On Thursday 04 April 2002 08:23 am, Daniel wrote:
> Hi, Ned, I've been doing some diagramming using the connectors stuff,
> and I find it's really very convinient. I've also finally found a use
> for the 'select-group-of-morphs' functionality... together one gets a
> pretty convinient graph drawing environment.
>
> A few question/weird things that happen:
> * When I duplicate an arrow (grab by green handle), the grabbed object
> appears at a significant offset to the original. This is a bit annoying.
> Ah, I just understood, it hands me the first connection point, so I can
> start connecting immediately. This is the idea?

Yes. You can then drop the first connection point on something. Though
duplicate on a connected line doesn't let you drag the line (I'm going to fix
it so it disconnects the line, I think; what are your feelings on this?)

What would you rather have it do?

> * A bit strange maybe, but here's a request - It would be nice to be
> able to make an arrow with intermediate links to objects, like this
> diagram - there's only one line, with three constraints, one on each
> control point. I can show handles on the middle NCConstraint, but I
> can't make it stick to anything..
>
>  ##
>  ##
>   ^
>
>  ##
>  ##
>    \
>     \
>     ##
>     ##

You can make a constraint object with an attached shape.
Create a new NCConstraintMorph, attach it to where you want it, and say "add
arbitrary shape". It will then copy the shape you select and add it to
itself.

If you don't mind coding, the NCConstraintMorph (or OffsetConstriantMorph)
could have a subclass that moves line vectors around. (is that what you
want?).

Or maybe I could get the LineEndConstraintMorph to work with other line
vertices. I don't know how much work that is.

> * A questions that's only somewhat related - I want to store my diagrams
> outside the image, maybe in a BSS-like DSS (DanielsSuperSwiki), probably
> to be kept internal.

Make them separate projects, then just save the projects.

> Any better ideas? how do I set up my own SSwiki?

I don't know. However, I've had some success using a ComSwiki set up with
project pages that make new drawings. One of the reasons I changed from using
BlockContexts to MessageSends is so I could get this to work.

The nice thing about this is that it allows collaborative work (I don't know
what it does about concurrent edits, though).

Thanks for the feedback!

BTW, what do you think about Connectors and:
* orthogonal lines
* undo

--
Ned Konz
currently: Stanwood, WA
email:     ned at bike-nomad.com
homepage:  http://bike-nomad.com