Graph Description Language (GDL)<>index

Graph Description Language (GDL)

GDL is an ASCII text representation of a graph. It describes a graph in terms of

  • Nodes
  • Edges
  • Subgraphs
  • Attributes

A subgraph is described as a normal graph except that it is specified inside another graph, meaning that graph specifications can be nested. aiSee provides special operations for subgraphs such as folding to a summary node, boxing, clustering, or wrapping. It is also possible to specify graph regions that are to be initially folded after starting aiSee.

Graphs, nodes and edges may have attributes that specify details of their appearance on the screen such as colors, sizes, shapes, etc.

As a purely textual exchange, GDL offers a number of advantages:

  • GDL specifications can be produced from all programming languages (including Perl, Java, PHP, ASP/.NET, Python, Ruby, awk, Cobol, Visual Basic, Fortran, C, C++, and even JavaScript)
  • Debugging is very simple
  • Troubles with DLL are avoided

If you prefer the OO style, we recommend writing a small library that produces GDL from your internal graph class. This is usually quite straightforward, and the additional overhead is small as compared to the complexity of the layout task.

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Last modified on 14 July 2005 by webmaster. © 2002-2005 AbsInt.
URL: http://www.aisee.com/gdl/nutshell/intro.htm

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