javascript - linking nodes of variable radius with arrows

Question

I have some circles/nodes of different radius and I have to connect them with paths having arrow ends.

Here's the code for the marker:

svg.append("svg:defs").selectAll("marker")
    .data(["default"])
  .enter().append("svg:marker")
    .attr("id", String)
    .attr("viewBox", "0 -5 10 10")
    .attr("refX", 5)
    .attr("refY", -1.5)
    .attr("markerWidth", 10)
    .attr("markerHeight", 10)
    .attr("orient", "auto")
    .append("svg:path")
    .attr("d", "M1,-5L10,0L0,5");  

I have stored the radius of circles in an array. Here's the screen shot:

The arrow is actually "inside" the circles. How do I get the arrows to be at the surface of the circles?

Answer 1

This is an old question, but here is my solution if you want your arrowheads to be at the edge of your nodes instead of on top of or beneath them. My approach was also to draw the path connecting the nodes such that the end points were on the nodes' edges rather than at the nodes' centers. Starting from the Mobile Patent Suits example (http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/1153292), I replaced the linkArc method with:

function linkArc(d) {
    var sourceX = d.source.x;
    var sourceY = d.source.y;
    var targetX = d.target.x;
    var targetY = d.target.y;

    var theta = Math.atan((targetX - sourceX) / (targetY - sourceY));
    var phi = Math.atan((targetY - sourceY) / (targetX - sourceX));

    var sinTheta = d.source.r * Math.sin(theta);
    var cosTheta = d.source.r * Math.cos(theta);
    var sinPhi = d.target.r * Math.sin(phi);
    var cosPhi = d.target.r * Math.cos(phi);

    // Set the position of the link's end point at the source node
    // such that it is on the edge closest to the target node
    if (d.target.y > d.source.y) {
        sourceX = sourceX + sinTheta;
        sourceY = sourceY + cosTheta;
    }
    else {
        sourceX = sourceX - sinTheta;
        sourceY = sourceY - cosTheta;
    }

    // Set the position of the link's end point at the target node
    // such that it is on the edge closest to the source node
    if (d.source.x > d.target.x) {
        targetX = targetX + cosPhi;
        targetY = targetY + sinPhi;    
    }
    else {
        targetX = targetX - cosPhi;
        targetY = targetY - sinPhi;   
    }

    // Draw an arc between the two calculated points
    var dx = targetX - sourceX,
        dy = targetY - sourceY,
        dr = Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
    return "M" + sourceX + "," + sourceY + "A" + dr + "," + dr + " 0 0,1 " + targetX + "," + targetY;
}

Note that this code expects an "r," or radius, attribute to be in the node data. To place the points of the arrows at the correct positions, I changed the refX and refY attributes so that the point of the arrow was at the edge of the node:

svg.append("defs").selectAll("marker")
    .data(["suit", "licensing", "resolved"])
  .enter().append("marker")
    .attr("id", function(d) { return d; })
    .attr("viewBox", "0 -5 10 10")
    .attr("refX", 10)
    .attr("refY", 0)
    .attr("markerWidth", 6)
    .attr("markerHeight", 6)
    .attr("orient", "auto")
  .append("path")
    .attr("d", "M0,-5L10,0L0,5");