Re: What is "parenting" and how does it work?

[Lars Ræder Clausen <lars raeder dk>]

On Tue, 2009-05-26 at 10:38 +0200, David wrote:
> Hi. I'm a brand new Dia user (graphviz isn't working out for me on one
> of my charts).
>
> I'm using Dia version 0.96.1 (on Debian Sid)
>
> I've figured out most of what I need to know, but there is still one
> (main) thing that puzzles me. What is "Parenting"? I see it under the
> Object menu, but can't find a way to activate it. I can't find info on
> it anywhere on the docs or website either, except in a few obscure
> changelogs which talk about it being some kind of new feature.
>
> Could someone explain this feature, or point me to docs where I can read more?

Parenting is a way to enclose objects in other objects.  Only a few
objects can currently be parents, the only one I can remember right away
is the Large Package object in the UML sheet. There are two ways to use
it: You can create objects directly in a parent object, or you can
attach existing objects that are on top of a parent object.

To do the first, create a Large Package object (or another that supports
parenting) and drag-and-drop another object into it (or click the
toolbox icon for the other object and create it by dragging within the
Large Package object).  

You will now be able to move the Large Package object, and the child
will move with it. Correspondingly, you can only move the child object
within the confines of the parent, and the parent can only be shrunk to
where it can still contain the children.

To attach one or more objects to a parenting object, place them within
the confines of the parent, then select both the children and the
parent. The "Parent" menu item should now be selectable and will attach
the children.

The "Unparent" menu item is selectable whenever a child object is
selected, and detaches the child from the parent.

-Lars