The "dotty_color" script

The Graphviz package draws graphs: you declare nodes and edges, and program takes care of the layout generation. The dotty program enables you to draw these graphs interactively, with mouse and keyboard.

I wrote dotty_color.lefty, an extension script that adds keyboard shortcuts for color and shape management. A step-by-step install procedure is provided here below.

  • download the Graphviz package and install it (let's say in folder GRAPHVIZ_PATH)
  • go to folder GRAPHVIZ_PATH\lib\lefty and add here the file dotty_color.lefty.
  • edit GRAPHVIZ_PATH\lib\lefty\dotty.lefty: after the last line, append the following statement: load('dotty_color.lefty');
  • start GRAPHVIZ_PATH\bin\dotty.exe; mouse commands: left button = create a node, middle button + drag = create an edge, right button = menu. Keyboard shortcuts are available:
    'u' = "undo"
    ' ' = "do layout" (redraws graph)
    'Z' = "zoom in slowly"
    'z' = "zoom out slowly"
    'l' = "set label"
    'L' = "change label"
    'r' = "color red"
    'g' = "color green"
    'b' = "color blue"
    'k' = "color black"
    'K' = "color black/grey"
    'w' = "color white"
    'd' = "delete"
    'x' = "direct/indirect"
    'a' = "add many nodes"
    's' = "save graph as"
    'p' = "print graph" (creates a PNG, Windows only)

 The dotty window showing an example graph