This demo shows how to automatically align nodes in rows and columns using the
AlignmentStage layout algorithm.
The AlignmentStage assigns nodes to rows and columns and places all nodes
in a column/row centered on a vertical/horizontal line. Two nodes belong to the same
column/row, if the horizontal/vertical distance between the centers of said nodes is less
than or equal to the value of the snapDistance property.
When aligning nodes, the horizontal distance between nodes in a shared row and the
vertical distance between nodes in a shared column can only increase. As a result,
reducing the minimumNodeDistance
will not move existing rows and columns closer together.
Things to Try
Drag a node template from the demo's palette into the demo's graph component. While
dragging the template over the graph component, gray columns and rows are shown in the
background. These stripes represent the snap distance to the vertical and horizontal
lines of alignment for the existing rows. Dragging the mouse into one of these stripe
will turn the corresponding stripe into a darker shade of gray. Dropping the template
inside a darkened stripe will force the new node and the existing nodes in that stripe
to be aligned.
Click on free space to create a new node or move a node to another position. If the
center of this node is close enough to an existing node, the nodes in the graph will be
aligned automatically.
Change one of the property values in the Settings panel and observe how the
graph is re-aligned. Since AlignmentStage only increases distances
between nodes, decreasing the Minimum Node Distance will have no immediate
effect.