Layout Options

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Visualizer Diagram Layout Button

Once you add entities to your Visualizer Diagram, the Layout button on the toolbar offers a wide range of options to rearrange your entities.

Visualizer diagram Layout Menu on COVID-19 Contact Tracing Example

Get Links with Incremental Layouts

As you place entities on the Visualizer diagram, use Get Links to add their linked entities. The most basic is one degree, but you can specify the number of degrees and even retrieve all the entities connected to an entity.

Sentinel Visualizer uses an advanced incremental layout algorithm to automatically place the entities on the diagram with the most important entities and their common entities between them.

This lets you see your network more clearly and saves considerable time over manually adjusting the entities yourself.

Start with Two Entities

Original Two Entities on Diagram

Get Links One Degree Highlighting Shared Entities

Get Links One Degree with Incremental Layout Diagram Their linked entities are placed using Incremental Layout to center the ones common to both, while the unrelated ones are further away.

Incremental Layout

The Incremental layout automatically displays the most connected entities centrally with the less connected further out. With random initialization, the results vary each time it is run. Run it multiple times and use Undo/Redo to switch between them. If you like the results, but not the rotation, use the Transform feature to adjust it. The Tiled and One Network options offers different layouts if your data includes multiple, disconnected sets of entities (networks).

Layout Menu Incremental Options On the diagram, the right-click context menu has a Layout option to make it easy to rerun the last layout.

Incremental Layout

Layout Incremental Diagram Easily see the entities with the most relationship lines and their connections.

Tiled Networks

Tiled Networks Tiled Networks option shows each network sorted by largest to smallest side-by-side in rows.

One Network

One Network One Network arranges all of the networks around a central point.

Circular Layout

The Circular layout organizes entities and relationships in a circular pattern.

Layout Menu Circular Options

Multiple Circles

Multiple Circles Display entities in groups of circles.

Elliptical Layout

The Elliptical layout arranges the entities in an ellipse that fills the entire Visualizer window starting from the center. This is similar to the circular layout but uses more space, so it has more entities in one orbit than a circular layout.

Layout Menu Elliptical Options

Rectangular Layout

The Rectangular layout arranges entities in a rectangle that fills your Visualizer window starting from the top left corner.

Layout Menu Rectangular Options

Square Layout

The Square layout is similar to Rectangular except the entities are in a square which does not fill up the window if it’s not square.

Layout Menu Square Options

Triangular Layout

The Triangular layout organizes the entities in a triangle that fills the Visualizer window.

Layout Menu Triangular Options

Group by Entity Type

The Group by Entity Type layout arranges entities in a separate shape for each entity type. Easily select all the entities of a type to remove them or send them to a new Diagram (under Output).

Layout Menu Entity Type Options

Layout by Entity Type in CirclesLayout by Entity Type in Circles

Layout by Entity Type in SquaresLayout by Entity Type in Squares

Each entity type is treated as a separate network arranged from largest to smallest number of entities. Within each entity type, they are sorted by name.

Hierarchical Layout

The Hierarchical layout arranges entities in a hierarchy. Options are available to switch from traditional "Top to Bottom" to other directions.

Layout Menu Hierarchical Options

Layout Hierarchical Top to Bottom

Additional Layouts

Layout Menu Additional Options

Force Directed

Layout Force Directed Diagram Force Directed is another layout algorithm from the “Spring Embedder” family of graph layouts. The difference from Incremental layout is only one of aesthetics.

Orthogonal Large

Orthogonal Large The Orthogonal layout creates schematic representations using only horizontal and vertical orientations. The entities are placed on a grid of rows and columns with relationships parallel to the x and y axes.

Orthogonal Small

Orthogonal Small Orthogonal layout with shorter lines.

Layout Options

Select Layouts Options to customize default behavior for displays, sorting, angles, time limits, and zoom behavior.

Layout Options


Multiple Network Displays

If the entities on your Visualizer are all connected to each other, there is only one network. If they are disconnected, there are multiple networks. This option lets you tile them in separate shapes for each network or all in one large layout.

If you choose "Circle with Center", the same data display differently based on this option:

Each Network in Separate Circle with Center

Example of Multiple Networks Displayed in Separate Circle with CenterEach of the networks is displayed in its own Circle with Center

All Networks in One Circle with Center Layout

Example of Multiple Networks in One Circle with Center Layout All the entities from all the networks are arranged in one Circle with Center

If you choose "Filled Square", the same data display differently based on this option:

Each Network in Separate Filled Squares

Example of Multiple Networks Displayed in Separate Filled SquaresEach of the networks is displayed in its own Filled Square

All Networks in One Filled Square Layout

Example of Multiple Networks in One Filled Square Layout All the entities from all the networks are arranged in one Filled Square

Sort Entities

Entities are sorted in the shape. This option lets you sort them in ascending, descending or distributed order based on the currently selected entity gradient or range filter. If none is selected, sorting is based on Line Count.

Circular Sort Start

For the circular and elliptical shapes, you can specify where on the circle it starts.

Performance

Use the slider controls to balance speed and quality. Faster speed yields quick results, but the resulting organizational layout may not be ideal. Conversely, moving the slider to the right for quality takes more processing time, but results in a better visual layout.

Limit the maximum time the Incremental layout algorithm uses. Note this is just the layout processing time and does not include the time to load the data.

The time can be adjusted based on the number of entities to allow more time for larger diagrams or set to the fixed time regardless of size.

Zoom After Get Links

After Get Links on an entity you can automatically Fit to Page to see all the newly added entities. Choose No Zoom to remain with the same view where the new entities may be off screen.

Context Menu

On a blank area of the Diagram, right click to open the context menu.

Context Menu to run Layout again Layout performs the last selected Layout type

Set Last as Default

By default, when you launch All to Visualizer from the menu, it displays the entities with the Incremental, Tiled Networks layout. You can change this by selecting the layout you prefer and selecting Set Last as Default.

Set Last as Default

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