Introduction
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:GVedit is a wolffd@0: Graphviz tool for creating, viewing, editing and processing DOT files. It wolffd@0: allows users to set attributes of graphs with dialogue boxes and save them wolffd@0: for future use. GVedit users can also take advantage of the simple wolffd@0: instant previewing feature of the program.
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Menu system
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:GVedit's main menu bar wolffd@0: provides basic file options such as Open, Save, Save As and simple editing wolffd@0: operations such as Cut, Copy and Paste. Most of the common commands wolffd@0: also have standard keyboard shortcuts. wolffd@0: Below you will find a list of the menu items and brief information on wolffd@0: each of them.
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File:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:New: Creates a blank text wolffd@0: window. You can use it to write a description of a graph in the DOT language. wolffd@0: New graphs are not saved to disk until you save them manually.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Open: Opens a file wolffd@0: dialogue box to select and load a DOT file into the editor. Each file is opened in a wolffd@0: new window and does not affect other open graphs.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Save: Saves the active wolffd@0: graph to disk. If the active graph is new and does not have a name, wolffd@0: it opens a Save As dialogue to allow you wolffd@0: to specify the file's name before saving.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Save as: Opens a Save As wolffd@0: dialogue to save the active graph. You can save a graph under different names but wolffd@0: you will always be working with the most recently saved graph.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: Close: Closes the active graph window. If there are any unsaved changes, wolffd@0: you get a dialogue box asking if you want to wolffd@0: save the changes before closing the graph.
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Edit:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Undo : This command wolffd@0: rolls back the last thing that you have done within the active graph.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Cut : Removes selected wolffd@0: text and keeps it in the clipboard.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Copy: Copies selected wolffd@0: text to the clipboard.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: Paste: Inserts the text from the clipboard into the cursor position on the wolffd@0: active graph.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Find: Opens the find wolffd@0: dialogue box to allow you to locate desired text in a graph.
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Graphviz
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Run: Processes the active wolffd@0: graph with the last attributes that were used for it. If the active graph has wolffd@0: never been processed before, it opens the settings window.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Settings: Opens the wolffd@0: settings window. Details of this window are given below. wolffd@0:
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View
wolffd@0:Cascade: wolffd@0: Sets the style for handling multiple windows to cascade, in which each wolffd@0: new window overlaps the previous one. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0:Tile: wolffd@0: Sets the style for handling multiple windows to tiling, in which the wolffd@0: open graph windows partition the root window. wolffd@0:
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Help
wolffd@0:wolffd@0: Help: Opens a manual page describing how to use this program. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0:wolffd@0: Graphviz on net: Opens a browser window on the Graphviz home page. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0:wolffd@0: About GVedit: Provides version information about the program. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Tool bar
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Under the menu bar, wolffd@0: there is a toolbar with five buttons on it. These buttons are nothing but shortcuts wolffd@0: to some menu items. Each button has a tool tip attached to it to wolffd@0: indicate its purpose.
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Working with multiple graphs; the active graph.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: GVedit allows you to have multiple graphs open at the same time. At any wolffd@0: time, there is a single active graph. wolffd@0: Anything you do using either the GVedit menus or the settings window affects the wolffd@0: active graph. When you go to the settings window, you always see the wolffd@0: settings of active graph. wolffd@0: The settings of each graph are maintained separately. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0:wolffd@0: To make a graph active, click on its window. wolffd@0: The background of the active graph window is white wolffd@0: while all others are gray. wolffd@0:
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Settings window
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: With the settings window, wolffd@0: you can select the layout engine, set the output type and file, wolffd@0: and set any attributes that are available with the Graphviz release wolffd@0: installed on your computer.
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Layout engine: wolffd@0: Graphviz provides five different graph layouts. You can select wolffd@0: the one which best fits your needs. More information about these layouts wolffd@0: can be found at the Graphviz home page wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Output file name: wolffd@0: This field allows you to specify the output file name. wolffd@0: You can either type in the name, or use the wolffd@0: small button by the text box to open a file wolffd@0: dialogue box. wolffd@0: This field corresponds to the –o option of Graphviz. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Output wolffd@0: file type: This drop down list allows wolffd@0: you to select the output file type. The output file name's extension is changed wolffd@0: accordingly. wolffd@0: This field corresponds to the –T option of Graphviz. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Graphviz wolffd@0: bin folder:You usually do not need to wolffd@0: enter anything here. During the Graphviz installation, locations of the Graphviz wolffd@0: files are stored in the registry and GVedit retrieves it from there. If, wolffd@0: for some reason, Graphviz files are not where they are supposed to be wolffd@0: and GVedit can not wolffd@0: find them, you can edit this information manually. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: Preview Output file: wolffd@0: If this box is checked, wolffd@0: GVedit creates a low-quality preview of the output and shows it in a wolffd@0: separate window. It is a convenient way to preview the results without wolffd@0: executing another viewing program. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: Apply cairo filter: wolffd@0: If this output format is supported by the cairo library, this box becomes wolffd@0: active. If checked, output will be generated using the cairo library wolffd@0: rather than the default renderer. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:Attributes: wolffd@0: On the lower half of the settings window, you will see two dropdown lists, wolffd@0: one small text box, and a larger text editing area. GVedit processes the wolffd@0: contents of the large box as additional, generic graph, node or edge attributes. wolffd@0: (These correspond to the –G, –N, and –E command-line options of Graphviz.) wolffd@0: You can either type directly in the large text box, wolffd@0: or use the drop down lists to pick wolffd@0: an allowed scope and one of the common attribute names. wolffd@0: For details of these attributes, refer to the wolffd@0: page of Graphviz attributes. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: If you specify an attribute using the drop down lists, you need to click on the wolffd@0: Add button to register the attribute. wolffd@0: If you do not click on wolffd@0: Add button, the attribute that you entered will not be wolffd@0: added to the large box, hence will not be processed. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:As an wolffd@0: example, assume that we would like to have a graph drawn wolffd@0: with a green background. wolffd@0: First, click on the scope list and select graph; wolffd@0: then click on the name list and wolffd@0: select bgcolor; and then type green to the value box. wolffd@0: Finally, click on the Add button to send the attribute to large box. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: Belowe the Add button is a Help button. Clicking on this wolffd@0: will open a browser window on the Graphviz page describing the supported wolffd@0: attributes. wolffd@0:
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: Under the large box, there are 3 small buttons, plus wolffd@0: Cancel and OK buttons. The first button is used to wolffd@0: clear the attributes box; wolffd@0: the second one is used to load an existing text file into the attributes box; wolffd@0: and the last one is used to save the attributes to a text file for later use. wolffd@0: The Cancel button closes the window without processing anything; wolffd@0: the OK button processes the wolffd@0: active document file with the settings on the screen and closes the settings wolffd@0: window. If you check the preview check box, you will see the preview of the wolffd@0: graph layout on the screen.
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Console window
wolffd@0: wolffd@0:wolffd@0: At the bottom of the wolffd@0: main window, there is a console window where you can see the results of your wolffd@0: actions. This provides a trace of your layout actions, showing the wolffd@0: Graphviz command corresponding to the active graph's settings. It also wolffd@0: displays warnings from GVedit, as well as the output of the wolffd@0: executed Graphviz programs. wolffd@0: By right clicking on the console window, you will get a menu providing some wolffd@0: additional functions, such as clearing or saving the console logs.
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