NodeXL Update v320 – Important news about upgrading your copy of NodeXL

14AprMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

The NodeXL team has just released a new version of the application.

Version 320 of NodeXL has some important changes.

Most important:
All existing users of NodeXL
*MUST*
* UNINSTALL *
all existing copies of the application from their systems
prior to installing this version.

Benefits: NodeXL will now provide automated updates. Everyday NodeXL will check for updated code and patch itself automatically.

This is the LAST update for NodeXL that will require user involvement. We will push new features out to users as they are available and they will just show up in user’s applications.

Some additional features of the latest update:

Imported Twitter networks now have an “in-reply-to tweet ID” column. This is a useful data element for building “paths” that capture how information flows through a network.
When you lay out each of the graph’s groups in its own box, you can now select how the boxes are laid out. Go to NodeXL>Graph>Layout>Layout Options in the Excel ribbon. (Thanks to Cody Dunne for this feature.)
The Check for Updates item has been removed from the Excel ribbon. NodeXL now automatically checks for updates once a day. Once this release is installed, NodeXL will automatically update itself when a new release is available. You will no longer have to manually download and install new releases. This release and those that follow will all be referred to as “NodeXL Excel Template 2014.” New releases will continue to have version numbers, but the numbers will be less important in light of the new auto-update feature.
If you use third-party graph data importers, such as the Social Network Importer for NodeXL, note that the folder where the importers are stored has changed. See “Using third-party graph data importers in NodeXL Excel Template 2014” at http://nodexl.codeplex.com/discussions/522826.
If you use third-party graph data importers, such as the Social Network Importer for NodeXL, note that the folder where the importers are stored must be specified in the NodeXL>Data>Import>Import Options dialog:
If you use the NodeXL Network Server, an advanced command-line program that downloads a network from Twitter and stores the network on disk in several file formats, note that the program is no longer a part of NodeXL Excel Template. See “Using the NodeXL Network Server command-line program with NodeXL Excel Template 2014” at http://nodexl.codeplex.com/discussions/522830.
When a Twitter network is imported, the hashtags in the “Hashtags in Tweet” (or “Hashtags in Latest Tweet”) column are now all in lower case. Previously, identical strings with different case letters would be counted differently. This is no longer the case and the result is that terms that had been divided are now unified. These terms will now have higher values and there will be more diversity in the top ten list.

Thanks for using NodeXL and stay tuned for additional updates!

NodeXL v.167 – New features for handling groups of nodes in a network (and a few other things)

04MayMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

The NodeXL team at the Social Media Research Foundation is happy to announce the availability of the newest version: there is lots of new stuff in the latest release of NodeXL v.1.0.1.167!

Group Frames: If your graph has groups and you choose to lay out the groups in their own boxes (NodeXL, Graph, Layout, Layout Options), you can now specify the width of the box outlines.

Constant Edges: When you select an edge, its width no longer changes. NodeXL used to use the same width for all selected edges, even if the edges had varying widths when unselected.
Group and Vertex Display Harmony:
- When a graph has groups, you now have more control over how the groups are shown. Go to NodeXL, Analysis, Groups, Group Options.
- The NodeXL, Show/Hide, Graph Elements, Groups menu item has been replaced with a checkbox in the Group Options dialog box.
Right-Click Group Controls: Menu items for selecting, expanding, collapsing and removing groups are now available in the menu that appears when you right-click the graph pane. (These are just shortcuts for the same menu items that are available in the Ribbon at NodeXL, Analysis, Groups.)

