Graph and link layouts

In the Designer, you can set the Graph Layout and Link Layout options in the Style Rules pane, in order to lay out the nodes and links in your graph according to a specific arrangement.
The graph layouts available are: bus, circular, grid, hierarchical (the default), tree, uniform length edges.
The link layouts available are: hierarchical, short links, long links.

Layout selection

There are many ways to select a layout, and you can choose one according to which is most convenient for you:
  • Choose a layout theme in the Graph Layout Theme page of the New Diagram Wizard or in the Graph Layout Wizard (see also Graph Layout wizard). Each layout theme is a ready-customized layout for a specific purpose.
  • In the Styling Customizer for the Graph Layout option or the Link Layout option, select a layout type from the vertical toolbar, or in the Control tab.
The most commonly used layout is hierarchical. An example project with the hierarchical layout is the genealogy example, <installdir>/jviews-diagrammer810/bin/designer/data/examples/genealogy.idpr. Example projects with bus and circular layouts are also supplied in <installdir>/jviews-diagrammer810/bin/designer/data/examples.

Layout customization

If you need to customize the default behavior of a graph or link layout algorithm, or the parameters set by a layout theme, you can select Graph Layout or Link Layout under Options and set properties in the Styling Customizer.
The most common properties to use are those in the Control and Basic tabs.
Where necessary, online Help text is available for individual properties.
A few graph and link layout properties are set on a per-node or per-link basis. Explanations and instructions for setting these appear in the Styling Customizer. For an example, see Setting a link style with mixed links.