Basic DukeGuess Functions

Basic Functions

What you see now is the main DukeGuess application. You will be doing all of your graph manipulations from this screen. The area showing blue blocks and green lines is called the Visualization area. In the visualization area you can zoom in and out, move nodes (squares) and edges(lines), and move the "camera" around.

In order to zoom in, click and hold the right mouse button on white space. Now drag the mouse to the right. Dragging the mouse to the left zooms out
To move the "camera" around, click and hold the left mouse button and drag the mouse in the direction you want to move

Go ahead and try these things out now with our "24" graph! If you need to re-center the graph, click on the "Center" option underneath the "Display" menu at the top.
In order to move nodes around, first click on the "Manipulate Nodes" button at the very bottom of the DukeGuess window. Now if you left click a node, you can drag it around to a new location. You can also change the size of nodes.

The Manipulate Nodes Button

The white area below the visualization area with the ">>>" prompt is called the Interpreter. The function of the Interpreter is to take Python code commands and use them to manipulate the way the graph looks, or to found out more information about the graph. We will go into more detail on how to use the interpreter later.

Viewing More Information

In order to view more information about the graph, go to the "Display" menu at the top and click on "Information Window". DukeGuess now displays an information window to the left. When the mouse hovers over a node or edge, the information window will display detailed information for it in this new window.

Different Layouts

When DukeGuess first loads a graph, it automatically loads it with the "random" layout. This means that nodes placed at random locations within the window. While the random layout can have interesting results, it is generally not the most helpful for examining the structure of a graph. Fortunately, DukeGuess has several built-in layouts that are interesting to view and simple to run. To access them, go to the "Layout" menu at the top of the window and select the layout you desire. In this case, lets select the "GEM" Layout. It is a good layout that organizes things nicely.

Select the GEM Layout

Your graph should look like this after running the GEM Layout

For those who are not a fan of the show, Jack Bauer is the main character who often saves the day. Place your mouse over nodes and see if you can find a node named "Jack". As you can see, he holds a relatively central place in the graph.

Saving your Graph

To save all the work you have done to your graph, go to the "File" menu and select "Export GDF". Although it is recommended that you save your work as a *.gdf file, you can name the file anything you would like.

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