desiquintans/vertextual

A web app for interactively creating directional networks and mindmaps by writing plain text

Vertextual: Build directional networks and mindmaps from plain text

Try it at http://bit.ly/vertextual

Vertextual is a tool for interactively drawing networks and mindmaps by writing out the nodes and connections in a simple shorthand domain- specific language (DSL).

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In Vertextual, you build a network by naming its nodes and their edges (connections). The first edge always has to be fully defined as Origin > Destination like so:

Daydream > Idea

Each new edge goes on a new line. You can continue writing full definitions for the rest of the edges, or you can reuse the last Destination node as the new Origin by omitting the Origin from the new definition:

Daydream > Idea
> Sketch
> Prototype

Is identical to:

Daydream > Idea
Idea > Sketch
Sketch > Prototype

You can also reuse the last Origin as the new Origin with the operator ^:

Daydream > Idea
^ Sketch
^ Prototype

Is identical to:

Daydream > Idea
Daydream > Sketch
Daydream > Prototype

You can name connections in any order. Duplicate connections and self-loops will be automatically removed.

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Written in R Shiny by Desi Quintans, project began on 2019-03-16.

vertextual's Issues

Shorthand for accessing a shared parent

It's currently very easy to type out a cyclic graph:

A > B
> C
> D
> E
> A

But it's relatively harder to type one that radiates:

Plant > Legume
Legume > Acacia
Legume > Bossiaea
Legume > Daviesia
Legume > Dillwynia
Legume > Gompholobium

It would be nice if I added a symbol that used the previous Origin as the new Origin. Perhaps ^?

Plant > Legume
> Acacia
^ Bossiaea
^ Daviesia
^ Dillwynia
^ Gompholobium

Error when input data is incomplete

Parent > 

## Error: An error has occurred. Check your logs or contact the app author for clarification.

I need to wait for the dataframe to be validated before trying to redraw the network diagram.