write_graphviz

// Output graph structure without properties.
template < typename VertexListGraph >
void 
write_graphviz(std::ostream& out, const VertexListGraph& g);

// Graph structure with customized property output
template < typename VertexListGraph, typename VertexPropertyWriter >
void 
write_graphviz(std::ostream& out, const VertexListGraph& g, 
               VertexPropertyWriter vpw);

template < typename VertexListGraph, typename VertexPropertyWriter,
           typename EdgePropertyWriter >
void
write_graphviz(std::ostream& out, const VertexListGraph& g, 
               VertexPropertyWriter vpw, EdgePropertyWriter epw);

template < typename VertexListGraph, typename VertexPropertyWriter,
           typename EdgePropertyWriter, typename GraphPropertyWriter >
void 
write_graphviz(std::ostream& out, const VertexListGraph& g, 
               VertexPropertyWriter vpw, EdgePropertyWriter epw, 
               GraphPropertyWriter gpw);

template < typename VertexListGraph, typename VertexPropertyWriter,
           typename EdgePropertyWriter, typename GraphPropertyWriter,
           typename VertexID >
void 
write_graphviz(std::ostream& out, const VertexListGraph& g, 
               VertexPropertyWriter vpw, EdgePropertyWriter epw, 
               GraphPropertyWriter gpw, VertexID vertex_id);

// Graph structure with dynamic property output
template<typename Graph>
void
write_graphviz(std::ostream& out, const Graph& g,
               const dynamic_properties& dp, 
               const std::string& node_id = "node_id");

template<typename Graph, typename VertexID>
void
write_graphviz(std::ostream& out, const Graph& g,
               const dynamic_properties& dp, const std::string& node_id,
               VertexID vertex_id);

This is to write a BGL graph object into an output stream in graphviz dot format so that users can make use of AT&T graphviz to draw a picture with nice layout.

The first version with two parameters will write the graph into a std::ostream where each vertex is represented by its numerical vertex ID. If users have either interior or exterior properties for each vertex in the graph, the second version above provides a way to print those properties into the graphviz format file. For example, if each vertex in the graph has its label through property map object name, users can use the second version:

  write_graph(out, g, make_label_writer(name));

The final two overloads of write_graphviz will emit all of the properties stored in the dynamic_properties object, thereby retaining the properties that have been read in through the dual function read_graphviz. With these overloads, node_id is the name of the property map that stores the IDs of each node for use in the output (if it is stored in the dynamic_properties structure); alternatively, one may provide an arbitrary property map for vertex_id giving the vertex identifiers.

Where Defined

boost/graph/graphviz.hpp

PropertyWriter

A PropertyWriter for vertices or edges is a functor which can be called with two parameters: std::ostream and either a vertex or an edge descriptor. It should output a pair of brackets with a series of assigments "name=value" inside. Each assignment should be separated either with space, with comma, or with semicolon. The following functor, provided by BGL, is the example of PropertyWriter for vertices or edges. It is used to print the label of each vertex or edge.

  template < class Name >
  class label_writer {
  public:
    label_writer(Name _name) : name(_name) {}
    template 
    void operator()(std::ostream& out, const VertexOrEdge& v) const {
      out << "[label=\"" << name[v] << "\"]";
    }
  private:
    Name name;
  };

A function to conveniently create this writer is provided:

template < class Name >
label_writer<Name>
make_label_writer(Name n);

A PropertyWriter for graphs is a functor which is called with one parameter of type std::ostream and should print a series of graph properties. The following code excerpt is an example of a PropertyWriter for a graph.

  struct sample_graph_writer {
    void operator()(std::ostream& out) const {
      out << "graph [bgcolor=lightgrey]" << std::endl;
      out << "node [shape=circle color=white]" << std::endl;
      out << "edge [style=dashed]" << std::endl;
    }
  };
}

There exists a class default_writer, which can be used as both vertex/edge and graph property writer, and does nothing. It comes handy when only edge properties must be written, but function interface requries to pass vertex property writer as well.

