Note: This is the primary development repository. A dissemination copy is maintained under the National Gallery GitHub organisation.

dynamic-modelling

This is an interactive live modelling system which can automatically convert simple tab separated triples into graphical models using the mermaid library.

Instructions

The documentation is built into the tool itself, as models that you can explore and edit. Open the Documentation menu on the Dynamic Modelling web site, starting with Getting started. Each documentation page has a guided tour and links to the pages before and after it. The Examples menu shows models made with the tool. All of the related code is presented here in GitHub.

Quick reference

Each topic below has its own page, with a guided tour, in the tool's Documentation menu.

Writing a model

Write	What it does
Subject tab predicate tab object	One statement (a triple) per line, drawn as two nodes joined by a labelled arrow
A fourth column: subjectformat|objectformat	Sets the formats; either side can be left empty, and only the first appearance of a node counts
// text or ## text	A comment: not drawn
Three columns pasted from a spreadsheet	The tabs come with them; lines with commas instead of tabs also work

Layout (first line)

Write	What it does
//flowchart LR	Left to right (the default if the line is left out); also TB, BT and RL
//graph TB	The older form: draws the same, but cannot link whole subgraphs
//flowchart LR fix	Needed with older versions of Mermaid; makes no difference now

Subgraphs (boxes)

Write	What it does
//subgraph Title ... //end	Groups everything first used between the two lines into a box
//subgraph //Title or //subgraph	Hides the title, or leaves it out
//subgraph -TB Title	Gives the box its own direction (only used when nothing in the box links outside it)
//end base	Styles the box with a named format
The box title used as a subject or object	Links to or from the whole box (needs //flowchart)

Formats

Write	What it does
object, event, actor, place, type, note, url, ...	Named formats, all shown in the "Every format" example (?example=example_formats)
note-fs24	Adds a font size in pixels
object-6-4	Adds a dashed border: dash length then gap
object-fs20-6-4	Both together

Blank nodes and labels

Write	What it does
_BN tab has type tab Production	Starts a new blank node; the _BN lines that follow belong to it
_BN-1, _BN-2	The blank node before the current one, and the one before that
Painting#-1, Painting#-2	Separate nodes that both show "Painting"
crm:..., sci:..., dig:..., Type	Get a separate copy for each subject (set in config.json)

Links, hover text and icons

Write	What it does
Text|https://...	A link (other sites open in a new tab)
Text|?example=name	A link to another page of the tool
Node tab tooltip tab Hover text	Hover text; put a link on this line (Node|https://...) to give a link its own hover text
has note as the predicate, or text in "double quotes"	Draws the object as a note
aat:300033618, ulan:, tgn:, wd:	Prefixes that become links (listed in config.json)
fa:fa-paint-brush, far:, fab:	Font Awesome 5 icons
First line<br/>Second line	A line break

Guided tours

Write	What it does
//tour Title	Optional tour title
//step Title | Node A ; Node B | Caption	A step: names are node texts or subgraph titles (spaces and capitals are ignored); no names shows the whole model
//sub Title | Node A | Caption	A part of the step above: zooms in, keeps the step's highlighting; title and caption are optional

Keys while a tour is open: arrow keys move back and forward, Shift with an arrow jumps a whole step, Space plays or pauses, Home restarts, C re-centres, H hides the controls and Esc closes.

Web address options

Add to the address	What it does
?example=name	Opens a model from the Documentation or Examples menu
?url=https://...	Opens a file of triples or JSON from another site
?data=pako:...	What Copy Link makes
&simple	Shows only the model and its tour, for embedding (not yet with ?data=pako: addresses)
&getmermaid	Returns just the Mermaid code

To show a model inside another web page:

<iframe src="https://research.nationalgallery.org.uk/lab/modelling/?simple"
        width="100%" height="600" style="border:0" title="Dynamic Modeller model"></iframe>

Take care with

• Commas: a line without tabs that has two or more commas is split at the commas. Keep tour captions and comment lines to three commas or fewer.
• Comments that start with the words subgraph or end are read as instructions to start or end a box.
• A node with the same text as a box title becomes the box itself.
• A box title mentioned inside another box draws that box inside the other one.

Acknowledgements

This software was originally developed at the National Gallery, London. Its current development is supported by:

The UKRI RICHeS HSDS project

• HSDS is a project funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of the RICHeS Programme.

The Horizon Europe ECHOES project

• ECHOES is a project funded by the European Commission under Grant Agreement n.101157364 – ECHOES.
• ECHOES is a project funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee n.10110142 & n.10110466.

Previously supported by

     

• The H2020 IPERION-HS project
• The H2020 SSHOC project, in which this software was first developed, prepared and tested
• The AHRC funded Linked.Art project