WYSIWYCC: What You See Is What You Can Click –
- Hidden edges and vertices (those that have their Visibility cells set to Hide) can no longer be selected in the graph pane.
- Edges and vertices that have been filtered (NodeXL, Analysis, Dynamic Filters) can no longer be selected in the graph pane.
Bigger Twitter Lists: When importing a Twitter list network (NodeXL, Import, From Twitter List Network), you can now enter up to 10,000 usernames. The maximum used to be 500.
UCINET / Matrix Compatibility: Bug fix: When exporting the graph to a UCINET file (NodeXL, Data, Export, To UCINET Full Matrix DL File), isolated vertices didn’t get exported. When exporting the graph to a new matrix workbook (NodeXL, Data, Export, To New Matrix Workbook), isolated vertices didn’t get exported, when importing a graph from a matrix workbook (NodeXL, Data, Import, From Open Matrix Workbook), isolated vertices didn’t get imported. Now they do!

NodeXL (v.166) Keyboard Shortcuts

23AprMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

NodeXL now (v.166) offers users a set of keyboard shortcuts that can speed up your routine network layout tasks.

After you click in the graph pane, a number of keyboard shortcuts are now available for functions that had previously been available in the visualization pane’s right-click menu. Now, you can press:

Ctrl+A to select all vertices and edges
Ctrl+V to select all vertices
Ctrl+E to select all edges
Ctrl+D to deselect everything
Ctrl+P to edit the properties of the selected vertices
Ctrl+C to save the graph image to the Windows clipboard
Ctrl+I to save the graph image to a file
Arrow key to move the selected vertices a small distance
Shift+arrow key to move the selected vertices a large distance.

(If you forget a shortcut, most of them are listed in the graph pane’s right-click menu.)

If you have any suggestions for other frequent tasks that could be accelerated with a keyboard command, please contact us on the NodeXL discussion board or here in the comments.

(v.166)

Automatic for the people (who use the latest NodeXL!). Release v.1.0.1.128

08JulMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

The NodeXL team has just released a new version (v.1.0.1.128) that contains a new “Automation” feature that allows users to define a collection of operations to perform on their network graphs and invoke the complete set in a single button click AND reuse that configuration on other workbook graphs. In fact, the feature will apply the configuration you define to all the files you specify, allowing easy processing of large collections of network data sets.

This week the feature is partially complete. Users can invoke the merge duplicate edges, calculate graph metrics, auto-fill columns, create sub-graph images, find clusters and show graph. These operations can require as many as dozens of clicks when performed manually. If you have dozens or hundreds of network data sets the result is a daunting case of repetitive strain injury and carpal tunnel syndrome. Instead, with automation, these operations can be carried out orders of magnitude more frequently without much pain!

The next release will feature the complete package which will then include control over the layout and graph options. As a result, automatically generated network visualizations can be produced in a pipeline: users will be able to specify a query using the NodeXL desktop network data collector and then automate the processing of large collections of data sets.

The result should be better analysis of time series data sets that have many “slices”. The feature points the way to additional development work for supporting the comparison between networks to evaluate their evolution.

The REM album “Automatic for the people” takes its title from the motto of Athens, Georgia, eatery Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods.

Twitter & flickr networks in NodeXL – Version 95: Lots of new features! Improved Performance!

01OctMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

Version 95 of NodeXL is hot off the compiler and we are pleased to announce several major features that create a social media network analysis dashboard. From the NodeXL interface it is now possible to import networks from twitter, flickr, email, and a range of social network file formats. Coming soon: support for more spigots – the connectors that pull data from leading social media sources.

What social media data most interest you? We are considering integration with web and wiki crawlers, and support for YouTube, delicious, and enterprise data sources like Active Directory (LDAP), SharePoint, and Exchange.

This release also improves support for images, particularly those pulled from URLS, like twitter or facebook profile photos!

Here, for example, is a map of the connections among twitter accounts that tweeted the “WIN09” tag that was used in the recent Social Networks Summit at NYU (http://winworkshop.net/) The map illustrates the way the summit brought together previously separate clusters of people from the various disciplines that have been attracted to the study of networks in general and social networks in particular. Size of the image equals the number of tweets that person created.

A refined version adds Edge Labels and color to highlight the different tie types in the graph: “follows” relationships and “replies to” and “mentions” and now scaled by “Followers”.

In both views, the high betweenness role of one twitter account is clear.

Release details below the fold….

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