D3 Tree Layout Separation Between Nodes using NodeSize

Question

Right now I am trying to separate my rectangle nodes because they overlap as shown in the picture below:

I took a look and found out that D3 offers a nodeSize and separation method but for some reason it did not work.

I found this blog post talking about the issue but he says

The size property doesn’t exist in nodes, so it will be whatever property you want to control the size of them.

but clearly there is a nodeSize method so I feel like I am simply using the method incorrectly and/or the blog post is out-of-date. I want to shape my nodes to be the size of the rectangle and space them out evenly so they do not overlap each other. Does anyone know how to use the methods properly? The documentation about these methods isn't explained very well and it isn't yielding any difference. I also couldn't find many examples where people changed the nodeSize of trees or needed separation for rectangular objects (there were some examples regarding circular ones but I feel that's too different...)

Here is the relevant code. I will try to prepare a JSFiddle.

var margin = {top: 20, right: 120, bottom: 20, left: 120},     height = 960 - margin.right - margin.left,     width = 800 - margin.top - margin.bottom,     rectW = 70;     rectH = 30;     //bbox = NaN,     maxTextLength = 0;  var i = 0,     duration = 750,     root;   //paths from each node drawn initially here //changed to d.x, d.y var diagonal = d3.svg.diagonal()     .projection(function(d) { return [d.x+rectW/2, d.y+rectH/2];     //.projection(function(d) { return [d.x+bbox.getBBox().width/2, d.y+bbox.getBBox().height/2];  });  var tree = d3.layout.tree()     .nodeSize([30,70])     .separation(function(a, b) { return (a.parent == b.parent ? 1 : 2); })     .size([width, height]);  var svg = d3.select("body")             .append("svg")               .attr("height","100%").attr("width","100%")               .call(d3.behavior.zoom().on("zoom", redraw))               .append("g")                 .attr("transform", "translate(" + margin.top + "," + margin.left + ")"); 

Answer 1

UPDATE 05/04/2018: It is my understanding d3 has changed a lot (for the better) to be a lot more modular. For those who are looking towards this answer, this was using a much older version of d3 (specifically v3).

A lot of the findings are still relevant for the d3-hierarchy package under cluster.size() and cluster.nodeSize() and I am planning to potentially update my example to use that. For historical reference though, I'm leaving the bottom untouched.

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Here is a jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/augburto/YMa2y/

EDIT: Updated and move the example to Codepen. The example still exists on jsFiddle but Codepen seems to have a nicer editor and allows you to easily fork. I'll also try to add the example directly to this answer once I've reduced the amount of content in it.

http://codepen.io/augbog/pen/LEXZKK

Updating this answer. I talked with my friend and we looked at the source for size and nodeSize

  tree.size = function(x) {     if (!arguments.length) return nodeSize ? null : size;     nodeSize = (size = x) == null;     return tree;   };    tree.nodeSize = function(x) {     if (!arguments.length) return nodeSize ? size : null;     nodeSize = (size = x) != null;     return tree;   }; 

When you set a size for the tree, you are setting a fixed size so that the tree has to conform to that width and height. When you set a nodeSize, the tree has to be dynamic so it resets the size of the tree.

When I specified size after nodeSize, I was pretty much overriding what I wanted haha...

Bottom line: If you want nodeSize to work, you can't have a fixed tree size. It will set the size to null. Do not declare a size if you are declaring a nodeSize.

EDIT: D3.js actually updated the documentation. Thanks to whoever did that because it is way clearer now!

The nodeSize property is exclusive with tree.size; setting tree.nodeSize sets tree.size to null.

This is what my tree looks like now. I have also added zoom functionality as well as how to center text within the rectangle.