The editor is not an independent program with a separate user interface. Instead, it is a GUI-less application which communicates with daVinci by using the API. From a users point of view, all graph manipulation is done inside the daVinci base window. To access the graph manipulation functions, the editor adds some extra menus, icons and dialogs to the daVinci user interface. Technically, daVinci and the editor are two individual processes with different responsibilities: the editor has its own graph data structure, it controls and manipulates this graph depending on menu events and sends the current graph back to daVinci for visualization after each update. So the structure of the graph in daVinci is never manipulated directly, only the application (i.e. the graph editor in this case) is able to do so. You can read more about daVinci applications in the API reference.
Another way to connect the graph editor is by starting daVinci and the editor at the same time by calling daVinci with commandline option -graphedit.
For a basic introduction, you can also read the section about the graph editor
in the
tutorial.
This menu contains operations to manipulate the nodes of a graph, i.e.
inserting nodes, deleting nodes and modifying node attributes.
Note: Menus can also be used mouseless with
keyboard commands.
This menu contains operations to manipulate the edges of a graph, i.e.
inserting edges, deleting edges and modifying edge attributes.
Note: Menus can also be used mouseless with
keyboard commands.
Menu Edit/Node
This operation inserts a new root node in the graph, i.e. a node which has
no parent or child node. The new node will have the attributes which are
currently set in the attribute dialog (available after selecting menu
Edit/Node/Attributes...).
The text of the new node is determined by the current content of the
naming scheme dialog (available after selecting menu
Edit/Node/Naming Scheme...).
This operation inserts a new child node in the graph, i.e. a node which is
connected with its parent node(s) with a directed edge. The new node will
become the child of all nodes that are currently selected, so this operations
inserts the edges from the parent(s) to the new child node, too.
Obviously, this menu operation is disabled when no node is selected.
The new node will have the attributes which are currently set in the
attribute dialog (available after selecting menu
Edit/Node/Attributes...).
The text of the new node is determined by the current content of the naming
scheme dialog (available after selecting menu
Edit/Node/Naming Scheme...).
This operation deletes the currently selected node and all of its edges from
the direct parents and to the direct childs (to avoid incomplete edges with a
missing node). This menu operation is only available when exactly one node is
selected in the graph.
Same as menu operation
Edit/Node/Delete Node
above, but removes the subgraph of the currently selected node, too. The
subgraph of a node are all childs (and their childs, and so on) that belong
exclusively to this node. So the recursive deletion stops as soon as there
is a child node that has at least one parent node which is not deleted at the
same time. This menu operation is only available when exactly one node is
selected in the graph.
This operation opens the
node attribute dialog
to specify the attributes of the currently selected node(s). The attributes
specify the visual appearance of a node in the graph visualization.
This menu operation is disabled when no node is selected in the graph.
You can also open this dialog by double-clicking on a node.
This operation opens the
naming scheme dialog
to specify the text pattern of inserted nodes. The text of each new node
is assigned automatically by using this pattern.
Menu Edit/Edge
This operation inserts a new edge between two nodes, so it is
only available when exactly two nodes are selected in the graph (hint: use
the Shift key to select more than one node at a time in
daVinci). The node that was selected first will be the parent node
and the node selected afterwards will be the child node of the new (directed)
edge. The edge will have the attributes which are currently set in the
attribute dialog (available after selecting menu
Edit/Edge/Attributes...).
This operation deletes the currently selected edge, so it is
only available when exactly one edge is selected in the graph.
This operation opens the
edge attribute dialog
to specify the attributes of the currently selected edge. The attributes
specify the visual appearance of an edge in the graph visualization.
This menu operation is disabled when no edge is selected in the graph.
You can also open this dialog by double-clicking on an edge.
File Operations
To load and save a graph in the graph editor, simply use daVinci's
menus
File/Open... and
File/Save As....
The graph editor application takes advance of an API feature and
controls daVinci's File menu
to do its own I/O.
Graph Editor Icons on the Icon Bar
The graph editor icons appear on the icon bar of the daVinci
base window.
To switch between the usual daVinci
icons and the graph editor icons, simply click on the arrow
(,
)
in the lower part of the icon bar.
These icons are short-cuts for the most frequently used menu operations of
the graph editor, so pressing an icon is the same as selecting the
corresponding menu operation which are described above. The following list
shows the available icons and the corresponding menu operations.