A List of Tools for Automatic Graph and Diagram Layout
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 9:31AM Creating diagrams and graphs programmatically is one of passions. Below is a set of links you may find useful if you want to incorporate these techniques into your own applications. Where possible I’ve added licensing information.
GraphViz
Made by: ATT
License: Open Source CPL
Notes: GraphViz is a set of native (unmanaged) applications (dot.exe, neato.exe, etc.). Using them from a .NET language means calling an EXE with text input and text output.
Diagram.NET
http://www.dalssoft.com/diagram/
http://code.google.com/p/diagramnet/
License: Apache License 2.0
Microsoft Automatic Graph Layout
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/msagl/default.aspx
License: commercial (license is about $300)
Notes: I’ve used this in my projects – relatively easy to use and produces great results.
July 2009: there’s a limited time promotion code for purchasing a license for only $99
ILOG Diagram for .NET
http://www.ilog.com/products/diagramnet/
License: commercial
Flare
License: BSD
UbiGraph
http://ubietylab.net/ubigraph/
Omnigator
aiSee
Graph#
http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=graphsharp
Circos
http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/circos/
License: GPL
Pajek - Program for Large Network Analysis
http://pajek.imfm.si/doku.php
http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/pajek/
Cytoscape
Piccolo
Data Visualization Components from Microsoft Research
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/dda33e92-f0e8-4961-baaa-98160a006c27/default.aspx
License: commercial
Treemaps
http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/photomesa/download/layout-algorithms.shtml
Squarified Treemaps in XAML & C# using Microsoft Longhorn - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/treemaps.aspx
QuickGraph
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/miscctrl/quickgraph.aspx?display=Print
License: zlib/png license
Reader Comments (2)
The list misses Nevron Diagram for .NET (https://www.nevron.com/products-dot-net-diagram-overview.aspx), which is one of the oldest and most mature graphs layout and visualization libraries out there.
This list is definitely missing yFiles, which to the best of my knowledge contains the most complete collection of automatic layout algorithms for .net, Java, and Javascript.
Note also that Microsoft Automatic Graph Layout has been open-sourced on GitHub in the meantime, ILOG JViews has first been sold to IBM and now to Roguewave. At least aiSee is discontinued and the flash based alternatives are almost all dead.
In the world of Javascript, though, a list of alternatives exists.