Python scripts"
+checkRequiredCommand "pip" "Python package installer (https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/) for installing Python packages"
+
+# Check dependencies for Jupyter Notebook reports
+icon=$(allOf "python" "pip" "jupyter")
+echo ""
+echo "${icon} Python reports dependencies  (for ./analyze.sh --report Jupyter):"
+checkRequiredCommand "jupyter" "Jupyter Notebook (https://jupyter.org/) for interactive data analysis and visualization"
+
+# Check dependencies for visualization reports
+icon=$(oneOf "npx" "dot")
+echo ""
+echo "${icon} Visualization report dependencies (for ./analyze.sh --report Visualization):"
+checkOptionalCommand "npx" "Tool to run npm packages without installing them globally (https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v9/commands/npx)"
+checkOptionalCommand "npm" "Node.js package manager (https://docs.npmjs.com/) for managing JavaScript packages"
+checkOptionalCommand "dot" "Graph visualization tool from GraphViz (https://graphviz.org/) for visualizing query results as graphs"
+
+echo "--------------------------------"
+echo ""
diff --git a/scripts/examples/analyzeAntDesign.sh b/scripts/examples/analyzeAntDesign.sh
@@ -8,54 +8,52 @@
 # Note: This script is meant to be started in the root directory of this repository.
 # Note: This script requires "cURL" ( https://curl.se ) to be installed.
 
+# Requires: init.sh, downloadAntDesign.sh, analyze.sh
+
 # Fail on any error ("-e" = exit on first error, "-o pipefail" exist on errors within piped commands)
 set -o errexit -o pipefail
 
+# Local constants
+SCRIPT_NAME=$(basename "${0}")
+
 # Overrideable Defaults
 SOURCE_DIRECTORY=${SOURCE_DIRECTORY:-"source"}
-echo "analyzerAntDesign: SOURCE_DIRECTORY=${SOURCE_DIRECTORY}"
+#echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: SOURCE_DIRECTORY=${SOURCE_DIRECTORY}"
 
 ## Get this "scripts" directory if not already set
 # Even if $BASH_SOURCE is made for Bourne-like shells it is also supported by others and therefore here the preferred solution. 
 # CDPATH reduces the scope of the cd command to potentially prevent unintended directory changes.
 # This way non-standard tools like readlink aren't needed.
-SCRIPTS_DIR=${SCRIPTS_DIR:-$( CDPATH=. cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd -P )} # Repository directory containing the shell scripts
-echo "analyzerAntDesign: SCRIPTS_DIR=$SCRIPTS_DIR"
+EXAMPLE_SCRIPTS_DIR=${EXAMPLE_SCRIPTS_DIR:-$( CDPATH=. cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd -P )} # Repository directory containing the shell scripts
+#echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: EXAMPLE_SCRIPTS_DIR=${EXAMPLE_SCRIPTS_DIR}"
 
 # Read the first unnamed input argument containing the version of the project
 projectVersion=""
 case "${1}" in
   "--"*) ;; # Skipping named command line options to forward them later to the "analyze" command
   *) 
     projectVersion="${1}" 
-    echo "analyzerAntDesign: Project version set to ${projectVersion}"
+    echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: Project version set to ${projectVersion}"
     shift || true
     ;;
 esac
 
 if [ -z "${projectVersion}" ]; then
-  echo "analyzerAntDesign: Optional parameter <version> is not specified. Detecting latest version..." >&2
-  echo "analyzerAntDesign: Usage example: $0 <version> <optional analysis parameter>" >&2
-  projectVersion=$( "${SCRIPTS_DIR}/detectLatestGitTag.sh" --url "https://github.com/ant-design/ant-design.git" )
-  echo "analyzerAntDesign: Using latest version: ${projectVersion}" >&2
+  echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: Optional parameter <version> is not specified. Detecting latest version..." >&2
+  echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: Usage example: $0 <version> <optional analysis parameter>" >&2
+  projectVersion=$( "${EXAMPLE_SCRIPTS_DIR}/detectLatestGitTag.sh" --url "https://github.com/ant-design/ant-design.git" )
+  echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: Using latest version: ${projectVersion}" >&2
 fi
 
 # Check if environment variable is set
 if [ -z "${NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD}" ]; then
-    echo "analyzerAntDesign: Error: Requires environment variable NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD to be set first. Use 'export NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD=<your-own-password>'."
+    echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}: Error: Requires environment variable NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD to be set first. Use 'export NEO4J_INITIAL_PASSWORD=<your-own-password>'."
     exit 1
 fi
 
-# Create the temporary directory for all analysis projects.
-mkdir -p ./temp
-cd ./temp
-
-# Create the working directory for this specific analysis.
-mkdir -p "./ant-design-${projectVersion}"
-cd "./ant-design-${projectVersion}" 
-
-# Create the artifacts directory that will contain the code to be analyzed.
-mkdir -p ./artifacts
+# Initialize the analysis project
+./init.sh "ant-design-${projectVersion}"
+cd "temp/ant-design-${projectVersion}"
 
 # Download ant-design source code
 ./../../scripts/downloader/downloadAntDesign.sh "${projectVersion}"