graph.3   [plain text]


.TH LIBGRAPH 3 "01 MARCH 1993"
.SH NAME
\fBlibgraph\fR \- abstract graph library
.SH SYNOPSIS
.ta .75i 1.5i 2.25i 3i 3.75i 4.5i 5.25i 6i
.PP
.nf
\f5
#include <graphviz/graph.h>
void        aginit();
Agraph_t    *agread(FILE*);
int         agwrite(Agraph_t*, FILE*);
int         agerrors();
Agraph_t    *agopen(char *name, int kind);
void        agclose(Agraph_t *g);
Agraph_t    *agsubg(Agraph_t *g, char *name);
Agraph_t    *agfindsubg(Agraph_t *g, char *name);
Agnode_t    *agmetanode(Agraph_t *g);
Agraph_t    *agusergraph(Agnode_t *metanode);
int         agnnodes(Agraph_t *g), agnedges(Agraph_t *g);
.sp .i1
int         agcontains(Agraph_t *g, void *obj);
int         aginsert(Agraph_t *g, void *obj);
int         agdelete(Agraph_t *g, void *obj);
.sp .1i
Agnode_t    *agnode(Agraph_t *g, char *name);
Agnode_t    *agfindnode(Agraph_t *g, char *name);
Agnode_t    *agfstnode(Agraph_t *g);
Agnode_t    *agnxtnode(Agraph_t *g, Agnode_t *n);
.sp .1i
Agedge_t    *agedge(Agraph_t *g, Agnode_t *tail, Agnode_t *head);
Agedge_t    *agfindedge(Agraph_t *g, Agnode_t *tail, Agnode_t *head);
Agedge_t    *agfstedge(Agraph_t *g, Agnode_t *n);
Agedge_t    *agnxtedge(Agraph_t *g, Agedge_t *e, Agnode_t *n);
Agedge_t    *agfstin(Agraph_t *g, Agnode_t *n);
Agedge_t    *agnxtin(Agraph_t *g, Agedge_t *e);
Agedge_t    *agfstout(Agraph_t *g, Agnode_t *n);
Agedge_t    *agnxtout(Agraph_t *g, Agedge_t *e);
.sp .1i
char        *agget(void *obj, char *name);
char        *agxget(void *obj, int index);
void        agset(void *obj, char *name, char *value);
void        agxset(void *obj, int index, char *value);
int         agindex(void *obj, char *name);
.sp .1i
Agsym_t*    agraphattr(Agraph_t *g,char *name,char *value);
Agsym_t*    agnodeattr(Agraph_t *g,char *name,char *value);
Agsym_t*    agedgeattr(Agraph_t *g,char *name,char *value);
Agsym_t*    agfindattr(void *obj,char *name);
\fP
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fIlibgraph\fP maintains directed and undirected attributed graphs
in memory and reads and writes graph files.  Graphs are composed of
nodes, edges, and nested subgraphs.   A subgraph may contain any
nodes and edges of its parents, and may be passed to any
\fIlibgraph\fP function taking a graph pointer, except the three
that create new attributes (where a main graph is required).

Attributes are internal or external.
Internal attributes are fields in the graph, node and edge structs
defined at compile time.
These allow efficient representation and direct access to values
such as marks, weights, and pointers for writing graph algorithms.
External attributes, on the other hand, are character strings
(name-value pairs) dynamically allocated at runtime and accessed
through \fIlibgraph\fP calls.  External attributes are used in
graph file I/O; internal attributes are not.  Conversion between
internal and external attributes must be explicitly programmed.

The subgraphs in a main graph are represented by an auxiliary directed
graph (a meta-graph).  Meta-nodes correspond to subgraphs, and meta-edges
signify containment of one subgraph in another. 
\f5agmetanode\fP and \f5agusergraph\fP map between
subgraphs and meta-nodes.  The nodes and edges of the meta-graph may
be traversed by the usual \fIlibgraph\fP functions for this purpose.

.SH USE
1. Define types \f5Agraphinfo_t\fP, \f5Agnodeinfo_t\fP,
and \f5Agedgeinfo_t\fP (usually in a header file) before
including \f5<graphviz/graph.h>\fP. 

2. Call \f5aginit()\fP before any other \fIlibgraph\fP functions.
(This is a macro that calls \f5aginitlib()\fP to define the sizes
of Agraphinfo_t, Agnodeinfo_t, and Agedgeinfo_t.)

3. Compile with -lgraph -lcdt.

Except for the \fBu\fP fields, \fIlibgraph\fP
data structures must be considered read-only.
Corrupting their contents by direct updates can cause
catastrophic errors.

.SH "GRAPHS"
.nf
\f5
typedef struct Agraph_t {
    char                 kind;
    char                *name;
    Agraph_t             *root;
    char                **attr;
    graphdata_t         *univ;
    Dict_t              *nodes,*inedges,*outedges;
    proto_t             *proto;
    Agraphinfo_t         u;
} Agraph_t;

typedef struct graphdata_t {
    Dict_t              *node_dict;
    attrdict_t          *nodeattr, *edgeattr, *globattr;
} graphdata_t;

