Hi,

I need to use one ContainerNode for all other diagram elements. Accordingly, as a background, it must be locked so that it cannot be selected and moved. It's good that the nodes inside it are getting locked as well. I can manually add new nodes, have context menus to edit them, etc. But at the same time, I still need to be able to draw links between the nodes, select existing links. How can this be achieved? That is, draw nodes and links and select them inside the locked container.

Thanks!
Kostya

Hi Slavcho,

Thanks much for the quick reply! The only thing that doesn't work now is adding a new node manually. Locking the container node before allowed to avoid creation of links inside it. Now, for this purpose I did like this

            _containerNode.AllowIncomingLinks = false;
            _containerNode.AllowOutgoingLinks = false;
 

But how now to allow the creation of a new ShapeNode by drawing it in such a container? I have a custom behavior set for the diagram

            CustomNodeType = typeof(ShapeNode);
            Behavior = Behavior.DrawNodes;
 

but it doesn't work in the container now.

Thanks,
Kostya

Hi Slavcho,

You're right, indeed, Behavior.DrawShapes helps enable drawing ShapeNodes. Even though I specified CustomNodeType, Behavior.DrawNodes allowed me to draw TemplatedNodes only. Please let me show you my test project (attached). So, the container feels like it's locked, I can draw new nodes, but now I've lost the ability to draw links between nodes. How could I keep both node and link drawing (without affecting the container node, like it's still "locked")?

Thanks,
Kostya

Hi Slavcho,

Thanks, it really worked! Let me just clarify one detail. The fact is that when creating a new node in this way, no matter how strange it may sound, I need to remove it under certain conditions. I do this OnNodeCreated:

        private void Diagram_NodeCreated(object sender, NodeEventArgs e)
        {
            // ...
            Diagram.Nodes.Remove(e.Node);
        }
 

Even though the result of the operation is True, the node remains in the diagram. At the same time, for example, I can delete any other node at this moment:

Diagram.Nodes.Remove(Diagram.Nodes[1]);
 

Is there some trick here? That is, should I do it later or delete it somehow differently?

Kostya

Hi Slavcho,

Got it about Factory.Create(). Yes, I came to this solution when I took your great advice to use a Diagram instead of a VirtualizingDiagram, which really helped avoid a lot of little problems. Now, I see that setting Cancel from NodeCreating instead of deleting from NodeCreated works to solve this problem, thanks! 

So, I do this and then everything else in NodeCreateCancelled without actually creating a new node. The only negative thing about this is that the cursor turns into a red icon when the user draws a new node. Is there any way to hide/customize it if I set e.Cancel=true when creating a node? The idea is not to show the user that the action has been cancelled, but to do it quietly.

Kostya

Slavcho, thanks much for your help! I'm glad all this can be resolved. I went the second way:

            if (Mouse.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Released)
                e.Cancel = true;
 

Kostya