I am using bunch of Composite Nodes to generate a tree layout. But when I try draw links from a node in the lower level to a node in the upper level, the links overlap the nodes.

Refer to Overlaping_Composite_Nodes.png

 _RootLayout  = new TreeLayout(
                _RootNode,
                TreeLayoutType.Cascading,
                false,
                TreeLayoutLinkType.Cascading2,
                TreeLayoutDirections.TopToBottom,
                5,
                5,
                true,
                new SizeF(10,10));

            if (_RootLayout != null)
            {
                _RootLayout.Arrange(Diagram);
            }
 

Is there a way this can be avoided?

One option that prevent this behavior is Diagram.RouteAllLinks();

But if I call this method after creating and arranging the tree layout, it messes up with other links and nodes.

Refer to RouteAllLinks.png

 _RootLayout  = new TreeLayout(
                _RootNode,
                TreeLayoutType.Cascading,
                false,
                TreeLayoutLinkType.Cascading2,
                TreeLayoutDirections.TopToBottom,
                5,
                5,
                true,
                new SizeF(10,10));

            if (_RootLayout != null)
            {
                _RootLayout.Arrange(Diagram);
            }

            foreach (DiagramNode node in Diagram.Nodes)
            {
                Diagram.ResizeToFitItem(node);
            }

            //Diagram.RoutingOptions.TurnCost = 50;
            //Diagram.RoutingOptions.LengthCost = 50;
            //Diagram.RoutingOptions.CrossingCost = 50;

            Diagram.RouteAllLinks(); 

As you see, I have also tried setting the RoutingOptions for TurnCost, LengthCost and CrossingCost

Code to add link:

 DiagramLink link = new DiagramLink(Diagram);
                    link.Origin = fromNode;
                    link.Destination = toNode;
                    link.AllowMoveEnd = false;
                    link.AllowMoveStart = false;
                    link.AutoSnapToNode = true;
                    link.BaseShape = ArrowHeads.Circle;
                    link.BaseShapeSize = 2;
                    link.AutoRoute = false;

                    Diagram.Links.Add(link); 

Is there a way I can achieve this without my links overlapping the nodes, and without the links being messed up.

Stoyo,

Thanks a lot for replying back. What you say makes sense for the second part of my question.

I guess you missed the first part of my question.

Here is what I an doing,
1. Creating a bunch of composite nodes, containing Text and Images.

2. Create a tree layout with these nodes. Everything works perfectly till this point.

3. Now, I try to create a link from one node to another

DiagramLink link = new DiagramLink(tDiagram);
link.Origin = fromNode;
link.Destination = toNode;
link.AllowMoveEnd = false;
link.AllowMoveStart = false;
link.AutoSnapToNode = true;
link.BaseShape = ArrowHeads.Circle;
link.BaseShapeSize = 2;
link.AutoRoute = true;

Diagram.Links.Add(link);

link.Route(); 

When I do this, the link overlaps the composite node and anchors to the top of the composite node.

Please refer to the attachment.

So, I want to know if there is a way to avoid this overlap and anchor the link to the bottom of the composite node?

Stoyo,
Thanks again for the reply. Using CreateDiagramLink worked like a charm for me.

However, I have a related questions. When I am creating a node I create an AnchorPattern

 myCompositeNode.AnchorPattern = new AnchorPattern(new AnchorPoint[]
            {
                new AnchorPoint(50, 0, true, false), //Bottom Center
                new AnchorPoint(0, 50, true, false) //Left Center

            }); 

Now, when I create a link with this node as the destination, now do I specify which AnchorPoint should be used?

I tried doing:

 DiagramLink link = myDiagram.Factory.CreateDiagramLink(parentNode, childNode);

link.DestinationAnchor = 1; 

The documentation about DestinationAnchor does not say much about. It just mentions it is the index of the AnchorPoint from the AnchorPattern.

In my case, if I want a link to anchor to the "Bottom Center" AnchorPoint, how do I achieve this?