Nevron Diagram for .NET [Q1 2008 Professional + Subscription]

Support for inward–outward port connections

In this release we have implemented support for inward-outward ports. This feature lets you interactively glue an outward port to inward port. When an outward port of a shape is connected to an inward port, the shape will translate and rotate together with the shape owning the inward port. The translation aims to match the outward port location to the inward port location. The rotation aims to match both ports direction angles. For each type of port we have provided an extensive set of predefined modes in which a port can automatically determine its direction angle. Custom (user specified) direction angles are supported by all ports. This feature is extremely useful for interactive construction of connected shapes structures without edges. For example: in a floor plan diagram you can have a table with 4 inwards ports designated for the possible places where chairs can be placed. Chairs can have a single outward port. The placement of the chairs around the table is then a matter of simple drag and drop – Nevron Diagram will perform the snapping and glueing of the chairs to the table for you. When you move, rotate or resize the table the chairs will stay on their places.

Powerful support for graph, tree and cells layouts

In this release we have added enterprise quality support for automatic layouts. The layouts are generally grouped in the following categories:

Graph Layouts – perform automatic arrangement of graph
vertices and edges. Included the following layouts:

• Force Directed Layouts - barycenter, spring and symmetrical. The implementation provides supports for lots of supplemental data provided on per edge and vertex basis. It addresses issues like magnetic fields, gravity force and vertex overlapping. The performance is significantly optimized due to the use of local temperatures. The overall quality of drawing is also improved because of the used global cooling method. It is suitable for any type of graph. Produces straight line graph drawings.
• Layered Graph Layout – represents a classical implementation, which layouts a graph in layers. The layout addresses issues like crossing and bending minimization. It is suitable for any type of graph. Produces polyline graph drawings.
• Orthogonal Graph Layout – represents a layout, which draws a graph only with horizontal or vertical line segments. The layout addresses issues like crossing minimization, bends minimization and overall compactness of the drawing. It is suitable for any type of graph. Produces orthogonal graph drawings.
• Radial Graph Layout - represents a layout, which draws a graph in radial circles. It is suitable for any type of graph. Produces straight line graph drawings.

Tree Layouts – perform automatic arrangement of tree vertices
and edges

• Layered Tree Layout – layouts a tree in layers. The layout addresses the breadth compaction of the drawing. Produces straight line and orthogonal tree drawings. Compact Depth Tree Layout – layouts a tree with minimal depth. The layout also addresses the breadth compaction of the drawing. Produces straight line and orthogonal tree drawings.
• Compact Depth Tree Layout – layouts a tree with minimal depth. The layout also addresses the breadth compaction of the drawing. Produces straight line and orthogonal tree drawings.
• Tip Over Tree Layout - layouts a tree by placing children in either a row or a col. The row column children placement is controlled on a per vertex basis. Addresses the overall compaction of the drawing. Produces orthogonal tree drawings.
• Balloon Tree Layout – layouts the tree in by placing the vertex children in a circular fashion. Addresses the overall compaction of the drawing. Produces straight line tree drawings.

Cell Layouts – perform automatic arrangement of the vertices of
a graph

• Stack Layout - represents a directed constrained cells layout, which stacks the cells in horizontal or vertical order. Depending on the layout direction the layout is constrained by either width or height.
• Flow Layout - represents a directed constrained cells layout, which arranges the cells in horizontal or vertical lanes.
• Dock Layout – represents space eating cells layout, which places vertices at per-vertex specified docking areas of the currently available layout area. Table Layout - represents a directed constrained cells layout, which arranges cells in a tabular manner.

Dynamic image map in AJAX mode

In Q1 2008 Nevron web components now support a dynamic image map that can be automatically updated at the client on every callback. The developer has control over when the image map is generated when is and updated on the client. The dynamic image map allows client side filtering of mouse events and prevents unnecessary callbacks for server side hit testing.

Controller-Tools Architecture in AJAX mode

Controller and tools are added to the Nevron client side JavaScript framework. All mouse events are now processed by the controller, which allows for implementing complex mouse handling logic and combining callback event processing with pure client side event processing.

New AJAX tools

Based on the controller-tools architecture, the following tools were added: - Click, double click, mouse down, mouse up, mouse move, mouse over and mouse out callback tools – intercept the mouse events and route them to the server for processing; - Dynamic cursor tool– changes the mouse cursor over interactive visual elements; - Redirect tool– redirects the browser to a specified URL when interactive visual elements are clicked; - Tooltip tool– displays tooltips over interactive visual elements.

Print Manager for Web Forms

None of the most popular web browsers is capable of printing really large images. Nevron .NET Vision Q1 2008 introduces a new HTTP handler that generates HTML, suitable for printing.

Diagram Document Object Model
The Diagram Document Object Model represents the set of elements, which you can use to build a diagramming document. The Diagram Document Object Model is built on top of the Nevron DOM and in the context of the Nevron Diagram .NET product is simply called DOM.