Parameters

A standard std::ostream object.

A directed or undirected graph. The graph's type must be a model of VertexListGraph. Also the graph must have an internal vertex_index property map.

A functor that models PropertyWriter concept to print properties of a vertex.
Default: default_writer()

A functor that models PropertyWriter concept to print properties of an edge.
Default: default_writer()

A functor that models PropertyWriter concept to print properties of a graph.
Default: default_writer()

Contains all of the vertex and edge properties that should be emitted by the GraphViz writer.

The name of the property map that provides identifiers for the vertices in the graph.
Default: "node_id"

A property map that models Readable Property Map whose key type is the vertex descriptor of the graph and whose value type can be written to a stream. The value should be a unique descriptor that can be used to name a node in a Graphviz file (so it should not, for instance, have any spaces in it).
Default: If no dynamic_properties object is provided, get(vertex_index, g). Otherwise, a dynamic property map that accesses the property map named node_id.

Example

enum files_e { dax_h, yow_h, boz_h, zow_h, foo_cpp, 
               foo_o, bar_cpp, bar_o, libfoobar_a,
               zig_cpp, zig_o, zag_cpp, zag_o, 
                 libzigzag_a, killerapp, N };
const char* name[] = { "dax.h", "yow.h", "boz.h", "zow.h", "foo.cpp",
                       "foo.o", "bar.cpp", "bar.o", "libfoobar.a",
                       "zig.cpp", "zig.o", "zag.cpp", "zag.o",
                       "libzigzag.a", "killerapp" };

int main(int,char*[])
{
    
  typedef pair<int,int> Edge;
  Edge used_by[] = {
    Edge(dax_h, foo_cpp), Edge(dax_h, bar_cpp), Edge(dax_h, yow_h),
    Edge(yow_h, bar_cpp), Edge(yow_h, zag_cpp),
    Edge(boz_h, bar_cpp), Edge(boz_h, zig_cpp), Edge(boz_h, zag_cpp),
    Edge(zow_h, foo_cpp), 
    Edge(foo_cpp, foo_o),
    Edge(foo_o, libfoobar_a),
    Edge(bar_cpp, bar_o),
    Edge(bar_o, libfoobar_a),
    Edge(libfoobar_a, libzigzag_a),
    Edge(zig_cpp, zig_o),
    Edge(zig_o, libzigzag_a),
    Edge(zag_cpp, zag_o),
    Edge(zag_o, libzigzag_a),
    Edge(libzigzag_a, killerapp)
  };
  const int nedges = sizeof(used_by)/sizeof(Edge);
  int weights[nedges];
  fill(weights, weights + nedges, 1);

  typedef adjacency_list< vecS, vecS, directedS, 
      property< vertex_color_t, default_color_type >,
      property< edge_weight_t, int >
    > Graph;
  Graph g(N, used_by, used_by + nedges, weights);

  write_graphviz(std::cout, g, make_label_writer(name));
}

digraph G {
0 -> 4;
0 -> 6;
0 -> 1;
0 [label="dax.h"];
1 -> 6;
1 -> 11;
1 [label="yow.h"];
2 -> 6;
2 -> 9;
2 -> 11;
2 [label="boz.h"];
3 -> 4;
3 [label="zow.h"];
4 -> 5;
4 [label="foo.cpp"];
5 -> 8;
5 [label="foo.o"];
6 -> 7;
6 [label="bar.cpp"];
7 -> 8;
7 [label="bar.o"];
8 -> 13;
8 [label="libfoobar.a"];
9 -> 10;
9 [label="zig.cpp"];
10 -> 13;
10 [label="zig.o"];
11 -> 12;
11 [label="zag.cpp"];
12 -> 13;
12 [label="zag.o"];
13 -> 14;
13 [label="libzigzag.a"];
14;
14 [label="killerapp"];
edge[style="dotted"];
6 -> 0;
}

The examples directory contains an example using dynamic_properties.

See Also

Notes