Generator

This HowTo shows how to create a new graph generator in Gephi.

Please look at [[Plugin Quick Start]] to know how to create a new Netbeans Module. When you have your plugin module, that we will call MyGenerator, you can start this tutorial.

Create a new Generator

Set Dependencies

Add Lookup, GraphAPI and LongTaskAPI modules as dependencies for your plugin module MyGenerator. See [[How To Set Module Dependencies]].

Create Generator

• Create a new class that implements Generator. This is the place the code belongs.
• Fill getName() method by returning a display name like "My Generator". Fill getUI() method by returning null. Leaves other methods untouched for the moment.
• Add @ServiceProvider annotation to your builder class. Add the following line before MyGenerator class definition, as shown below:

@ServiceProvider(service = Generator.class)
public class MyGenerator implements Generator {
...

Generate the graph

Fill generate() method by creating NodeDraft and EdgeDraft elements to add to the ContainerLoader.

Set LongTask

To let your graph creation task be canceled and its progress watched, implement LongTask interface on MyGenerator. Add two fields:

private boolean cancel = false; private ProgressTicket progressTicket;

and implement new methods:

public boolean cancel() {
    cancel = true;
    return true;
}
 
public void setProgressTicket(ProgressTicket progressTicket) {
    this.progressTicket = progressTicket;
}

Use the cancel field to terminate your algorithm execution properly and return from generate().

Sample

@ServiceProvider(service = Generator.class)
public class HelloWorld implements Generator {
 
    protected ProgressTicket progress;
    protected boolean cancel = false;
 
    public void generate(ContainerLoader container) {
        // create nodes
        NodeDraft n1 = container.factory().newNodeDraft();
        NodeDraft n2 = container.factory().newNodeDraft();
 
        // set node labels
        n1.setLabel("Hello");
        n2.setLabel("World");
 
        // create edge
        EdgeDraft e = container.factory().newEdgeDraft();
        e.setSource(n1);
        e.setTarget(n2);
 
        // fill in the graph
        container.addNode(n1);
        container.addNode(n2);
        container.addEdge(e);
    }
 
    public String getName() {
        return "Hello World";
    }
 
    public GeneratorUI getUI() {
        return null;
    }
 
    public boolean cancel() {
        cancel = true;
        return true;
    }
 
    public void setProgressTicket(ProgressTicket progressTicket) {
        this.progress = progressTicket;
    }
}