Re: moving lines with shapes

["James K. Lowden" <jklowden speakeasy org>]

Aaron Trevena wrote:

> On Tue, 22 May 2001, Andre Kloss wrote:
> > >   +----------+
> > >   |          |
> > >   |          X<------------------+
> > >   |          |           +-------x-------+
> > >   +----------+           |               |
> > >                          |               |
> > >                          +---------------+
> > Do the classes have 8 connection points? Or am I mistaken?
>
> It would be kind of nice if connections
> moved around following the other shape, but I guess that would open a
> whole new can of worms

Aaron,

[PMJI]  I use a different editor (Erwin) at work with a good answer to this
problem.  In years of work with diagrams representing 200+ objects, their
approach really never caused me annoyance (which is saying something, both
about them and me).

It has an autolayout feature for lines similar to your bounding box idea.  In
that system, the line has an "autolayout" property that is "on" by default.
Moving connected objects causes the lines to be redrawn within the bounding
box, moving connections as needed.

Once I adjust the line myself, moving the object causes the line to adjust
only minimally, not changing the connection point.  If I get tired of
adjusting the line myself, I right-click on the line and turn its
"autolayout" property back on.

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.

--jkl