Feature request: Color lines to indicate which node they originate from

[akinnee]

Context

With a bunch of same-colored lines, it's hard to follow where they go.

Expected Behavior

Each node could have a unique outline color and the edges originating from it can match that same color.

Current Behavior

All nodes and edges are the same color.

Possible Solution

• When a node is created, pick a random color or generate a stable color by hashing the node's text.
• Set the outline color of that node to the color.
• Arrows pointing outward from the node should have the same color.

[sverweij]

Hi @akinnee I’ve bumped into this as well and it’s why these two features in dependency-cruiser exist

• with theming you can colour modules and dependencies that match regular expressions
• depcruise-wrap-stream-in-html transforms diagrams so they have highlight-on-hover.

The real world samples page has several examples that employ both techniques.

Do these features meet your need?

[akinnee]

@sverweij, thanks! If I set the color of a module, will the edges coming from it match that color?

Also, I'd prefer not to have to create a separate regex for each module if I want to make them unique. Would it be possible to provide a callback function that takes the node as an argument and returns some theme options for the node?

[sverweij]

@akinnee currently I've only used it the other way around (the line gets the color of the dependency it's pointing to) - but I understand the need to use the colors on the from side. And maybe even both (with a gradient? will have to see how usable that'd be, though)

I'm looking into your suggestion and see if I can make it simpler so you don't have to spec out modules individually (or even by group/ regex) i.e. by providing something that automatically colors from a pallet. I'm trying to prototype it first to see how usable that'd be - but got a little lost in color theory. I'll dump an update here.