Why will the Flowchart layouter change the positions of node labels, while the hierarchical one won't?

Question

Hello,

I'm using my custom node with three labels. They use "Internal: Top", "Internal: TopLeft" and "Internal: BottomLeft" and are positioned with the "Border" setting.

Everything works fine, as long as I'm using the hierarchical layouter. The whole node is moved as expected, the content of the node is untouched.

When I use the flowchart layouter, the labels within the node are moved to the center, so that all three labels collide in the same spot.

I'd like to be able to use the flowchart layouter, as its layout results are a closer match to my expectations :) - in the end, my graph is a "flowchart on steroids".

I'm using V3.12.2.

Thanks in advance,

Ralf

Answer 1

Hi Ralf,

indeed, the flowchart layout algorithm prefers to place all node labels in the center of the node. Unfortunately, you can only avoid this by choosing a label model that does not include the 'center' position but not for the 'internal' model.

Thanks for pointing out this issue, I'll put it on our Todo list.

Comments

Please! This sounds like an unwanted feature. Unfortunately the other labeling modes do not fit the bill well, as putting labels outside in most scenarios will hide the edges

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I would second this request (so that, after 5 years, it finally gets out of your todolist :) ), but for a slightly different case: if node labels are placed in sides > south, the flowchart layout algorithm changes it to sides > _north_, unfortunately.

Actually, the ideal move may be to create an option for the algorithm not to change the nodes label placement.