Re: [orca-list] Handling data flow diagrams and system flow charts

[Alex Midence <alex midence gmail com>]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions, Tim.  I'd come across Graphviz some years ago in my search for tactile 
diagrams and such and didn't pursue it because I came across a windows-based package called Deep View written 
in Java by someone doing his doctorate on whether or not blind people would get much out of flowcharts and 
things.  Turned out, I didn't need it after all which is just as well since Deep View was buggy but I always 
meant to look at Graphviz again.

Alex M


-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Cross [mailto:tcross une edu au] 
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2013 4:27 PM
To: Daniel Dalton
Cc: Alex Midence; 'Informal discussion between...'; 'emacspeak'; orca-list gnome org
Subject: Re: Handling data flow diagrams and system flow charts


Graphviz is what I've used when in this situation. In fact, it is one of the easiest ways to generate 
diagrams I've ever used. Essentially, you use the graphiz 'grammar' to specify the nodes and arcs of your 
diagram and leave it to graphiz to do the layout. In most cases, it does a very good job. You can specify 
different node shapes and different styles of arc such as directed, bi-directional etc. There is a mode for 
emacs, though I never really used it. There are also a number of different latex packages to incorporate 
graphviz into latex docs, though I usually just generate an image and use one of the latex packages for 
putting an image into a document rather than gemnerate actual TeX to insert into your document.

Tim


Daniel Dalton writes:
> On Fri, Feb 08, 2013 at 09:37:16AM -0600, Alex Midence wrote:
> > I've heard that some people use Gnu Plot for this sort of thing.  You might  >  > I'll certainly 
> > investigate it. 
> With gnuplot you can get text output ascii so it is very accessible to  > review the diagram with a 
> Braille display. 
>
> However, I think gnuplot is more for plotting points and sketching  > functions on a graph, Which probably 
> won't work for my project  > management diagrams. 
>
> > also look into graphviz.  From what I can make out, Graphviz does for  > > graphics and diagrams what 
> > LaTEx does for text & formatting.
>
> That's a good one! I'll check it out. 
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
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