rico-cluster-qt

rico-cluster-qt is a QT based applications that allows simple and fast creation of rico clusters [1,2]. It uses a simple (example: rico-cluster-qt-save.json ) JSON representation to store documents. It also generates small efficient PDF output (example: rico-cluster-qt-print.pdf ) you can easily use to print, present and postprocess.

[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_(Kreatives_Schreiben) [2] https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/rico-clusters-an-alternative-to-mind-mapping.html

Screenshots

Installation

Installation on Mac OS X

The build currently shipped in releases is for M1+ new arm64 Macs only.

Open the released DMG file for Mac OS X and simple copy the included Application in your "Applications" folder. If you get errors about "damages or corrupted file" please try to reset the extended attributes on the application set by Mac OS X like this:

    xattr -cr /Applications/rico-cluster-qt.app

Installation on Windows

Unzip the relased 7z file using an unpacker. If you do not have one, please go to z-zip.org and download and install it on your Windows. If you get any error with regard to a missing MSVCP140.dll please also install the vcredist_x64.exe which is already in the folder. This is taken from here.

Installation from source via distribution packages for QT

Clone this repo or download the source code file for a release

On Fedora 31 & 32

sudo yum install qt5-devel cmake
cd rico-cluster-qt
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
./rico-cluster-qt

On Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake qtbase5-dev
cd rico-cluster-qt
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
./rico-cluster-qt

Installation from source via QT Creator

Either compile it using the QT open source license or download one of the releases.

In QT Creator: Project > Open Project > Import the CMakeLists.txt > Build

Usage

After starting the application use the following input commands:

Edit

• double-click on empty space: create a new node
  • node label dialog supports multiple lines and fast entry (Ctrl-Enter/Return) or (COMMAND-Return) for "Ok"
• double-click on a node: update node label (old text is default for new label)
• single-click on a node: selects node
• (Windows & Linux) "ctrl"+mouse left click on a node or edge: toggles selection on node or edge
• (Mac) "cmd"+mouse left click on a node or edge: toggles selection on node or edge
• "e"-key + two selected nodes: nodes are connected by an edge
• "delete"/"backspace"-key: deletes edge/node under current selection
• select and drag for nodes is supported (extendable by selection)
• "a"-key while an edge is selected: adds an arrow, repeated pressing of "a" cycles through:
  • edge from node A to B
  • edge from node B to A
  • edge without any direction arrows
• "0" "1" ... "5"-key with node(s) selected: nodes are assigned into autocolored categories (0 - is default category)

View/Zoom

• "space" + mouse drag: pan on whiteboard (does not pan into empty space yet)
• "ctrl" + "+"/"-"-keys zooms in/out on graph
• "ctrl" + mouse scroll wheel zooms in/out on graph
• "ctrl" + "0"-key fits everything on whiteboard into window
• drawing area (canvas) is extending, when objects are moved towards the edge

Export as dot

rico-cluster-qt supports export to the dot format used by graphviz.

The graph shown in Screenshots looks like this rendered using dot:

please see resources/render_with_graphviz.sh for details.

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

Project info

• next features here
• changelog here

License

BSD-3-Clause 2020-2022 Steffen Weise

Notice

This project uses the following tools/libraries:

• Qt Open Source Edition QT6.4 please also see: license details QT
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 MSVS2019
• Apple Xcode Xcode