wdot.rb - Frequently Asked Questions

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What is the format of a :head tag?

 :head followed by a TITLE and a DIRECTION {

 example: :head "My Title" LR {
 or :head "My Title", LR {

 - TITLE should be in double-quotes eg. "My Title"
 - DIRECTION can be one of LR RL TB or BT

Is the closing brace } needed a the end of a .wdot file?

 Yes.

What is allowed inside a node label?

 Anything this is not a ", eg. "[This is a legal node->label!]"

Why not use dot directly?

 It save a lot of typing.
 with wdot:
  /* My file
   */
  :head "My Title", LR {
  // Nodes
  _s "[Start->here]"
  _e "End"
  a "!Node-A!"
  b [label = "Node B", shape="ellipse"]
  if_ok "Running ?"

  // Links
  _s->a "begin"
  a->if_ok
  if_ok->a "N"
  if_ok->b "Y"
  b->_e [ dir="none"]
  }

 using only dot:
  /* My file
   */
  digraph G {
    graph [ label="My Title", bgcolor="white",
      fontname="Arial", rankdir="LR"]
    node [fontname="Arial", shape="box",
      style="filled", fillcolor="AliceBlue"]
    edge [fontname="Arial", color="Blue",
      dir="forward"]
  // Nodes
  _s [label="[Start->here]", shape="circle",
    fillcolor="LightPink"]
  _e [label="End", shape="circle",
    fillcolor="LightPink"]
  a [label="!Node-A!"]
  b [label = "Node B", shape="ellipse"]
  if_ok [label="Running ?",shape="diamond"]

  // Links
  _s->a [label="begin"]
  a->if_ok [label=""]
  if_ok->a [label="N"]
  if_ok->b [label="Y"]
  b->_e [ dir="none"]
  }

I‘m having problems running graphviz under Microsoft Windows.

  There is currently a problem with the windows
  installation of graphviz v0.21 where it is not able to
  find fonts installed on Microsoft Windows 98.

  On Windows XP it is not able to find the path to the dot.exe
  use control panel / performance and maintenance / system / advanced /
  environment variables to set the path to graphviz_install_dir/bin .

What was used to write wdot.rb?

  wdot.rb is written in the ruby programming language.
  It was developed and tested on the GNU/Linux
  operating system.

Who wrote wdot?

 wdot was written by Loh Siu Yin or SiuYin Loh for those
 of you in the west. He wrote wdot to help him
 in his work as a broadcast technology and management
 consultant with Beyond Broadcast LLP.