Question

i have implemented a simple DFS (non recursive) that ‘tests’ if a Path between StartNode and EndNode exists. It works as expected ( handling bidirectional/directional graphs ) – but i just can’t figure out how to store the Path for later usage.

Currently i am debug-printing Visited nodes, but it’s not what is should be storing.

Can somebody please help me out / shed a bit of light on – what exactly should i store and at what point to return a list of nodes from NodeStart to NodeEnd ?

Here is the example Graph:

Here is the DFS traversing function:

bool DFS(CNavigationGraph *pNavGraph, CNavigationGraphNode* pFromNode, CNavigationGraphNode* pToNode)
{
    assert(pNavGraph);
    assert(pFromNode);
    assert(pToNode);

    std::vector<CNavigationGraphNode*> vpVisitedNodes;
    std::vector<CNavigationGraphNode*> stack;

    stack.push_back(pFromNode);

    while(!stack.empty())
    {
        CNavigationGraphNode     *pTop = stack.back();
        stack.pop_back();

        // Ok We've reached pToNode - means, path pFromNode to pToNode available
        if(pTop == pToNode)
        {
            for(int a = 0; a < vpVisitedNodes.size(); a++)
            {
                CLogger::Instance()->Write(XLOGEVENT_LOCATION, "{VISITED} %s",vpVisitedNodes[a]->GetNodeName().data());
            }
            return true;
        }

        // Add to visited list
        vpVisitedNodes.push_back(pTop);

        // Look for adjacent Nodes for pTop
        std::vector<CNavigationGraphNode*> vpAdjacentNodes;
        pNavGraph->GetAdjacentNodes(pTop->GetNodeName(), vpAdjacentNodes);
        for(int x = 0; x < vpAdjacentNodes.size(); x++)
        {
            // Add to stack if not visited
            if(IsVisited(vpVisitedNodes, vpAdjacentNodes[x]) == false)
                stack.push_back(vpAdjacentNodes[x]);
        }
    }

    // Path not found
    return false;
}

Here is the Debug Output:

Find Path Between Node1 and Node3

<main> [] DFS TRAVERSE TEST (DIRECTIONAL)
<DFS> [] {VISITED} Node1
<DFS> [] {VISITED} Node4
<DFS> [] {VISITED} Node5
<main> [] Path from Node1 to Node3 - YES

Find Path Between Node3 and Node1

<main> [] DFS TRAVERSE TEST (DIRECTIONAL)
<main> [] Path from Node3 to Node1 - NO

Answer 1

If I understand your algorithm correctly (and it is a DFS),
from the starting point you are taking a step to the direction of the first non-visited node. If there is no route to your target from that node, you step back and try to go to the next non-visited node, in the mean time carefully administrating which nodes were visited.

All you need to add is a stack to which you always push the node you are taking a step to,
and pop it from the stack if you had to step back. This stack will store your route from the start_node to the target. It also helps you to determine where to step back.

Here is your code, finally it grew a bit lengthier than I’ve thought but here it is:

// I call fromNode: start_node, toNode: target_node.

std::stack<CNavigationGraphNode*> DFS(CNavigationGraph *pNavGraph, CNavigationGraphNode* start_node, CNavigationGraphNode* target_node)
{
    using namespace std;

    stack<CNavigationGraphNode*> route; // route to target
    unordered_set<CNavigationGraphNode*> visited_nodes;  // hash set on who is visited
    vector<CNavigationGraphNode*> adjacent_nodes;

    CNavigationGraphNode* current_node = start_node;
    while(current_node!=target_node)
    {
      pNavGraph->GetAdjacentNodes(current_node->GetNodeName(), adjacent_nodes); 

      // "for each"; you can use any form of looping through the neighbors of current_node.
      bool found_non_visited = false;
      for(auto node : adjacent_nodes) 
      {
        if(visited_nodes.find(node) == visited_nodes.end())
        {
          route.push(current_node);
          visited_nodes.insert(node);
          current_node = node;
          found_non_visited = true;
          break;
        }
      }
      if(found_non_visited) 
        continue;

      if(route.empty())
        return route; // empty route means no route found
      current_node = route.pop();
    }
    route.push(target);
    return route;
}

And now you can pop_back your way from start to target or pop your way from target to start. If the route is empty, that corresponds to returning false from your original function.

Reference on unordered_set and stack, both in STL. It is implemented with a bucket has so it is much faster than set or map, which are usually implemented with red-black trees.

Remark: std::unordered_set is a C++11 extension, feel free to replace it with the slower std::set if you use C++03.