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Community Plugin
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Graphviz for Gatsby Remark

Intercepts code-blocks written in DOT in your Markdown files and compiles them to SVG using GraphViz. Provides a quick and easy way to draw vector diagrams that are easy to modify and update.

This is a sub-plugin for gatsby-transformer-remark. As demoed below, add this plugin to the options of gatsby-transformer-remark.


This project is part of #CreateWeekly, my attempt to create something new publicly every week in 2020.

Install

npm install --save @josephuspaye/gatsby-remark-graphviz

How to use

First, install and configure the plugin as follows:

// In your gatsby-config.js
module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    {
      resolve: 'gatsby-transformer-remark',
      options: {
        plugins: [
          '@josephuspaye/gatsby-remark-graphviz' // place before other plugins that modify code blocks, such as 'gatsby-remark-prismjs'
        ],
      },
    },
  ],
};

Then, write Markdown code blocks containing DOT source code describing a graph, with one of the following tags to trigger the plugin:

  • circo
  • dot
  • fdp
  • neato
  • osage
  • patchwork
  • twopi

These tags are GraphViz layout algorithms, and more details about them can be found in the GraphViz user guides.

By default, the first # comment at the start of the code block will be used as the image caption, and subsequent # comments at the start of the code block will be used as alt text (see Options below).

See GraphViz Pocket Reference for an introduction to GraphViz and how to write graphs using DOT.

Example

The following code block written in Markdown:

```neato
# A diagram showing system dependencies
# A more detailed description here to use as alt text
# More alt text follows
digraph {
   A -> B
   B -> C
   C -> D
   D -> A
}
```

Generates the following image:

SVG image generated from example

A diagram showing system dependencies



From the following HTML (formatted for reading):

Click to expand
<figure class="remark-graviz-figure">
  <div class="remark-graphviz-graph">
    <svg role="img" aria-label="A more detailed description here to use as alt text\nMore alt text follows" width="296" height="272" viewBox="0 0 222.43 204.43" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
      <title>A more detailed description here to use as alt text\nMore alt text follows</title>
      <desc>digraph {
        A -&gt; B
        B -&gt; C
        C -&gt; D
        D -&gt; A
      }</desc>
      <g class="graph"><path fill="#fff" stroke="transparent" d="M0 204.43V0h222.43v204.43H0z"></path><g class="node" transform="translate(4 200.43)"><ellipse fill="none" stroke="#000" cx="107.21" cy="-18" rx="27" ry="18"></ellipse><text text-anchor="middle" x="107.21" y="-13.8" font-family="Times,serif" font-size="14">A</text></g><g class="node" transform="translate(4 200.43)"><ellipse fill="none" stroke="#000" cx="27" cy="-98.21" rx="27" ry="18"></ellipse><text text-anchor="middle" x="27" y="-94.01" font-family="Times,serif" font-size="14">B</text></g><g class="edge" transform="translate(4 200.43)"><path fill="none" stroke="#000" d="M92.13-33.09c-12.1-12.1-29.26-29.26-42.93-42.92"></path><path stroke="#000" d="M46.62-73.65l-4.6-9.54 9.55 4.59-4.95 4.95z"></path></g><g class="node" transform="translate(4 200.43)"><ellipse fill="none" stroke="#000" cx="107.21" cy="-178.43" rx="27" ry="18"></ellipse><text text-anchor="middle" x="107.21" y="-174.23" font-family="Times,serif" font-size="14">C</text></g><g class="edge" transform="translate(4 200.43)"><path fill="none" stroke="#000" d="M42.09-113.3c12.1-12.1 29.26-29.26 42.92-42.93"></path><path stroke="#000" d="M82.65-158.81l9.54-4.6-4.59 9.55-4.95-4.95z"></path></g><g class="node" transform="translate(4 200.43)"><ellipse fill="none" stroke="#000" cx="187.43" cy="-98.21" rx="27" ry="18"></ellipse><text text-anchor="middle" x="187.43" y="-94.01" font-family="Times,serif" font-size="14">D</text></g><g class="edge" transform="translate(4 200.43)"><path fill="none" stroke="#000" d="M122.3-163.34l42.93 42.93"></path><path stroke="#000" d="M167.81-122.78l4.6 9.55-9.55-4.6 4.95-4.95z"></path></g><g class="edge" transform="translate(4 200.43)"><path fill="none" stroke="#000" d="M172.34-83.13L129.41-40.2"></path><path stroke="#000" d="M131.78-37.62l-9.55 4.6 4.6-9.55 4.95 4.95z"></path></g></g>
    </svg>
  </div>
  <figcaption class="remark-graviz-figcaption">A diagram showing system dependencies</figcaption>
</figure>

Options

Option Type Default Description
generateAriaDescription Boolean true If true, generates and applies aria-label and role="img" to the SVG. Also generates <title> and <desc> at the root of the SVG. Important for accessibility.
optimize Boolean true If true, optimizes the generated SVG using SVGO.
svgoPlugins Object See this An object to enable or disable SVGO optimisation plugins. Each key is plugin name, and each value is a boolean that enables or disables the plugin.
wrapperTag String div The tag to wrap the generated <svg> element in.
wrapperClass String remark-graphviz-graph The class to apply to the wrapper of the generated <svg> element.
firstCommentIsCaption String true If true, picks the first # comment at the top of the DOT source and uses that to generate a figure caption for the generated image.
figureClass String remark-graphviz-figure The class to apply to the generated <figure> element. Only applies when firstCommentIsCaption is true.
figcaptionClass String remark-graphviz-figcaption The class to apply to the generated <figcaption> element. Only applies when firstCommentIsCaption is true.

Use the options as follows:

// In your gatsby-config.js
module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    {
      resolve: 'gatsby-transformer-remark',
      options: {
        plugins: [
          {
            resolve: '@josephuspaye/gatsby-remark-graphviz',
            options: {
              generateAriaDescription: true,
              optimize: true,
              svgoPlugins: {
                inlineStyles: false,
                removeTitle: false,
              },
              wrapperTag: 'span',
              wrapperClass: 'my-graph-wapper is-fullwidth',
              firstCommentIsCaption: true,
              figureClass: 'my-graph-figure',
              figcaptionClass: 'my-graph-figcaption',
            },
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  ],
};

Licence

MIT

© 2023 Gatsby, Inc.