graph layout module?

[Calvelo Daniel]

Harry George <hgg9140 at seanet.com> wrote:
: I have a shop scheduling task, thus roughly rectangular layouts
: with task bars and pred/succ arcs between tasks.  Any convenient tools
: for this?

If what you mean is *automatic* graph layout, there are free tools from AT&T, 
in a bundle called graphviz (ever heard of 'dot'?). They are available from 
http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/graphviz/, under an Open Source licence.

: Probably need a simple gui for debugging, but final result is a 36
: inch printed plot.  I can imagine, e.g., generating XML for dia to
: visualize, then print to postscript.

The suite works by providing a graph description in a fairly easy-to-read
and easy-to-generate format (you define nodes and links mostly); there is
an interactive editor (it uses X & Athena widgets IIRC, so might not be useful
for NT) and commands for direct output to PS, imagemap, HPGL, PCL, MIF,...

: Needs to operate in both UNIX (AIX, SGI, Linux) and WinNT
: environments.

Source is available.

-- Daniel Calvelo Aros
     calvelo at lifl.fr