Drawing network topology

[Vicky]

Hi!
I need to draw network topology representation of network devices(router, switches etc) in my application. The devices will be represented as boxes and the links will be lines drawn from one box to the other. The user can add/remove the boxes and add/remove/modify the lines.
Can anybody help me?
Let me know about any site where I can find some help.

Thanks in advance.

I hope this doesn't ruin your day, but just drawing a network topology is a complex task...modifying the drawing is going to be the easy part. Having done this once before--on a Mac in the early '80s--I have a couple of suggestions for you:

1) Tackle the spatial layout (drawing routine) first...don't worry about editing it yet. Get your logic in place to analyze and visually display the network topology, because that is a rather hairy process in itself. We actually ended up forcing the user to "pre-draw" the topology for us, because trying to automatically generate it from a database proved too difficult. A lot of PhD thesis paper has been wasted on various ways to dynamically analyze and depict networks; you might want to get a book on data modelling algorithms and start reading...

2) Once you get the spatial layout taken care of, it now becomes a little more straight forward exercise in graphics UI and manipulation. I would strongly recommend some type of "object-based" graphics, where each line/box/whatever is internally maintained and drawn. You may even be able to find some shareware CAD packages that will sell you the source for a pittance...it's not a sin to use other people's code.

Hope this helps, and good luck.
Cheers!
Humble Programmer
,,,^..^,,,
[email protected]

I would look at three packages....

TomSawyer Software makes a library that will automatically lay out a graph like this BUT it is VERY expensive (too expensive for what it does in my opinion).

A less automated approach with be to use the MFC drawing extensions from Dundas (Ultimate Draw), or Stingray (Objective Draw).

[cooper_nc_work]

Hi am developing a network topology/configuration program also. Currently I have CStatic bitmap objects representing routers, hubs, IP networks, etc. You doubleclick on the object and a dialog box pops up to allow you to configure the object. My current problem is that I need to the user to be able to move the objects around with the mouse.

Ernie