Diagramming for Java 4.0 Released

Diagramming for Java 4.0 Released

MindFusion has released a new version of its Diagramming component for Java with various new features.

Node Effects

Diagramming for Java adds support for two visual effects - the GlassEffect and AeroEffect, which can be applied to nodes. Effects can be added, removed or modified at any time and this will immediately reflect on the diagram. You can apply more than one effect of the same type.

Styles & Themes

The Style is a set of properties, which can be applied to a given diagram item or to all items of a specific type. A Theme is a collection of styles. Each style in the theme is associated with a specific type of diagram items and affects all items of this type. Themes can be loaded and saved from / to XML files. Use the Theme Editor tool to create your own themes.

Diagram documents and tabbed views

The new DiagramDocument class represents a collection of pages (sheets). Each sheet is an instance of DiagramPage. DiagramPage is derived from the Diagram class and adds a Title property. All your current code that uses Diagram objects will work with DiagramPage objects. You can add, modify, rearrange and delete DiagramPage-s with the Pages collection.

The new TabbedScrollPane displays tabs for each DiagramDocument page. You can specify the active page by activating its associated tab. Use the buttons in the tab tray to add and remove pages to/from the document. Drag the tab of a page with the mouse to change its location.

Layer List Control

The new LayerListView control displays all layers of the Diagram together with a title and an overview area. You can edit the Visible and Locked properties of the layer and set the currently active layer. Use the plus (+) button to add new layers to the Diagram.

Layers

Now you can assign diagram Item-s into layers. Layers can be locked, hidden moved up or down in the Z-order or as a group. Call the setLayerIndex method of items to associate them with layers in the Diagram.Layers collection. Each Layer has Visible, Locked and ZIndex properties, which affect all items in the layer.

    
One-way Layout

The OneWayLayout class ensures that links enter into nodes from the same general direction and exit them from the opposite side.
Ruler improvements

The new MeasureUnit class lets you specify units of the ruler. The MeasureUnit class provides several built-in units as well as the opportunity to create custom units of measure.


Magnifier

The new magnifier tool allows users to interactively zoom in (or out) portions of the diagram by holding down a modifier key or pressing a mouse button. You can customize the magnifier's zoom factor and appearance.
Miscellaneous

The Shape property in ContainerNode and TreeViewNode can be set to Rectangle or RoundRect;
the value of DiagramItem.ZIndex property is no longer required to be unique and smaller than the number of items;
and more.

API Changes

A few changes were required to keep the API elegant and easy to use with the numerous new features added to Diagramming for Java. The changes are described in details in the "What's new" section in the documentation of the component.