Auto Layout of Node-RED Flows

Auto Layout Node-RED node flows.

Deprecated

This package is deprecated in favor of @bartbutenaers/node-red-autolayout-sidebar. As such, this codebase will no longer be maintained and all updates shall be done on the sidebar version of this node.

Warning

This node uses third-party Javascript libraries to do node alignment. The following libs will be loaded into your browser upon use:

• elk.bundled.js
• dagre.min.js

both hosted at cdn.openmindmap.org.

Usage

Select a single node in a flow that should be aligned/laid out. Then hit the button no this node:

Step 1 select a single node for a flow, step 2 click the button on the AutoAlign node with the corresponding algorithm. After that you should see this:

Select the algorithm in the property panel:

Pull Request #2267 is a Node-RED own auto layout algorithm which is provided as comparison. It uses neither of the libraries needed for the other algorithms.

The example flow provides one node per algorithm so that each can be tested in turn.

Libraries

More details on the libraries used:

• dagre
• ELKjs

Testing other algorithms

If you want to test algorithms, there is an experimental flow that can help and a discussion around auto-layout in Node-RED.

Artifacts

• Flow maintaining this codebase
• GitHub repo
• NPMjs node package
• Node-RED node package