Tutorial Exercise 1.1: Loading a Graph from File

After starting uDraw(Graph) without any options or arguments, an empty base window will appear ( click here to see an image and more information about the base window ). In the upper part of the window, you have pull down menus where you can access all functions. The icons at the left side are buttons for direct access to frequently used menu operations. We will come to this later. One important part of the base window is the lower footer area where status messages are displayed. Keep your eye on this area to be informed about important system events, for example when you have to wait for an operation to be finished.

Now we will load a graph for visualization. Graphs are stored in files with a "*.udg" suffix. They contain a so called "term representation". This format only defines the structure of a graph, but has no layout information like the coordinates of a particular node. Refer to the term representation documentation for information about the graph format. To load a graph, you need the file browser to select a file name. You can get the browser by selecting menu File/Open... (that means move the mouse pointer to the File pull down menu and press the left mouse button which will give you the File menu. Then move the mouse pointer to the Open... menu entry by still pressing the mouse button and finally release the mouse button when you are over the Open... menu entry). This will bring up the file browser to open a graph.

(The rest of this exercise applies only to UNIX^® and LINUX^® systems. On Microsoft^® and on Mac OS^® X platforms, you will get the well-known standard Windows^® file browser instead of the one discussed here.)

The file browser has two different lists: One for the directories inside the current directory and one for the files in the current directory. The current directory is always displayed in the selection field of the file browser. Now you can browse through the directories of the file system of your computer by double-clicking the list elements of the directories view with the left mouse button (the left mouse button is used to select or manipulate objects visible on the screen, whereby the right button is used to choose from a pop-up/context menu). A double-click on '..', the first element of the directory list, will move to the parent directory. You can use the vertical scrollbars at the right side of the lists to move the scrolling region if there is not enough place to show all directories or files. Finally, go into the "samples/graphs" directory of the uDraw(Graph) distribution. Ask your administrator if you are not sure about the location where the distribution is installed on your file system.

When you are inside the "samples/graphs" directory, click on the types option button to select the "Graph Files" filter. This will remove all files without suffix "*.udg" from the files view. Now double-click on file "graph_example.udg" to load this graph in uDraw(Graph). This action will automatically close the file browser.

End of Exercise 1.1. Go back to the Section 1 Overview.