Re: Graph-drawing tool -- what do you use?

gerlek@dis.cse.ogi.edu (Michael Gerlek) writes:
|> I'm interested in hearing what others out there use for drawing graphs,
|> specifically for use in compiler development -- i.e. CFGs, various trees,
|> etc. Both commercial packages and freeware/shareware are okay.


You should take a look at our interactive graph visualization system
daVinci. It's free available for Sun SPARC, but we're working on versions
for other platforms like PC's (under Linux) and DEC workstations. You can
find the details about the current version in the announcement below.


|> I'm looking for a tool that runs under X and can dump postscript. In
|> addition, I'd like a tool that is fast and has the ability to label
|> vertices and edges, represent different kinds of edges, minimize edge
|> crossings, maybe do interective adding/deleting, and so on. We're
|> currently using Edge, which is okay in some areas but poor in others.


daVinci is still under construction, so we can't present you the swiss-knife-
tool you need. But all the features you mentioned will be implemented some
day. The biggest deficit at the moment is the absence of a PostScript output.
You must take screen snapshot to do this.


Greetings


Michael


------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Announcement: Graph-Visualization System daVinci V1.2 available:
------------------------------------------------------------------------


October 26, 1993 (Bremen, Germany) -- The Institute for Formal Methods in
Software Engineering at the University of Bremen announces the second
public release of the interactive graph-visualization system daVinci
(version V1.2). daVinci is a visualization system for directed graphs,
which are very common in todays applications, e. g. file systems, module
dependencies, dataflows, document structures, networks etc.


The most important new features of daVinci V1.2 are:
         - strongly improved drawing speed (up to 500% acceleration in
         comparison to version 1.1)
         - pixelwise scrolling and object placing
         - improved visualization (edges with arrows, more compact
         layout)
         - extended functionality for application interface
         - new options; X-Window options are now supported
         - Smaller size of binary files


daVinci draws a directed graph from an ASCII term representation, con-
sidering readability qualities like minimization of edge crossings and
bends. The visualization is interactive, i. e. nodes and edges can be
selected, the calculated graph-layout can be manually improved (fine-
tuning), subgraphs can be faded out for abstraction, the scale can be
reduced and so on.


daVinci provides an application interface for the communication with a
graph administrating program. This interface is offering a set of com-
mands for transmitting graphs, creating menus, calling user dialogs or
controlling the visualization system. Using daVinci and the application
interface, a program can offer the user a graphical view to graphs with-
out losing control of the graph structure.




If you're using daVinci, we're interested in your opinion. Ideas for new
features or critics are welcome. Especially we like to know applications
of daVinci. How are you using daVinci? A feedback is needed to continue
our work.


daVinci is an OPEN LOOK program and is delivered as a SPARC binary for Sun
workstations (SunOS 4.1.x and Solaris 2.x). The minimal hardware
configuration should be a Sun SPARCstation SLC. daVinci is available for
non-profit use by anonymous ftp from


wowbagger.PC-Labor.Uni-Bremen.DE (134.102.228.9)
in the directory /pub/graphics/daVinci.


In the directory there are two packages, one for SunOS 4.1.x and one for
Solaris 2.x. The content of both packages is the same, except of the
binary files. Both packages include graph examples, tools and the docu-
mentation. Also in the directory you can find a small PostScript File
'info.ps' with more detailed informations about daVinci.


The interactive graph-visualization system daVinci has been developed at
the Institute for Formal Methods in Software Engineering at the Uni-
versity of Bremen, conducted by Prof. Dr. Bernd Krieg-Brueckner. The au-
thors of daVinci are Michael Froehlich and Mattias Werner. daVinci is
implemented in the pure functional language ASpecT, which was developed at
the University of Bremen also. The OPEN LOOK user interface of daVinci
was implemented using the toolkit XView.


To contact the daVinci project write by e-mail to:


daVinci@Informatik.Uni-Bremen.DE


Sun and SPARCstation are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
SPARC is a trademark of SPARC International, Inc.
OPEN LOOK is a trademark of AT&T, Inc.
--
Dipl.-Inform. Michael Froehlich
University of Bremen
FB3 - Department of Computer Science
PO-Box 330440, D-28334 Bremen, Germany
Tel.: x49 421 218-4228
e-mail: mfr@Informatik.Uni-Bremen.DE
--

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