Following is a brief summary of the most important DOM elements and features:

• Fully Extensible - you can subclass any element and override its behavior.
• Hierarchical Documents - elements reside in a hierarchy, the root of which is a diagramming document.
• Styles and Style Sheets - the visual appearance of all elements is consistently controlled with styles. Styles can be composed from the element ancestors in the hierarchy or directly from style sheets. Cascade style sheets are supported.
• Abilities, Protection and Permissions - each element exposes a set of abilities, which defines the actions, which can be performed with it. The element protection defines the abilities, which are explicitly disabled. The element permissions provide an easy way to obtain the allowed element abilities.
• Measurement Units - currently supported are three measurement unit systems: GDI+, Metric and English, with complete set of the respective measurement units. You can also plug your own measurement unit systems (for example extend the component to support the Japanese measurement units).
• Documents - documents are the root elements in element hierarchies. They provide core support for services, view management and data exchange capabilities. * Multiple views can display and edit a single document simultaneously. Currently there are two types of documents:
• Drawing Documents - drawing documents are assembled from stencils, layers and guidelines. They provide you with the ability to define a vector drawing.
• Library Documents - library documents are assembled from masters. They provide you with the ability to store and manage reusable drawing content.
• Masters - masters are collections of diagram elements, which can be instanced in any drawing.
• Stencils - stencils can display reusable content. Currently provided are arrowheads and point stencils, which can host any model. Stencils are specially * * optimised to display predefined content.
• Layers - the content of each drawing is neatly organised in layers. Layers can be nested.
• Models - models are the primary diagram building blocks. Models can be freely transformed. There are two types of models:
• Primitive Models - primitive models serve as atomic parts for aggregate models. Implemented is a complete set of graphical primitives (open figures, closed figures and texts).
• Aggregate Models - aggregate models are assembled from other primitive and/or aggregate models.
• Shapes - shapes are aggregate models, which represent logical abstractions. Shapes can be involved in complex relationships. Each shape can optionally have multiple ports, labels and control points. There are two types of shapes:
• 2D Shapes - these are shapes, which are treated as boxes.
• 1D Shapes - these are shapes, which are treated as lines. 1D shapes have start and end plugs, which can be connected to the ports of other shapes.
• Groups - groups are shapes, which are assembled from other shapes.
• Data Structures - provided is an easy and intuitive way to build a graph or a tree from a set of connected shapes. Implemented is an extensive set of commonly used graph and tree algorithms (breadth first traversal, depth first traversal, spanning trees etc.). In this way the component can serve as a powerful tool for graph drawing and analysis.
• Routing and Routable Connectors- provided is built-in support for routing and routable connectors. The routing can easily be extended.

Bridges and Bridgeable Shapes - bridges (hops) are a special type of decoration, which is displayed on bridgeable shapes self-intersections or intersection with other bridgeable shapes.

• Print Manager - drawings can be printed on single or multiple pages. Implemented is built in support for print preview and page setup.
• Image Exporter - an entire drawing or only portions of it can be exported to image of any type (JPG, PNG, BMP etc.). For drawings defined in absolute measurement units (e.g. inches, millimeters etc.) you can also specify the target device resolution (helps you generate ready to print images).
• Undo and Redo - the entire DOM API is protected by history. Any property or method, which modifies the elements state records history. The history can contain an unlimited number of actions. History actions can be grouped in transactions. Transactions can be committed or rolled back. Nested transactions are supported. The history is implemented as a service so you can easily override it, stop or pause it.
• Batches - batches serve as a functionality layer between documents and views. Batches are designed to operate with multiple elements and record a single history transaction. Batches take into account the element permissions. Most of operations, which views and commands perform with elements, are implemented with the help of batches.
• Event Handling - all events are fired from an event sink service, which provides you with the ability to consistently intercept all types of events regardless of the diagram you work with. Interactivity events (mouse, keyboard and drag drop events) support event bubbling.

Shape Factories
Nevron Diagram for .NET comes equipped with numerous predefined vector shapes, which can come handy in many applications. The predefined shapes are consistently created by shape factories. Currently implemented are the following shape factories:

• Basic Shapes Factory - produces basic shapes (Rectangle, Square, Ellipse, Circle, Rounded Rectangle, N-Grams, N-Gons etc.).

A total of 16 basic shapes are provided.

• Flowcharting Shapes Factory- produces shapes related to flowcharting (Process, Decision, Document, Data etc.).

A total of 31 flowcharting shapes are provided.

• Network Shapes Factory - produces shapes related to network modeling (Computer, Server, Printer, Terminal, Hub etc.).

A total of 28 networking shapes are provided.

• Simple Network Shapes Factory - produces simplified (with less details) shapes related to network modeling (Computer, Server, Printer, Terminal, Hub etc.).

A total of 23 simple networking shapes are provided.

• Brainstorming Shapes Factory - produces shapes related to brainstorming (Smiley face, Frowny face, Attention, Note etc.).

A total of 36 brainstorming shapes are provided.

• Symbol Shapes Factory - produces common symbol shapes (Poison, Warning, Recycle, Men, Women etc.).

A total of 17 symbol shapes are provided.

• Traffic Signs Shapes Factory - produces traffic signs shapes (Stop, No entry, Speed limit etc.).

A total of 54 traffic sign shapes are provided.