typedef struct proto_t {
    Agnode_t            *n;
    Agedge_t            *e;
    proto_t             *prev;
} proto_t;
\fP
.fi
A graph \fIkind\fP is one of:
AGRAPH, AGRAPHSTRICT, AGDIGRAPH, or AGDIGRAPHSTRICT.
There are related macros for testing the properties of a graph:
AG_IS_DIRECTED(g) and AG_IS_STRICT(g).
Strict graphs cannot have self-arcs or multi-edges.
\fBattr\fP is the array of external attribute values.
\fBuniv\fP points to values shared by all subgraphs of a main graph.
\fBnodes\fP, \fBinedges\fP, and \fBoutedges\fP are sets maintained
by \fBcdt(3)\fP.  Normally you don't access these dictionaries
directly, though the edge dictionaries may be re-ordered to support
programmer-defined ordered edges (see \f5dtreorder\fP in \fIcdt(3)\fP).
\fBproto\fP is a stack of templates for node and edge initialization.
The attributes of these nodes and edges are set in the usual way (\f5agget\fP,
\f5agset\fP, etc.) to set defaults.
.PP
\f5agread\fP reads a file and returns a new graph if one
was succesfully parsed, otherwise returns NULL if
\f5EOF\fP or a syntax error was encountered.
Errors are reported on stderr and a count is returned from
\g5agerrors()\fP.
\f5write_graph\fP prints a graph on a file.
\f5agopen\fP and \f5agsubg\fP create new empty graph and subgraphs.
\f5agfindsubg\fP searches for a subgraph by name, returning NULL
when the search fails.

.SH ALL OBJECTS
\f5agcontains\fP, \f5aginsert\fP, \f5agdelete\fP are generic functions
for nodes, edges, and graphs.  \f5gcontains\fP is a predicate that tests
if an object belongs to the given graph.  \f5aginsert\fP inserts an
object in a graph and \f5agdelete\fP undoes this operation.
A node or edge is destroyed (and its storage freed) at the time it
is deleted from the main graph.  Likewise a subgraph is destroyed
when it is deleted from its last parent or when its last parent is deleted.

.SH NODES
.nf
\f5
typedef struct Agnode_t {
    char                *name;
    Agraph_t            *graph;
    char                **attr;
    Agnodeinfo_t        u;
} Agnode_t;
\fP
.fi

\f5agnode\fP attempts to create a node.
If one with the requested name already exists, the old node 
is returned unmodified.
Otherwise a new node is created, with attributed copied from g->proto->n.
\f5agfstnode\fP (\f5agnxtnode\fP) return the first (next) element
in the node set of a graph, respectively, or NULL.

.SH EDGES
.nf
\f5
typedef struct Agedge_t {
    Agnode_t            *head,*tail;
    char                **attr;
    Agedgeinfo_t        u;
} Agedge_t;
\fP
.fi
\f5agedge\fP creates a new edge with the attributes of g->proto->e
including its key if not empty.
\f5agfindedge\fP finds the first (u,v) edge in \f5g\fP.
\f5agfstedge\fP (\f5agnxtedge\fP) return the first (next) element
in the edge set of a graph, respectively, or NULL.
\f5agfstin\fP, \f5agnxtin\fP, \f5agfstout\fP, \f5agnxtout\fP
refer to in- or out-edge sets.
The idiomatic usage in a directed graph is:
.sp
\f5    for (e = agfstout(g,n); e; e = agnextout(g,e)) your_fun(e);\fP
.P
An edge is uniquely identified by its endpoints and its \f5key\fP
attribute (if there are multiple edges).
If the \f5key\fP of \f5g->proto->e\fP is empty,
new edges are assigned an internal value.
Edges also have \f5tailport\fP and \f5headport\fP values.
These have special syntax in the graph file language but are
not otherwise interpreted.
.PP
.SH ATTRIBUTES
.nf
\f5
typedef struct attrsym_t {
    char                *name,*value;
    int                 index;
    unsigned char       printed;
} attrsym_t;
.bp
typedef struct attrdict_t  {
    char                *name;
    Dict_t              *dict;
    attrsym_t           **list;
} attrdict_t;
\fP
.fi
\f5agraphattr\fP, \f5agnodeattr\fP, and \f5agedgeattr\fP make new attributes.
\f5g\fP should be a main graph, or \f5NULL\fP for declarations
applying to all graphs subsequently read or created.
\f5agfindattr\fP searches for an existing attribute.
.PP
External attributes are accessed by \f5agget\fP and \f5agset\fP
These take a pointer to any graph, node, or edge, and an attribute name.
Also, each attribute has an integer index.  For efficiency this index
may be passed instead of the name, by calling \f5agxget\fP and \f5agxset\fP.
The \f5printed\fP flag of an attribute may be set to 0 to skip it
when writing a graph file.
.PP
The \f5list\fP in an attribute dictionary is maintained in order of creation
and is NULL terminated.
Here is a program fragment to print node attribute names:
.nf
    \f5attrsym_t *aptr;
    for (i = 0; aptr = g->univ->nodedict->list[i]; i++) puts(aptr->name);\fP
.fi
.SH EXAMPLE GRAPH FILES
.nf
graph any_name {            /* an undirected graph */
    a -- b;                 /* a simple edge */
    a -- x1 -- x2 -- x3;    /* a chain of edges */
    "x3.a!" -- a;           /* quotes protect special characters */
    b -- {q r s t};         /* edges that fan out */
    b [color="red",size=".5,.5"];   /* set various node attributes */
    node [color=blue];      /* set default attributes */
    b -- c [weight=25];     /* set edge attributes */
    subgraph sink_nodes {a b c};    /* make a subgraph */
}

digraph G {
    bb="8.5,11";            /* sets a graph attribute */
    a -> b;                 /* makes a directed edge */
    chip12.pin1 -> chip28.pin3; /* uses named node "ports" */
}
.fi

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR dot (1),
.BR neato (1),
.BR libdict (3)
.br
S. C. North and K. P. Vo, "Dictionary and Graph Libraries''
1993 Winter USENIX Conference Proceedings, pp. 1-11.

.SH AUTHOR
Stephen North (north@ulysses.att.com), AT&T Bell Laboratories.