Re: moving lines with shapes

["Ben A. Hetland" <Ben A Hetland chem sintef no>]

"James K. Lowden" wrote:
> 
> I think the "use autolayout until I touch it" rule addresses the problem of
> smartness getting in the way and neatly disposes of how to "make it an
> option".  And, you're right, it would help a lot with generated diagrams.

Good idea!

While we're at this discussion of automatic lines and connection point
selection, I'll just throw in my 2 cents' worth of additional thoughts.


Firstly; in some situations, the symbols (objects) might be of such a
type that the connection points are really different from each other,
and one shouldn't just be able to select one automatically at random.
For examble, considerer the 3 typical connections corresponding to the
pins of a transistor. Here, moving a line from one connection point to
another would have dramatic effect of the meaning of the entire diagram
-- especially if it was a wiring diagram...

I think it could be possible to solve this case, for example, by adding
more properties to the connection points, telling something like -say-
"this connection point is not interchangeable with others". Once
attached to such a connection, the line stays connected only there.


Secondly; A really nice-to-have feature to have, would be connecting the
line to the center of the symbol (or maybe some other arbitrary point),
while having the line drawn (with its arrowhead if any) to just touch
the perimeter of the symbol ("bounding polygon"?), adjusted as necessary
as the angle of the line changes. Something like

   +---------+
   |         |
   |    X    |<-------+
   |         |         \
   +---------+       +---------+
                      \       /
                       \  X  /
                        \   /
                         \ /
                          V

This is similar to what Rational Rose uses in its class diagrams for
instance (and Together and others as well, I think).


Third idea; Not so related to lines, but to connection points. Why no
have other _shapes_ connect to these points, not just lines' handles? It
would be handy to have other symbols "clashed onto" primary ones this
way (texts and comments, for instance). I believe symbols like UML
Message are already kind of a hybrid in this regard, since it is
technically not a "line" (rather a "custom shape"), yet behaves as one
-- having handles that can connect to other shapes, etc...


Just some thoughts...

-+-Ben-+-