Lars,
> > I just noticed today that I can't connect objects in different layers.
> > You can't even change an object's layer. You have to cut it and paste
> > it. Is this correct?
> >
> > I'd really like to see the ability to at least connect objects in
> > different layers. How easy would this source code change be Alex?
>
> But how should this work? It's a good thing that you can seperate things
> that you don't want to automatically connect into seperate layers. So I
> don't think the normal method of connecting should work between layers.
> Should we have an explicit connect? Or an option in the layers dialog to
> say which layers auto-connect?
I don't like the idea of having an explicit connect. How about having
a mode that you can go into that lets you connect between layers? When
in the mode, you'll be able to see the objects' connection points in the
different layers. You could even make it easier to tell what is in what
layer by coloring the connection points differently.
The idea of having an option in the layers dialog to specify layers that
auto-connect sounds good. Issues with that is:
* How do you make the interface intuitive & easy to use to let you select
any combination of layers
* What would happen if you turn off auto-connect between two layers that
you have connected objects in, and then select an object in one layer
that's currently connected to another, and remove the connection? Will
it not let you reconnect it?
* Will this require a major change in the Dia XML DTD?
I think having an option to selectively turn on autoconnection between
layers has a high potential of having very complicated rules. It might
be simpler to go the route of the rule always being that objects on
different layers being connectable, but the default mode of the GUI is
to not let you take advantage of connecting across layers.
If we want to design Dia so that in the future, (if a conversion tool
between Visio and Dia is written,) so that the data conversion is as easy
as possible, then we need to have Dia's data model be as similiar to
Visio's as possible. As far as layers go, this would require the
view properties lock & snap-to-grid be attributes of the layer, not
of the whole diagram. It also means that the idea of having a layer to
layer relationship of autoconnectable wouldn't have any corresponding
feature in Visio (AFAIK), so that's another reason to go the route of
having a mode to turn on & off autoconnectivity.
> Just a few days ago, when talking about Undo, I noted how the very fact
> that you can't connect between layers makes it easier to do undo of layers.
Sorry, I didn't pay much attention to the undo discussion. I'll try to
pay close attention to all discussions better.
> > Other basic layer-specific features I'd like to see are:
> > * the ability to hide entires layers for display and for EPS export
>
> That's what the eye in the layers dialog is for. It also hides it in EPS,
> though the bounding box is now correctly calculated.
Okay. Excellent. I thought that might have just been me not knowing how
to use the Layer properties dialog very well.
> > * the ability to change an object's layer without having to cut & paste
>
> That's probably easy, once we figure out what to do about inter-layer
> connections.
I don't think it's relationship to the inter-layer connections issue has
any obvious bearing on the implementation. At least it doesn't have to.
In the Gimp, I couldn't figure out any easy way to move a selection from
one layer to another without cutting & pasting. It does allow you to
merge layers. We need to ask the question: Should Dia be designed to
have as similiar an interface as other Gnome apps with simliarity to Visio
secondary, or should it mimic Visio's features first and then Gnome stuff
second? Since the impact layers have on Dia diagrams is different than it
impacts Gimp drawings, I'd say Visio similarity should come before Gnome
simliarity. Of course there is always just having Dia go its own way
without regard to Gnome or Visio.
-Ben
--
Ben Hochstedler http://www.mei.com GE Marquette Medical Systems
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 414-362-3317 Fax: 414-362-3389
