Tools panel

The Tools panel is the top part of the Visualization Workspace. It contains buttons which are logically separated into several parts:

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1.Menu "Visualization"

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Menu contains:

Save

Current visualization is saved. Saved visualization can be later reopened (see Saved Visualizations).

This menu item is not visible if there is a new visualization (name is "..."). In that case, use "Save as" item to save visualization.

This menu item is not visible if you currently use a shared visualization. Use "Save as" item to save the visualization.

Save as

Use this menu item to save the visualization with a new name.

Refresh

The visualization is compared to current database state. Data from the database is loaded and compared to data in the visualization. There are 3 possible situations:

  • data in the visualization is the same as data in the database. After pressing "Refresh", user is notified that nothing has changed.

  • some elements which are visible in the visualization were removed in the database. After pressing "Refresh", elements which were removed from the database start flashing and following this, these elements are removed from the visualization.

  • some attributes were changed in the database. After pressing "Refresh", elements whose attributes have changed will be selected.

Export nodes (CSV)

Export nodes from the visualization into a CSV file. See Export.

Export edges (CSV)

Export relationships from the visualization into a CSV file. See Export.

Image export (PNG)

Export an image of the visualization in PiNG format. See Export.

2.Buttons for graph operations

Next to the "Visualization" menu are several buttons for graph operations which adds or removes elements from visualization:

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Explore selected elements

If a node has some neighbours which are not visible in the visualization, such a node is not completely explored. It will have "+" symbol overlayed, and you can explore it. Select one or more of such nodes and press "Explore selected elements". If selected nodes have some hidden neighbors, they will be displayed.

Hide selected elements

Select the nodes or relationships which you want to hide in the visualization and press "Hide selected elements". Elements are removed from the visualization but not from the database.

Find shortest path

This function can find shortest path between two nodes in a graph. This path is found in the database data, not in the visualization.

Select two nodes and press "Find shortest path". All shortest paths are found but only the one of these shortest paths is shown. User is notified about the length of the path and he number of all equivalent shortest paths. If there are nodes or relationships which were not in the visualization and are part of the path they are added to the visualization. The path is searched in an undirected graph.

Create new node in the database

Note: button is visible only if user has the permission for editing data in the database.

Click this button if you want to create a new node in the database. Properties of the node can be edited in the Control panel.

Create new relationship in the database

Note: button is visible only if user has the permission for editing data in the database.

Turn on relationships creation mode with this switch. When the mode is turned on you can see a small red dot when hovering over a node. This is a handle where you can start the new relationships (source node) and drag it to another node (target node). Properties of the relationship can be edited in the Control panel.

Delete selected elements

Note: button is visible only if user has the permission for editing data in the database.

Select elements (nodes and relationships) in the visualization and click this button for permanently removing them from the database. You have to confirm this action in a modal window to prevent unwanted deletion.

3.Buttons for selection

Buttons for selection of elements:

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Select neighbors of selected nodes

Select all neighbors of all selected nodes and select all relationships between these nodes.

Select incoming nodes of selected nodes

An incoming node is node at the start of a relationship (the relation as shown in a visualization doesn't have an arrow at this end). This selects relationship between these nodes also.

Select outgoing nodes of selected nodes

Outgoing node is node at the end of a relationship (the relationship has an arrow at this end). This selects relationships between these nodes also.

Invert selection of nodes

Invert selection in a visualization. This selects all nodes which were not selected and unselect all previously selected nodes and select all relationships between previously not selected nodes.

Unselect nodes and edges

Unselect all selected elements in the visualization.

4.Buttons for layout

Buttons to layout the graph in the visualization:

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Other layout options are available as keyboard shortcuts. Please see Visualization for more information.

Vertical layout

Selected nodes will be laid out vertically. The first node is not moved, all nodes have same spaces between them.

Horizontal layout

Selected nodes will be laid out horizontally. First node is not moved, all nodes have same spaces between them. Even nodes are not in the same line as the odd nodes, because that would obscure labels.

Circle layout

Selected nodes will be laid out in a circle. First node is not moved and stays in the center of the circle. Nodes are sorted by the Node Title property values (set in Settings tab).

Tree layout horizontal

Selected nodes will be laid out in a tree, horizontally (tree expands from left to right).

Tree layout vertical

Selected nodes will be laid out in a tree, vertically (tree expands down from the top).

Gravity layout

Selected nodes will be laid out by the gravity algorithm. Result of this algorithm should be different every time. This algorithm works iteratively and every change between every iteration is animated by moving the nodes and relationships. This layout stops after certain period of time because in large graphs this algorithm could take very long time to find the best result.

5.Virtual Relationship Models

Buttons for virtual merging of parallel relationships:

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Relationships are first class citizens in graphs and a great source of knowledge but graph models with many parallel relationships can become very hard to visually analyse. For such use cases Graphlytic supports virtual merging of parallel relationships into one relationship which then represents an array of relationships. There are three models of relationships which can be used:

  • All relationships - in this case nothing is merged and all relationships are visualized exactly as they are stored in the database.

  • Direction merge of relationships - this model merges parallel relationships with the same direction. When using this model you can visually distinguish if two nodes are connected and if they have connections in both directions or if their relationship is one directional.

  • Merge of relationships - this model merges all relationships between two nodes and do not distinguish directions. It's used when you need to see if there is or is not a connection between nodes. This model is easier to render and therefore is recommended to use it when you want to visualize large graphs.

All models supports Virtual Properties which can be used also for creating style rules to visualize patterns in the data.

6.Menu "Reports & Simulations"

Menu for running custom widgets, typically reports and graph simulations:

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Widgets are small UI components that enhance the visualization functionality in customer specific use cases. Typical widgets that can be run from this menu are Report and Simulation widgets which calculates some values or downloads data from other sources based on the data in the graph and presents the results in the form of a table in modal window. Another common usage is opening a URL in a new tab in the browser. URL can be dynamically created based on the selected elements in visualization which creates a indirect dynamic integration between Graphlytic and other systems like company reporting or portals.

7.Menu "View"

Menu for selecting predefined Views for quick visualization style change:

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Contains list of predefined styling rules for visualization called Style views. If you select one of the predefined styles then the visualization is styled accordingly and you can view or adjust the style in the Style tab of the Control panel.

Style views are managed by the administrator of the system

8.Timeline switch

Switch for turning on and off the Timeline:

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9.Control Panel switch

Switch for turning on and off the Control Panel:

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