Convert org-mode structure to dot source

Question

Fast generation of graphs from a tree-like structure can be very useful when making notes in org-mode that require sharing and or beautification for other humans.

I couldn't find any way to do this other than to manually create a dynamic dot/graphviz block.

A translation from a structured tree to a simple directed graph should be fairly straightforward.

I'm looking for a simple way to traverse an org-mode tree (a selected region) and to translate the tree structure (and optionally some information from the contents of the structure) to a dot graph.

I can't possibly be the first to have come up with this. Has this been solved?

input

* la1
** la2
*** la3
*** la4
** la5

and perhaps a variable org-to-dot-preamble

digraph {
   rankdir=TB;
   splines=true;
   node [shape=box];

the output would look like an org-mode dynamic block

#+BEGIN_SRC dot :file out.png :cmdline -Kdot -Tpng
(contents of org-to-dot-preamble)

la1 -> la2
la1 -> la5
la2 -> la3
la2 -> la4
}
#+END_SRC

A more advanced version would first declare all the nodes and allow for some formatting.

input

* la1
  firstline
  secondline
** la2
   firstline
   secondline
*** la3
*** la4
    firstline
** la5

Some formatting variables

org-to-dot-shape
org-to-dot-font

output

#+BEGIN_SRC dot :file out.png :cmdline -Kdot -Tpng
(contents of org-to-dot-preamble)

la1 [shape=Mrecord, label="{firstline|secondline}", fontname = "helvetica"]
la2 [shape=Mrecord, label="{firstline|secondline}", fontname = "helvetica"]
la3 [shape=Mrecord, label="{firstline|secondline}", fontname = "helvetica"]
la4 [shape=Mrecord, label="{firstline|secondline}", fontname = "helvetica"]
la5 [shape=Mrecord, label="{firstline|secondline}", fontname = "helvetica"]

la1 -> la2
la1 -> la5
la2 -> la3
la2 -> la4
}
#+END_SRC

Answer 1

Here is a working example that uses org-element API to parse the buffer headings:

* la1
** la2
*** la3
*** la4
** la5
**  Org element API test

#+name: lista
#+begin_src elisp
  (org-element-map (org-element-parse-buffer 'headline )
      'headline
    (lambda(hl)
      (let ((parent (org-element-property :parent hl )))
        (and (eq (org-element-type parent) 'headline)
             (list (org-element-property :title parent) (org-element-property :title hl))))))

#+end_src

#+RESULTS: lista
| la1 | la2                  |
| la2 | la3                  |
| la2 | la4                  |
| la1 | la5                  |
| la1 | Org element API test |

#+name: make-dot
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var table=lista :results output :exports none
  (mapcar #'(lambda (x)
                (princ (format "\"%s\" -> \"%s\";\n" (first x) (second x))))
          table)
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS: make-dot
: "la1" -> "la2";
: "la2" -> "la3";
: "la2" -> "la4";
: "la1" -> "la5";
: "la1" -> "Org element API test";

#+BEGIN_SRC dot :file dependencias.pdf :cmdline -Tpdf :var input=make-dot :exports results
digraph {
   rankdir=TB;
   splines=true;
   node [shape=box];
   $input
  }
#+END_SRC

#+CAPTION: Dependency diagram
#+RESULTS:
[[file:dependencias.pdf]]

This works in several steps: first an elisp block uses org-element-parse-buffer to get all headlines, and extract a list of parent's title and headline title.

Then another source block transforms this list into dot syntax.

A third dot source block contains the DOT wrapping and includes the generated relations.

Cosmetic enhancements: filter out the section for the test itself; you could add a tag to this section and filter out by tag in the first block.

Answer 2

You might be able to reuse some of the code from the bottom of http://pages.sachachua.com/evil-plans/ . I basically use org-map-entries to go through my headings. Since I have a directed graph instead of a strict tree, I use simple regular expression searches to parse the link structure from human-friendly text. If you're just working with a tree, you can create your tree structure from the headings directly. After that, it's a matter of generating the appropriate graphviz syntax, and org-babel can handle producing that and converting it into a PNG or SVG. Hope that helps!

Answer 3

It's not dot, but if you're in a hurry, followings might be helpful.

We need org-plus-contrib and FreeMind.app to produce a mindmap from org-mode documents.

• http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Install extra org-mode package called org-plus-contrib by M-x package-list-packages .

Perhaps we might need to add

(require 'ox-freemind)

to our .emacs.

Then we can export our org-mode file to Freemind *.mm file by C-c C-e f f, org-freemind-export-to-freemind .

Now we open *.mm from Freemind.app, and voila !

Mouse over to see contents of the nodes.

• caution: Freemind export has old information on Org <8.0 manual

Answer 4

UPDATE: 2019

There is a package called org-mind-map

https://github.com/theodorewiles/org-mind-map

It creates graphviz directed graphs from org-mode files using the dot language.

After installing org-mind-map you can export an org file C-c C-e and select "Create a graph & dot file" g d

This will create an dot file from your org file. It will contain some visual customizations from the org-mind-map package by default. You can edit these out or copy the relevant parts to a new dot file.