This topic provides an overview of the configurable aspects of the nodes of the xamDiagram™ control.
The following topic is a prerequisite to understanding this topic:
The following table explains briefly the configurable aspects of the diagram nodes and maps them to the properties that configure them. Further details are available after the table.
The nodes of xamDiagram can be positioned either individually at any location on the diagram’s surface or by applying a layout algorithm (setting available through the Layout property. (For information about the latter approach, refer to the Configuring the Layout topic.)
By default, if no explicit overriding has been applied, a newly created node is displayed at the point of origin of the coordinate system (0, 0).
The size of a diagram node can be controlled explicitly by setting its width and height. There is a default size which depends on its shape. (For reference on default sizes, see Nodes Default Sizes.)
The xamDiagram provides a number of pre-defined shapes for the nodes. (See the General Overview topic for details.) A pre-defined shape is selected through the ShapeType property. This property accepts as a value the respective node shapes available as ShapeType enumeration. If the desired shape is not available as a pre-defined shape, a custom shape can be set to the Geometry property.
Connection points are the points on a node where diagram connections can start/end. A connection point for a node is specified by a name and coordinates.
Name – used for explicitly specifying a connection point for connection through the connection’s DiagramConnection.StartNodeConnectionPointName/ DiagramConnection.EndNodeConnectionPointName properties; therefore, all names of connection points for a node should be unique.
Coordinates – relative to the node’s rectangle. The coordinates are in the range 0,0 (top-left) to 1,1 (bottom-right).
Each connection point is represented by a DiagramConnectionPoint object exposing Name and Position properties.
When using one of the predefined shape types set through the DiagramNode.ShapeType property, the node’s ConnectionPoints collection is pre-populated with a few points according to the node type. For custom node shapes, no connection points are added by default.