Diagramming for WinForms 6.0.4

MindFusion has released a new version of its popular diagramming component for WinForms. Most of the new features are requested by the users – here is a list:

Import of OpenOffice Draw Files

The new DrawImporter class can import *.odg files, created by the OpenOffice Draw vector graphics editor. The importer requires a reference to the MindFusion.Diagramming.Import.Draw.dll assembly. The DrawImporter supports shapes from the General and Flowchart shape palettes in Draw. At your disposal are a variety of Import method overloads that can be used to import the OpenOffice drawing into a DiagramDocument whose pages correspond to the Draw pages, or into a single Diagram whose content is merged from all imported pages.

Import from OpenOffice Draw files is now supported.

Import from OpenOffice Draw files is now supported.

Miscellaneous

Rotation of a node.

Rotation of a node.

A trial version of the component is available from this link:

Diagramming for WinForms 6.0.4

If you have questions or run into problems using the component you can use the Diagramming for WinForms forum, the help desk or write us at support@mindfusion.eu. Our support team will be pleased to help you.

About MindFusion.Diagramming for WinForms: A programming component that provides any WinForms application with a full set of features for creating and customizing all types of diagrams, flowcharts, schemes, hierarchies, trees, graphs etc. The control provides numerous ways to save and load a diagram, six auxiliary controls and more than 10 automatic graph layout algorithms. Diagram elements include scrollable tables, container nodes, multi-segment arrows, custom diagram item types and many more. Further details here.

Diagramming for WinForms is a royalty-free component, clients get 12 month upgrade subscription when buying a license. The source code is also available for purchase. Visit the buy page for a list with the current license prices.

Custom appearance of WPF Resource view

Continuing from the previous post we will now customize the appearance of the Resource view to achieve a more aesthetically pleasing presentation. The appearance of the view is customized by setting various properties of the Calendar.ResourceViewSettings object.

We will build our presentation on the Silver theme by reducing the sharpness and contrast of colors and making the font uniform across the entire view. The customization process is divided to the following steps:

Customize the view background.

calendar.ResourceViewSettings.CalendarStyle.Background = Brushes.White;

Customize the row headers.

calendar.ResourceViewSettings.ExpandableRows = false;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.HeaderStyle.FontFamily = headerFont;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.HeaderStyle.FontSize = 13;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.HeaderStyle.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Color.FromArgb(255, 64, 64, 64));
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.HeaderStyle.Background = Brushes.White;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.HeaderStyle.BorderBrush = borderBrush;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.HeaderStyle.BorderThickness = new Thickness(0, 0, 0, 1);

Customize the view cells.

calendar.ResourceViewSettings.CellStyle.Background = Brushes.White;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.CellStyle.BorderBrush = borderBrush;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.WeekendStyle.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Color.FromArgb(255, 250, 250, 250));
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.WeekendStyle.BorderBrush = borderBrush;

Customize the view timelines.

calendar.ResourceViewSettings.BottomTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.Background = Brushes.White;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.BottomTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.BorderBrush = borderBrush;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.BottomTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.FontFamily = headerFont;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.BottomTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.FontSize = 13;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.BottomTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.FontWeight = FontWeights.Normal;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.BottomTimelineSettings.NowFillBrush = Brushes.Transparent;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.MiddleTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.Background = Brushes.White;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.MiddleTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.BorderBrush = borderBrush;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.MiddleTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.FontFamily = headerFont;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.MiddleTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.FontSize = 13;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.MiddleTimelineSettings.CalendarStyle.FontWeight = FontWeights.Normal;
calendar.ResourceViewSettings.MiddleTimelineSettings.NowFillBrush = Brushes.Transparent;

Note that the font, headerFont and borderBrush variables are defined as follows:

FontFamily font = new FontFamily("Segoe UI");
FontFamily headerFont = new FontFamily("Segoe UI Light");
Brush borderBrush = new SolidColorBrush(Color.FromArgb(255, 224, 224, 224));

The final result is displayed below.

scheduling-resourceviewappearance

The complete sample project is available for download here:
https://mindfusion.eu/_samples/WpfPlannerResourceViewAppearance.zip

You can get the trial version of MindFusion.Scheduling for WPF from this link:
https://mindfusion.eu/WpfPlannerTrial.zip

Enjoy!

Diagramming for ASP.NET 5.0.2

MindFusion has released a new version of its diagramming component for ASP.NET. Here is a list of the most important new features:

Canvas Mode Improvements

  • Glass and Aero effects
  • radial gradients
  • multiple labels per link
  • NodeSelectedScript and LinkSelectedScript client-side events
  • more new methods and events
Node visual effects.

Node visual effects.

ContainerNode Improvements

  • Child nodes are now drawn by their containers; when containers overlap, the children of a lower container cannot appear in front of the upper container anymore
  • the ClipChildren property specifies whether to clip child items to container’s boundaries
  • the ZIndex property no longer changes automatically when dropping nodes into a container
  • and more
Container nodes.

Container nodes.

