How to force node position (x and y) in graphviz

dotgraph-theorygraphvizposition;

I am trying to force position of nodes. I have x and y coordinates of my nodes and its also directed graph. I can use the rank=same to handle row (y coordinate), but can't figure out how I can handle column (x coordinate).

Best Answer

You can use pos attribute (https://www.graphviz.org/doc/info/attrs.html#d:pos), e.g.:

xxx [
    label = xxx
    pos = "0,0!"
]

yyy [
    label = yyy
    pos = "10,10!"
]

You will also have to specify neato or fdp layout engine, so that dot command-line would be (for fdp):

dot -Kfdp -n -Tpng -o sample.png sample.dot

Related Solutions

Javascript – Retrieve the position (X,Y) of an HTML element

The correct approach is to use element.getBoundingClientRect():

var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
console.log(rect.top, rect.right, rect.bottom, rect.left);

Internet Explorer has supported this since as long as you are likely to care about and it was finally standardized in CSSOM Views. All other browsers adopted it a long time ago.

Some browsers also return height and width properties, though this is non-standard. If you're worried about older browser compatibility, check this answer's revisions for an optimised degrading implementation.

The values returned by element.getBoundingClientRect() are relative to the viewport. If you need it relative to another element, simply subtract one rectangle from the other:

var bodyRect = document.body.getBoundingClientRect(),
    elemRect = element.getBoundingClientRect(),
    offset   = elemRect.top - bodyRect.top;

alert('Element is ' + offset + ' vertical pixels from <body>');

How to force all nodes in the same column in graphviz

At least as of May 2007, you can't force "columns" per se, but you can apply weight to edges which should help force alignment. But actually, in this case, if you just add an invisible edge from D to E, you've got vertical alignment.

digraph exmp {
    A -> B -> C -> D
    C -> E [constraint=false]
    A -> C [style="dotted", constraint=false]
    A -> D [style="dotted",  constraint=false]
    B -> D [constraint=false]
    D -> A [style="dashed", constraint=false]
    C -> A [style="dashed", constraint=false]
    D -> E [style="invis"] // <---- important new line


    subgraph cluster_hackToSinkIt { E -> F }
    { rank="sink" E F }
}

fixed dot image

I'm not aware of any way to force edges to one side or another.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Javascript – Retrieve the position (X,Y) of an HTML element

How to force all nodes in the same column in graphviz

Related Topic