{"id":4572,"date":"2019-12-30T09:56:51","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T08:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pythonprogramming.altervista.org\/?p=4572"},"modified":"2020-09-14T05:05:49","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T03:05:49","slug":"mind-map-with-python","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pythonprogramming.altervista.org\/mind-map-with-python\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind Map with Python"},"content":{"rendered":"

I always wanted a program to generate mind maps. This is the first attempt to do it with Python.<\/p>\n

This is an example of the output we will get.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Install Graphviz (eventually with chocolatey)<\/h2>\n

To make a mind map with Python<\/strong> you need to install Graphviz<\/strong> at this web page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You could use also chocolatey<\/strong> to install Graphviz<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Chocoloatey installs Graphviz<\/strong>. Go to chocolatey<\/a> and install it.<\/p>\n

Watch the video<\/strong> to see how I did it.<\/p>\n

Install pydot<\/h2>\n

Now we’re ready to install pydot<\/strong> in the cmd<\/strong> (command line) or powershell<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

pip install pydot<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ready for the code<\/h2>\n

You should also go in the environmental<\/strong> variable settings (watch the video) and insert the path to Graphviz<\/strong> in it.<\/p>\n

The path is also to paste into the code. In fact after you imported pydot (and os), you need to add this line of code:<\/p>\n

import pydot\r\nimport os\r\nos.environ[\"PATH\"] += os.pathsep + 'C:\\\\Program Files (x86)\\\\Graphviz2.38\\\\bin'<\/pre>\n
Rememeber that the environ<\/strong> path is the one on my computer. You gotta put the one on your that could be the same of mine, but it is not sure, you could have installed somewhere else.<\/p>\n
Now we are ready.<\/p>\n
\"Risultati<\/p>\n
Create a Dot istance (let’s call it graph)<\/h2>\n
graph = pydot.Dot(graph_type=\"digraph\", rankdir=\"UD\")<\/pre>\n
The graph type could have been also graph<\/strong>. The UD<\/strong> means Up down<\/strong>, for the vertical oriented maps. If you want a left to right<\/strong> map, use LR<\/strong> instead.<\/p>\n
Now we create the root<\/strong> node, the master, the topic of whatever you want to call the keyword that is the start of the map. Let’s say the topic is Pydot<\/strong>!<\/p>\n
root = \"Pydot\"<\/pre>\n
Now let’s create adn Edge<\/strong> object with the name of the root<\/strong> and his child<\/strong> as arguments<\/strong>. We will add the edge to graph with the add_edge<\/strong> method. Then we save the image of the map and show it.<\/p>\n
import pydot\r\nimport os\r\nos.environ[\"PATH\"] += os.pathsep + 'C:\\\\Program Files (x86)\\\\Graphviz2.38\\\\bin'\r\n\r\ngraph = pydot.Dot(graph_type=\"graph\", rankdir=\"UD\")\r\n\r\nroot = \"Pydot\"\r\nedge = pydot.Edge(root, \"How to install it\")\r\ngraph.add_edge(edge)\r\n\r\ngraph.write_png(\"Hello.png\")\r\nos.startfile(\"Hello.png\")<\/pre>\n
We could stop here and save an image of the map:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Create 2 children of a child<\/h2>\n
Now, to add two children<\/strong> to How to install<\/strong> it you can add<\/p>\n
edge = pydot.Edge(\"How to install it\", \"Way 1\")\r\ngraph.add_edge(edge)\r\n\r\nedge = pydot.Edge(\"How to install it\", \"Way 2\")\r\ngraph.add_edge(edge)<\/pre>\n
The whole code being:<\/p>\n
import pydot\r\nimport os\r\nos.environ[\"PATH\"] += os.pathsep + 'C:\\\\Program Files (x86)\\\\Graphviz2.38\\\\bin'\r\n\r\ngraph = pydot.Dot(graph_type=\"graph\", rankdir=\"UD\")\r\n\r\nroot = \"Pydot\"\r\nedge = pydot.Edge(root, \"How to install it\")\r\ngraph.add_edge(edge)\r\n\r\nedge = pydot.Edge(\"How to install it\", \"Way 1\")\r\ngraph.add_edge(edge)\r\n\r\nedge = pydot.Edge(\"How to install it\", \"Way 2\")\r\ngraph.add_edge(edge)\r\n\r\ngraph.write_png(\"Hello.png\")\r\nos.startfile(\"Hello.png\")<\/pre>\n
The output<\/strong> would be:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
As you can see, it is easy<\/strong>, but<\/strong> a bit tedious<\/strong>. If you watch the video you will see me trying to abstract<\/strong> a little bit the code, so that it is less annoying to add the childrens… there will be for sure better<\/strong> ways<\/strong>, but I leave them to your imagination or to future<\/strong> articles…<\/p>\n
A nice example (the one you see in the video)<\/h2>\n
import pydot\r\nimport os\r\n\r\nos.environ[\"PATH\"] += os.pathsep + \"C:\\\\Program Files (x86)\\\\Graphviz2.38\\\\bin\\\\\"\r\n\r\ngraph = pydot.Dot(graph_type=\"graph\", rankdir=\"UD\")\r\n\r\ndef add_edge(root, child):\r\n    edge = pydot.Edge(root, child)\r\n    graph.add_edge(edge)\r\n\r\ndef add(root, children):\r\n    if children.splitlines()[0] == \"\":\r\n        children = children.splitlines()[1:]\r\n    else:\r\n        children = children.splitlines()\r\n    for child in children:\r\n        add_edge(root, child)\r\n\r\n# ======================= 1 Python\\Children\r\nadd(\"Pydot\",\r\n\"\"\"Install\r\nExamples\r\nInfo\r\n\"\"\")\r\n# ===================== 2 Pydot\\Examples\\Children\r\nadd(\"Examples\", \"\"\"\r\nExample 1\r\nExample 2\r\n\"\"\")\r\n# ======================= level 2: Pydot\\Info\\Children\r\nadd(\"Info\", \"\"\"\r\nAuthor\r\n\"\"\")\r\n# ====================== Lev. 3 Pydot\\Info\\author\\hello\r\n\r\nadd(\"Author\", \"Hello\")\r\n\r\ngraph.write_png(\"map.png\")\r\nos.startfile(\"map.png\")<\/pre>\n
And now…<\/p>\n
The live coding video of Pydot to make Mind Maps and Concepts Maps with Python<\/h2>\n