graphdraw(1)

💖 graphdraw(1) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the manual for graphdraw — it lives in the General Commands Manual, section 1, and it's literally the cutest little directed graph editor you've ever met. grab a snack, we're doing this 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

graphdraw — a directed graph editor that's derived from drawtool. it's giving graph tool but make it a whole vibe 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

graphdraw ['X-params'] [file]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so graphdraw implements a graph (node/edge) editor, no cap. what it does is it adds two brand new graphical objects to idraw/drawtool: an elliptical shaped node and a directed edge that's represented as an arrow line. two new tools to create these objects are provided at the bottom of the toolbar, and yes they're iconic:

• Node tool — selectable by the 'N' key. takes a single mouse click and creates a new graph node at the click location. one click, one node, periodt 💅
• Edge tool — selectable by the 'E' key. lets you drag a line to create a new graph edge.

and here's the part that's actually genius: if an edge is drawn from or to an existing node, it will connect itself to the node(s) and maintain that connectivity during any later movement of nodes or edges. it's loyal fr fr 🫶

the Move tool will move edges or nodes, rubberbanding the rest of the graph, and redrawing any connected edges to maintain graph connectivity and edge alignment. so everything stays attached the way it should. slay.

📝 text in your nodes 📝

Nodes contain a (initially empty) text string which can be edited by applying the Alter tool to a node. a single click on a node while on the Alter tool will create a text cursor — possibly within an existing text string — and allow editing of the text via the usual Emacs editing commands ✨

a click outside the text terminates editing and causes the new text to be centered within the node. centered!! the aesthetic!! 🎀

🔴 selection glow-up 🔴

For Node and Edge objects, the Selection highlight mechanism has also been changed from the usual drawing of "handles" around a graphical object to a red foreground color. so when Nodes or Edges are selected, they turn red instead of handles being drawn around them. it's giving main character energy, honestly 💀

💾 saving, restoring & exporting 💾

graphdraw documents are saved/restored in a readable text file. some of the tokens used in the text file are specific to graphdraw (and possibly any program derived from graphdraw). iykyk.

graph drawings can be exported to other idraw/drawtool applications via the "Export Graphic" command (under the File menu). this generates Postscript in a format that idraw can read back in, and programs like drawtool can import via "Import Graphic" (under the file menu). sharing is caring bestie 🌈

🧰 the Tools menu 🧰

A Tools menu has been added to the set of pull-down menus to allow switching between a graph editing toolbar and a generic graphics editing toolbar. two toolbars, one queen 👑

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

• drawtool
• idraw

🌐 WEB PAGE 🌐

http://www.ivtools.org/ivtools/graphdraw.html

lowkey a reminder: this page is from the General Commands Manual, section 1, and it's signed graphdraw(1) at the bottom, so that's your version and date situation right there. no extra lore, just vibes 💜

okay bye bestie, go draw a graph and make it cute 🦋✨🎀💖🌸