Graph Interaction Options
The Graph Visualization library supports different types of graph exploration actions. You can inspect graph relationships using Exploration Mode in the visualization panel.
The following figure shows the graph visualization toolbar:
Figure: Graph Visualization Toolbar
Description of the illustration graph_interaction_options.png
The following topics describe the different toolbar actions (in order from left to right):
Using Exploration Mode
Exploration Mode provides a temporary workspace where you can perform any graph-changing operations. Changes made in this mode do not change the original graph. When you exit the mode, the original graph is restored.
You can activate graph exploration mode by selecting the leftmost Exploration Mode control in the toolbar or by invoking an exploration action such as expand, focus, group, ungroup, or drop. The visualization automatically enters Exploration Mode before applying the action.
Figure: Graph Exploration Mode
Description of the illustration graph_exploration_mode.png
When the exploration mode is active:
- The Exploration Mode indicator appears near the top center of the graph.
- Undo, redo, and reset controls appear in the visualization toolbar.
- The green Show replay status indicator appears beside the Exploration Mode label after you perform an action in the active exploration session. All graph actions performed in a graph exploration session are recorded.
- When Pin Vertices is enabled, you can reposition vertices by dragging them. Position changes are recorded as part of the active exploration state.
- You can save the actions in the active exploration session as a named exploration from the exploration toolbar menu. Saved explorations include graph actions and any recorded vertex position changes.
- You can select a saved exploration from the exploration toolbar menu. Graph Visualization replays its actions on the current base graph.
- You can update, rename, or delete saved explorations from the exploration toolbar menu.
- If you make changes after selecting a saved exploration and then select another saved exploration or exit Exploration Mode, Graph Visualization prompts you to either discard the unsaved changes or continue working.
- When you exit and re-enter Exploration Mode, the visualization replays the actions in the selected saved exploration. If no saved exploration is selected, the visualization replays the actions recorded in the previous exploration session.
- The Show replay status indicator is not displayed initially. It appears after you perform a new action in the re-entered session.
- Select Show replay status to open the replay-status popup. The popup lists recorded actions and shows the number that were applied or skipped. After re-entry, actions from the previous session are shown as Skipped and actions performed in the current session are shown as Applied. For example, the status footer can show
1 applied, 1 skipped of 2 actions. - To undo all actions from the exploration exploration, select Remove all actions from the exploration toolbar menu. This does not delete a saved exploration.
- The Display Size of the graph is not available while Exploration Mode is active and becomes available again when you exit the mode. Exploration actions do not change the vertex or edge counts represented by the pagination setting.
To return to the unchanged base graph, exit Exploration Mode from the toolbar control or graph indicator.
Expand
You can expand one or more selected vertices to fetch n-hop vertices of the selected expansion type, such as descendants, ancestors, or siblings.
To expand a vertex, click on the specific vertex and click the Expand option in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can right-click on the vertex and click Expand in the context menu.
By default, the expand action fetches 1-hop descendants. It also displays a hop count panel. You can control the hop count through the slider in the panel. The range for the hop count is between 1 and settings.maxNumberOfHops (default value is five). You can drag the slider or edit the hop count value directly in the text box as desired.
You can also enable relationship highlighting to highlight vertices based on their relationship to the selected vertex. When you turn on the Highlight switch, the Relationship section is displayed, and Descendant is selected by default.
The following relationship types are supported:
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Descendant: Highlights vertices reached by traversing outward from the selected vertex.
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Ancestor: Highlights vertices reached by traversing inward toward the selected vertex.
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Sibling: Highlights vertices that share a parent-style connection with the selected vertex.
When you select a relationship type, Graph Visualization recomputes the result using the selected relationship type and the current hop count.
When highlighting is enabled:
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Related vertices are highlighted in the visualization.
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Vertex opacity may vary based on the distance from the selected vertex.
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Relationship captions may be displayed.
When highlighting is disabled, the relationship selection is cleared, relationship controls are hidden, distance-based highlighting is removed, and relationship captions are hidden.
The following figure illustrates expanding on vertex 287. The image shows that the specified hop count value is one and therefore 1-hop descendants are fetched when expanding on the vertex.
Figure: Expand Action
Description of the illustration expand_action.png
Drop Action
You can remove one or more selected vertices from the visualization.
To drop a vertex, select the specific vertex and click the Drop option in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can right-click on the vertex and select Drop in the context menu.
The following figure illustrates dropping of vertex 590.
Figure: Drop Action
Description of the illustration drop_action.png
Focus
You can drop everything in your visualization and fetch n-hop neighbors of one or more selected vertices.
To focus on a vertex, click on the specific vertex and click the Focus option in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can right-click on the vertex and click Focus in the context menu.
The following figure illustrates focused visualization on vertex 934.
Figure: Focus Action
Description of the illustration focus_action.png
Group
You can group selected vertices and collapse them into a single one.
To group vertices, select multiple vertices and click the Group option in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can right-click on the selection and select Group in the context menu.
The following figure illustrates grouping of vertices 287, 590, 934, and 289.
Figure: Group Action
Description of the illustration group_action.png
Ungroup
You can ungroup a group of selected vertices.
To ungroup, select the group and click the ungroup option in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can right-click on the group and click ungroup in the context menu.
The following figure illustrates ungrouping of vertices 287, 590, 934, and 289.
Figure: Ungroup Action
