When starting the GUI client without specifying an input file, JEB will display an empty workspace that's using a three-part layout:

- Project explorer on the left side
- Logger, Terminal, Quick Search at the bottom
- Empty area in the center

[![](img/26b32ff1-small.png)](img/26b32ff1.png)

# Starting an Analysis

To start an analysis, open a file (or reload a saved analysis stored in a `.jdb2` file) via the *File* menu.

A new project will be created, the input file will be processed and analyzed.

## Example: Processing an APK file

If your input file was an Android application, the app is processed by various Android analysis plugins:

- The APK plugin takes care of unbundling the app, decoding the manifest and resources
- The DEX plugin performs the analysis and disassembly of the DEX bytecode file (or files)
- The XML parser analyzes XML resources
- The Certificate plugin analyzes the certificate
- ... and so on.

> JEB performs recursive analysis on input artifacts and units, using the loaded *parser plugins*.

The project explorer tree should display a Bytecode node, representing the *DEX unit* (more on the concept of *units* later). The DEX views should be opened automatically by the GUI client, as they are detected as the principal views of an APK artifact.

Your workspace should look like:

[![](img/jeb-raasta-apk.png)](img/jeb-raasta-apk.png)

The workspace can be customized by the user:

- Views can be dragged and dropped, resized, stacked and docked with other views
- Views can be detached and placed in separate windows - something particularly useful for multi-monitor setups.

# Terminology

The Project Explorer contains three types of nodes:

- The top-most entity accessible within the GUI client is a ***project***. Currently, the GUI client can only handle a single project per session.
- A project contains various ***artifacts***, which represent data to be analyzed. Artifacts are usually files read from the local file system
- The analysis of artifacts yield ***units*** (and *sub-units*). E.g., the analysis of an Android DEX file artifact will yield at least one DEX unit representing the bytecode of that DEX file.
- Users of the graphical client interact with units through ***views*** that contain ***fragments*** representing various aspects of a unit. Fragments are rendered in tabs, selectable at the bottom of a view.
- Most units are ***interactive***. Users can interact with them through a variety of ways, including via ***actions***, available in the similarly-named menu.

The screen capture below summarizes common elements present and visible in the workspace when analyzing a file:

[![](img/jeb-raasta.png)](img/jeb-raasta.png)

## Back-end JEB objects

The Project Explorer elements are representing back-end components documented in the [API reference](https://www.pnfsoftware.com/jeb/apidoc). The image below summarizes a project's top-most components hierarchically:

[![](img/8e2d09f8-small.png)](img/8e2d09f8.png)