Improvements in the PdfExporter

  • improved handling of clip regions in custom drawing code
  • PdfExporter now honors the target Rectangle property of linear gradients
  • PDF shadings now include all colors from a ColorBlend
  • more precise character widths set when text includes both eastern glyphs and Latin characters
  • as well other improvements

Detailed information about the release is posted at the forum. If you are interested in the component, use the following link to get the trial version:

Download MindFusion.Diagramming for ASP.NET 5.0.2 Trial Version

Technical support

MindFusion support team is happy to assist you with any questions you might have about Diagramming for ASP.NET or any other of our products. You can leave a message at the discussion board, use the help desk or e-mail support@mindfusion.eu.. We strive to provide competent and detailed answers to your questions within hours of receiving them.

About Diagramming for ASP.NET: An advanced WebForms programming component that offers all the functionality that is needed for creating, styling and presenting attractive flowcharts, hierarchies, trees, graphs, schemes, diagrams and many more. The control offers numerous utility methods, path finding and cycle detection, rich event set and many useful user interaction features like tool tips, multiple selection, copy/paste to/from Windows clipboard and many more.

NetDiagram offers 87 predefined node shapes, scrollable tables, 13 automatic layouts and many more. You can check the online demo to see some of the features in action. The control includes many samples, detailed documentation and step-by-step tutorials. Every features is duly documented and there’s plenty of code to copy. We have done our best to make the component not only powerful and scalable, but easy to learn and fun to use.

Custom items in WPF Calendar

Expanding on the previous post we will now modify the appearance of the calendar items through the use of a custom item presenter. To define the new presenter, simply create a new Style resource with TargetType set to ItemPresenter and place this Style somewhere in the resource look-up path – for example in the application’s or the window’s resource dictionaries. The Style must contain a setter for the Template property that defines the appearance of the item:

<style targettype="{x:Type planner:ItemPresenter}">
  <Setter Property="Template">
    <Setter.Value>
      <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type planner:ItemPresenter}">
        <Grid>
        ...
        </Grid>
      </ControlTemplate>
    </Setter.Value>
  </Setter>
</style>

In this particular case the presenter represents a grid with two rows. The top row contains an icon and the header text of the item. The bottom row contains the description text. Note, that the TextBlock displaying the header text of the item has a name – HeaderBlock. The element with this name defines the position of the TextBox when the item is in-place edited.

Various appearance properties are also customized – such as FontFamily, Background and BorderBrush, by assigning new values to the respective properties of the Calendar.ItemSettings.CalendarStyle object:

calendar.ItemSettings.CalendarStyle.FontFamily = new FontFamily("Segoe UI");
calendar.ItemSettings.CalendarStyle.Background = Brushes.White;
calendar.ItemSettings.CalendarStyle.BorderBrush = Brushes.SlateGray;

Finally, the size of the calendar lanes is increased to accommodate the new appearance of the items:

calendar.ResourceViewSettings.LaneSize = 54;

The final result is displayed below.

scheduling-customitems

The complete sample project is available for download here:
https://mindfusion.eu/_samples/WpfPlannerCustomItems.zip

You can get the trial version of MindFusion.Scheduling for WPF from this link:
https://mindfusion.eu/WpfPlannerTrial.zip

Enjoy!

Diagramming for ActiveX 4.7

MindFusion has released a beta version of its Diagramming for ActiveX component. Here is an overview of the new features:

Glass and Aero Effects

You can now apply Glass and Aero visual effects to nodes with the AddGlassEffect and AddAeroEffect methods, which are added to the Box, Table and Flowchart classes. You must be in the GDI+ mode to use effects.

Here is an overview of the four glass-reflection effects, which you can apply with AddGlassEffect:

The various types of glass effects.

The various types of glass effects.

The AddAeroEffect method aplies semi-transparency to nodes and emphasizes their outline by adding a shade and an inner stroke.

The aero effect.

The aero effect.

Miscellaneous

  • The new SelectionOptions.FramePadding property specifies the distance between the selected items and the selection frame.
  • SelectionOptions.ShowItemHandles property specifies whether handles for individual items are drawn in a multiple selection.
  • Arrow.Segments can be set even on self-loop arrows or when auto routing is enabled.
  • You can set custom shapes for self-loop arrows.
  • and more.

You can read further details about the new features and this release of FlowChartX at the news section of the forum. The trial version of the control is available for download from here:

Download FlowChartX 4.7 Trial Version

Technical support

MindFusion puts special effort in providing excellent customer support to all developers who use our components. You can write at the forum, help desk or use e-mail support@mindfusion.eu. All questions are usually answered within hours of being received.

About MindFusion.Diagramming for ActiveX: An ActiveX programming component that lets you create with ease every type of diagram, flowchart, scheme, chart, hierarchy, tree etc. The control supports rich user interaction model with advanced features like tool tips, grid alignment, docking points for nodes, scrolling and zooming and many more. FlowChartX implements 7 automatic layouts as well arrow routing. The appearance if each flowchart is completely customizable. Nodes can hold both images and text, their Z-order can be changed and there are tens of predefined shapes to choose from. Nodes support aero and glass visual effects.

The control also includes detailed documentation and many samples for a variety of languages and
platforms. You can find more about the features of the tool at the features page or check the licensing scheme and the prices here.