On Feb 2, 2008 11:52 AM, Ioannis Vranos <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> OS: SL 5.1 x86.
>
>
> Hi, I have installed graphviz during installation but I do not find any
> menu item about it. How can we use it? I suppose it is a graph drawing
> application/framework, right?
>
I have been wondering the same thing.  But I was afraid to ask.

Maybe we can find out together. Or I can show you what I've learned
since reading your mail.

The programs delivered with graphViz  like dot and acyclic take node
description files and fancy them up for other programs.  Observe they
have several different executables for different types of graphs, and
each of them has a man page.

$ rpm -ql graphviz
/usr/bin/acyclic
/usr/bin/bcomps
/usr/bin/ccomps
/usr/bin/circo
/usr/bin/dijkstra
/usr/bin/dot
/usr/bin/dot2gxl
/usr/bin/dotty
/usr/bin/fdp
/usr/bin/gc
/usr/bin/gvcolor
/usr/bin/gvpack
/usr/bin/gvpr
/usr/bin/gxl2dot
/usr/bin/lefty
/usr/bin/lneato
/usr/bin/neato
/usr/bin/nop
/usr/bin/prune
/usr/bin/sccmap
/usr/bin/tred
/usr/bin/twopi
/usr/bin/unflatten
/usr/lib/graphviz
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_core.so.4
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_core.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_dot_layout.so.4
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_dot_layout.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_gtk.so.4
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_gtk.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_neato_layout.so.4
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_neato_layout.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_pango.so.4
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_pango.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_xlib.so.4
/usr/lib/graphviz/libgvplugin_xlib.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/libagraph.so.4
/usr/lib/libagraph.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/libcdt.so.4
/usr/lib/libcdt.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/libexpr.so.4
/usr/lib/libexpr.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/libgraph.so.4
/usr/lib/libgraph.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/libgvc.so.4
/usr/lib/libgvc.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/libgvc_builtins.so.4
/usr/lib/libgvc_builtins.so.4.0.0
/usr/lib/libpathplan.so.4
/usr/lib/libpathplan.so.4.0.0
/usr/share/doc/graphviz-2.14.1
/usr/share/doc/graphviz-2.14.1/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/graphviz-2.14.1/COPYING
/usr/share/doc/graphviz-2.14.1/ChangeLog
/usr/share/doc/graphviz-2.14.1/NEWS
/usr/share/doc/graphviz-2.14.1/README
/usr/share/graphviz
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/box.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/def.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/dotty.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/dotty_draw.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/dotty_edit.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/dotty_layout.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/dotty_ui.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/fractal.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/fractal2.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/lefty.psp
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/slides.lefty
/usr/share/graphviz/lefty/tree.lefty
/usr/share/man/man1/acyclic.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/bcomps.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/ccomps.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/circo.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/dijkstra.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/dot.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/dot2gxl.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/dotty.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/fdp.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/gc.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/gvcolor.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/gvpack.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/gvpr.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/gxl2dot.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/lefty.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/lneato.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/neato.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/nop.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/prune.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/sccmap.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/tred.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/twopi.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/unflatten.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man7/graphviz.7.gz

Usually, frameworks like this will come with several pre-made example
programs that we can run.  I would not be surprised if those example
files were included, but were eliminated during the rpm packaging
process.  Discouraging, i know.

But you can go on their website and see example files. here's one:

http://www.graphviz.org/Gallery/directed/cluster.html

I saved the example code from that page into a text file I called
digraph.graph, and after more snooping in their documentation, I
learned the dot program can output several formats.  The one I figured
I could work with was "xfig" format. This command works to create a
fig formated document "myThing.fig" from that file.

$ dot -Tfig -o myThing.fig digraph.graph

You see the graph in the xfig program

$ xfig my.fig

From more reading on graphViz, it appears to me that this is more of a
"middle level library" than the kind of thing you would start from a
menu.  It is middle level in the sense it can process  configuration
files, but it leaves it up to you to design the files and process
them.  There are programs available that try to integrate this into
more of a pleasant user experience.

> Thanks a lot,
>
> Ioannis (John)
>



-- 
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas