Node goes up... Node goes down...

Throughout the past week I have been focusing pretty steadily on my Summer of Code project. Last week I reported that container support had been added to Zest. Since then, I have been updating and fixing up many of the issues containers presented. There were a number of small changes that needed fixing (like the fact that my labels were all truncated), but I also managed to add a number of new features. In particular I added open close animations, and container layout and scaling. Now each container can have its own layout and scale depending on the number of nodes. I also reversed the direction of my gradient, although I really should work with the UI team and use the Kelvin Colours.


The most exciting feature I added was a new open / close algorithm. Now, when a container is opened, it moves the nodes below it out of the way. I attempt to put the nodes back when the container closes again. Moving nodes out of the way (without really altering the graph) is considered a pretty hard problem in graph drawing, but since I knew my nodes always grow downward, it made it somewhat easier for me.


Finally I added a fisheye feature. Now, if enabled, when you mouse over a small node you can have it zoom into focus. Using this technique, I chose only to show the icons on the small nodes, but on hover you get the full text. (In this screenshot I moved my mouse over the centre node in top container).



The snippet used to create these screenshots is less than 70 LoC (and if I was a more clever programmer I could probably do it in less than 40).

It was a pretty busy week with a lot of late nights and I haven't seen my wife and daughter much, so I think I will head home and enjoy the nice west coast weather we have been receiving.