To plot a tree

future.open has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi Monks,

I am currently working on a piece of code where I need to plot a tree as a picture file. I am currently using GraphViz....which is perfectly fine. But its big dependency is the installation of the complete GraphViz software.

I need to remove this dependency but retain the flexibility of spreading the nodes(on the fly) of the tree(which GraphViz does so effectively) while plotting.

I have tried GD::Graph. But, because the tree is so wide and deep I can not decide the picture size/resolution at the start.

So,monks,are there other perl modules that I am missing?

Comment on To plot a tree

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Re: To plot a tree by zentara (Cardinal) on Jan 30, 2009 at 20:36 UTC
You could make a tree on a Tk::Canvas widget, then save it as postscript file, then convert to whatever, jpg, png, etc. Of course, it would take a bit of logic to lay out your tree, but you could make it as big as you want, then take the bbox of the canvas when done. See Data Visualization with Perl Tk.....it's not a tree, but the idea is there. I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are	[reply]
Re: To plot a tree by MidLifeXis (Monsignor) on Jan 30, 2009 at 19:51 UTC
Is it possible to do this in two passes? First to get your parameters, the second to actually do the plot? --MidLifeXis	[reply]
Re^2: To plot a tree by future.open (Initiate) on Jan 31, 2009 at 15:43 UTC
Yes, in fact,I get all the relations(root-->child_node) in the first pass(read), store them in a HASH,then I plot them.	[reply]
Re: To plot a tree by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jan 30, 2009 at 20:14 UTC
How is the tree represented in your program prior to plotting? Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. "Too many [] have been sedated by an oppressive environment of political correctness and risk aversion."	[reply]
Re^2: To plot a tree by future.open (Initiate) on Jan 31, 2009 at 13:55 UTC
I have stored it in a hash.($hash{root_node}=child_node)	[reply]
Re^3: To plot a tree by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jan 31, 2009 at 14:29 UTC
And do you have a feel for the breadth, depth and fan-out you are expecting to have to deal with? Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. "Too many [] have been sedated by an oppressive environment of political correctness and risk aversion."	[reply]
Re: To plot a tree by Anonymous Monk on Jan 30, 2009 at 20:22 UTC
I wish I had a plot of trees!	[reply]