• Electical Symbols Shapes Factory - produces electical symbols (Diode, Inductor, Capacitor, Resistor, PNP and NPN transistors etc.).

A total of 91 electrical symbols are provided.

• Floor Plan Shapes Factory - produces shapes related to floor plans (Table, Chair, Couch, Desk, Sink etc.).

A total of 110 floor plan shapes are provided.

• Flags Shapes Factory - produces shapes representing country flags (USA flag, UK flag, France flag etc.).

A total of 59 country flags are provided.

• Trevel Shapes Factory - produces shapes representing symbols related to travelling.

A total of 54 country flags are provided.

• This accounts to the incredible amount of 519 genuine clip-art shapes. Stay tuned with Nevron Diagram for .NET since in each release we are going to add more shapes and improve the currently existing ones.

WinForm Views, Controller and Tools
In WinForm the viewing and editing of documents is achieved with the help of views and controllers. Following is a brief summary:

• Fully Extensible - views, controllers and tools can be extended with ease.
• Views - views help you display and edit documents. Views implement core support for tools and selection. Several views can display and edit a single document simultaneously. Currently there are two primary types of views:
• Drawing Views - drawing views help you display and edit drawing documents. Drawing views are feature rich and help you zoom, pan, stretch and fit documents. Drawing views can edit numerous shapes features via interactive editors (trackers). They provide an extensive support for snapping.
• Library Views - library views help you display and edit library documents. Libraries can be displayed in several styles: Icons only, Icons and names, Icons and Details, List and Thumbnails.
• Controller - a single controller is attached to every view. The controller stores a collection of tools to which it delegates view events for processing. In this way the views behavior and functionality can easily be configured, extended or overridden.
• Tools - tools are replaceable controller parts. Implemented is a myriad of tools, which help you create new elements as well as edit the currently existing ones.
• Pan and Zoom Control - this control provides a bird's-eye view of the document edited in another drawing view (called master view). It also provides you with an easy and intuitive way to zoom and pan the master view.

Diagram for Web Forms (ASP.NET AJAX)

• WebForm View - In the context of WebForms the interactive viewing of DOM documents is achieved with WebForm views, which support many image output formats as well as HTML image maps and postback events.

• AJAX Support for Web Forms - Nevron Diagram for .NET supports ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0. Nevron web controls allow AJAX callback handling of the following mouse events: click, double click, move, down and up. The web controls can be forcibly refreshed at client-side and auto-refresh feature is available.

Layouts
Layouts can help you automatically arrange diagram elements. Following is a brief summary:

• Fully Extensible - all layouts can easily be extended. You can also create your custom layouts
• Layout Items - all layouts operate with layout items, which makes it possible for them to arrange multiple structures
• Layout Animation - the effect of all layouts can be animated
• Tree Layout - implemented is a very powerful tree layout with lots of customisation settings
• Force Directed Layout - implemented is a generic force directed layout with many customisation settings
• Table Layout - implemented is a table layout, which can order any set of elements in a tabular manner.

Templates
DOM content can easily be created with the help of programmable templates. Following is a brief summary:

• Fully Extensible - all templates can easily be extended. You can also create your own custom templates

Visual Template Editing - the template editing can be performed visually with the help of the built-in wizard

Diagram Designer Components
Nevron Diagram for .NET implements a complete set of components which can help you create a feature rich diagram designer in minutes. Following is a brief summary:

• Commands and Commander - any user action, which can be executed from a menu, toolbar or context menu is represented by a diagram command. Diagram commands are UI independent. Diagram commands are maintained by a commander, which also serves as bridge between the Nevron UI and diagram commands.
• Command Bars Manager - this is a modern look and feel docking bars manager, which visually exposes the power of the Nevron Diagram for .NET with the help of the Nevron UI Suite.
• Library Browser - the library browser facilitates the library management. The library browser can display multiple libraries as well as help you create new libraries and edit the currently existing ones.
• Property Browser - the property browser can help you instantly edit the properties of the document, active layer, selection or the view.
• Status bar - the status bar is a useful control, which displays important information about the current state of a view.

Web Forms specific features

1. ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0 support (VS 2005 Specific)
Nevron web controls allow AJAX callback handling of the following mouse events: click, double click, move, down and up. Also, the web controls can be forcibly refreshed at client-side and auto-refresh feature is available. For more details on AJAX in Nevron web controls refer the AJAX topic.

2. Server side events (postback) and HTML image maps
The image maps generated by the component can display tooltips, redirect the client browser to a specified URL or change the mouse cursor.

3. Server side persistency
The component can preserve its state across roundtrips.

4. Ability to inject custom client side script
With the help of this feature you can seamlessly integrate the image maps generated from the component with any type of client side VBScript or JScript.

5. Ability to directly stream an image to the client browser
This is an indispensable feature when building scalable and secure server side applications.

6. Built-in temporary file clean up
The component automatically detects when a temporary file is expired and deletes it from the server. You can also assign disk space usage quota for the directory holding the temporary files in order to ensure that you cannot exceed the space used by your web server application.

7. Built-in browser detection
By leveraging the power of the .NET regular expressions you can instruct the component to generate different responses depending on the browser accessing the page.