Here is some follow up responses to your comments.. See inline: ...
>As you saw from my struts-config.xml file, I am working on a project with a >lot of actions [~160] and JSP's [~80]. This project doesn't work well with >the Auto Layout feature, but I must say it is a VAST improvement over having >all objects in random locations! In this case the best situation is to have >the starting point be in the middle of the storyboard and have the other >elements added radially from that point. Making a series of rings, where >each ring representing one step further from the starting point. There may >be other common storyboard "patterns", if the user could select which >element to start with and which "pattern" to use that would be very cool! I understand arranging nodes in rings may minimize crossovers. But, I believe when reading a diagram (flow diagram, UML diagram, etc), people have a natural tendency to read from left to right, top to bottom. Nevertheless, the idea of providing layout patterns is intriguing. Need more thinking... [Nathan] In most circumstances you are correct--left to right is the best flow. However, there are some applications where another pattern is better suited. The application I'm creating is a database maintenance app, where there is a 4 JSP's and 8 actions associated with each table in the database. The problem I am having with the right to left layout is that there are too many tables. When I used the auto layout feature, the storyboard would have taken 46 pages to printout, and several objects overlapped so some could not be read. If it were done radially, I think it could be done in about 9-12 pages with less overlap of objects. ... >Next my wish list is a "jump to" feature. It is easy to get lost when you >have a couple hundred objects with nearly twice as many links between them. >I like the fact that if I select an item in the "explorer" on the left hand >side of the screen, it is selected on the storyboard as well. The problem >is the selected object is not always displayed on the screen. If there were >a way to "jump to" the selected object [perhaps centering the screen on it] >that would be very useful. My suggestion would be to select an object on >single click and "jump to" it on double click [with a user preference to >turn off "jump to"]. Another option would be to add a choice to the >right-click menu. When you click on an object on the Project Pane tree, Camino should always scroll the Storyboard to show the selected object on the screen. If it doesn't, it'll be a bug. Could you confirm that, Nathan? [Nathan] My bad, you are correct. It does scroll the storyboard pane automatically. I'm not sure what I was doing before to make it not work. ... >Dizzy yet? :) Still can manage. Keep them coming. :) [Nathan] That's all for now. I'll use it for a while and see what else I could like better :) Nathan Anderson === To subscribe/unsubscribe, visit http://list.scioworks.com:8081/guest/RemoteListSummary/camino_user
