MSAGL is a .NET tool for graph layout and viewing. It was developed in Microsoft Research by Lev Nachmanson. MSAGL is built on the principle of the Sugiyama scheme; it produces so called layered, or hierarchical layouts. This kind of a layout naturally applies to graphs with some flow of information. For example, the graph could represent a control flow graph of a program, a state machine, or a C++ class hierarchy.
The Distribution Content and Important Features
The package contains the following:
- Layout engine (Microsoft.MSAGL.dll) - The core layout functionality. This component can be used directly in cases when visualization is handled by a tool other than MSAGL.
- Drawing module (Microsoft.MSAGL.Drawing.dll) - The Definitions of different drawing attributes like colors, line styles, etc. It also contains definitions of a node class, an edge class, and a graph class. By using these classes a user can create a graph object and use it later for layout, and rendering.
- Viewer control (Microsoft.MSAGL.GraphViewerGDIGraph.dll) - The viewer control, and some other rendering functionality.
Some important features of the viewer are:
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Pan and Zoom of the graph.
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Forward and Backward navigation.
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Ability to configure tooltips and highlighting of graph entities.
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Ability to search for and focus on entities of the graph.
Code Samples
The code snippet demonstrates the basic usage of the viewer. It uses the C# language.
The Viewer sample
Drawing of the graph from the sample
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Windows.Forms;
class ViewerSample {
public static void Main() {
//create a form
System.Windows.Forms.Form form = new System.Windows.Forms.Form();
//create a viewer object
Microsoft.Msagl.GraphViewerGdi.GViewer viewer = new Microsoft.Msagl.GraphViewerGdi.GViewer();
//create a graph object
Microsoft.Msagl.Drawing.Graph graph = new Microsoft.Msagl.Drawing.Graph("graph");
//create the graph content
graph.AddEdge("A", "B");
graph.AddEdge("B", "C");
graph.AddEdge("A", "C").EdgeAttr.Color = Microsoft.Msagl.Drawing.Color.Green;
graph.FindNode("A").Attr.Fillcolor = Microsoft.Msagl.Drawing.Color.Magenta;
graph.FindNode("B").Attr.Fillcolor = Microsoft.Msagl.Drawing.Color.MistyRose;
Microsoft.Msagl.Drawing.Node c = graph.FindNode("C");
c.Attr.Fillcolor = Microsoft.Msagl.Drawing.Color.PaleGreen;
c.Attr.Shape = Microsoft.Msagl.Drawing.Shape.Diamond;
//bind the graph to the viewer
viewer.Graph = graph;
//associate the viewer with the form
form.SuspendLayout();
viewer.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill;
form.Controls.Add(viewer);
form.ResumeLayout();
//show the form
form.ShowDialog();
}
}
Layouts Created by MSAGL
Purchase
The Microsoft Automatic Graph Layout (MSAGL) tool can be purchased at the Microsoft online store or through MSDN subscription.
