This layered approach has the drawback of not matching the layout of inner layers with layout of outer layers, so you get crossing links. You will need to use some additional sorting as shown in http://mindfusion.eu/Forum/YaBB.pl?num=1330644188. Also LayeredLayout won't place connected nodes at the same vertical position. You might try setting IgnoreLayout on some links to allow for the nodes they connect to be placed on the same Y layer.

Stoyan

The code below creates this layout:

LayeredLayout outerLayout = new LayeredLayout();
outerLayout.Orientation = MindFusion.Diagramming.Layout.Orientation.Vertical;
outerLayout.StraightenLongLinks = true;
outerLayout.IgnoreNodeSize = false;
outerLayout.Anchoring = Anchoring.Reassign;

LayeredLayout innerLayout = new LayeredLayout();
innerLayout.Orientation = MindFusion.Diagramming.Layout.Orientation.Horizontal;
innerLayout.StraightenLongLinks = true;
innerLayout.Anchoring = Anchoring.Reassign;

Arrange(diagram, outerLayout, innerLayout);
SortByIncomingLinks();
outerLayout.Arrange(diagram);

void SortByIncomingLinks()
{
	foreach (DiagramNode node in diagram.Nodes)
	{
		ContainerNode ctr = node as ContainerNode;
		if (ctr != null)
		{
			SortByIncomingLinks(ctr);
			ctr.UpdateBounds();
		}
	}
}

void SortByIncomingLinks(ContainerNode ctr)
{
	List<DiagramNode> children = new List<DiagramNode>();
	foreach (DiagramNode node in ctr.SubordinateGroup.AttachedNodes)
		children.Add(node);
	children.Sort(CompareByInLinks);

	float x = ctr.Bounds.X + 15;
	foreach (DiagramNode node in children)
	{
		node.Move(x, node.Bounds.Y);
		x = node.Bounds.Right + 15;
	}

	foreach (DiagramNode node in children)
		foreach (DiagramLink link in node.GetAllLinks())
			link.ReassignAnchorPoints();
}

int CompareByInLinks(DiagramNode n1, DiagramNode n2)
{
	DiagramLink link1 = null;
	if (n1.IncomingLinks.Count > 0)
		link1 = n1.IncomingLinks[0];
	DiagramLink link2 = null;
	if (n2.IncomingLinks.Count > 0)
		link2 = n2.IncomingLinks[0];

	if (link1 != null && link2 == null)
		return -1;
	if (link1 == null && link2 != null)
		return 1;
	if (link1 == null && link2 == null)
		return 0;

	PointF p1 = link1.ControlPoints[link1.ControlPoints.Count - 2];
	PointF p2 = link2.ControlPoints[link2.ControlPoints.Count - 2];
	return p1.X.CompareTo(p2.X);
} 

The difference from the old code is that SortByIncomingLinks previously did not process links between nodes inside the container, and now it calls ReassignAnchorPoints to align them to nodes after sorting. However if you expect links both inside the container and ones coming form the outside, you will probably have to modify the sort criteria to compare by both. Another change is the second call to outerLayout.Arrange for rearranging the outer diagram with the new containers sizes.

Setting IgnoreLayout on the bottommost link did not work here as I thought because LayeredLayout strives to preserve link flow direction and places the nodes on different sides of the container (so the flow is node5 -> container -> node4 when node4->node5 link is ignored). You would get the result from your screenshot if the node5 -> container link was reversed. If you can't ensure links flow direction, you might try using a different outer layout, e.g. try AnnealLayout - it will make links as short as possible so node4&5 should be on the same side of container, but it will not align nodes horizontally.

I hope that helps,
Stoyan

You can find several versions of it by searching the forum. Here's what I have currently in my test app:

private DiagramItemCollection GetContainerItems(ContainerNode container)
{
	DiagramItemCollection items = new DiagramItemCollection();
	foreach (DiagramNode node in container.SubordinateGroup.AttachedNodes)
	{
		items.Add(node);
		foreach (DiagramLink link in node.GetAllLinks())
		{
			DiagramNode node2 = GetOtherEnd(link, node);
			if (ContainerNode.GetContainer(node2) == container && !items.Contains(link))
				items.Add(link);
		}
	}
	return items;
}

private void ArrangeContainers(ContainerNode parent, Layout layout)
{
	DiagramItemCollection children = GetContainerItems(parent);
	foreach (DiagramItem child in children)
	{
		if (child is ContainerNode)
			ArrangeContainers((ContainerNode)child, layout);
	}
	layout.Arrange(diagram, GetContainerItems(parent));
	parent.UpdateBounds(true);
}

private void miLayoutContainersRecursively_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	LayeredLayout layout = new LayeredLayout();
	layout.MultipleGraphsPlacement = MultipleGraphsPlacement.MinimalArea;

	ArrangeContainers(diagram.Nodes[0] as ContainerNode, layout);
}

private void Arrange(Diagram diagram, Layout outerLayout, Layout innerLayout)
{
	foreach (DiagramNode node in diagram.Nodes)
	{
		ContainerNode container = node as ContainerNode;
		if (container == null)
			continue;

		innerLayout.Arrange(diagram, GetContainerItems(container));
		container.UpdateBounds();
	}

	outerLayout.Arrange(diagram);

	/*foreach (DiagramLink link in diagram.Links)
	{
		if (ContainerNode.GetContainer(link.Origin) != ContainerNode.GetContainer(link.Destination))
			link.Route();
	}*/

	diagram.ResizeToFitItems(5);
} 

Quote:


If the YaBB developers add tags support, we will upgrade the forum Anyway, search should work better if you select all diagramming boards on the search page and change the post time field to (all posts).

Quote:


Do these nodes have any AnchorPattern set?

The Arrange(innerLayout, outerLayout) code processes only topmost containers. For nested containers, check the ArrangeContainers method (called from miLayoutContainersRecursively in the code block above). You might have to extend it if you need different layouts for different depths of containment - as innerLayout and outerLayout were used in the single-level case.

I hope that helps,
Stoyan