yEd Q&A - Recent questions and answers

How can I pan around the workspace

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:42:42 +0000

I need to enable the feature that let's me pan around the workspace by holding down the middle mouse botton and then dragging the cursor. I cannot find the option in preferences, so, right now I am (very slowly) zooming in and out or reaching over to the scroll bars every time I want to pan around. This is very inconvenient compared to AutoCAD and other drawing programs.

Thanks!

Importing numbers (in text cells) from Excel to yEd

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:11:11 +0000

This is probably more of an Excel issue that yEd but I thought I'd give it a shot:-)

I have an Excel spreadsheet and some of the columns are numeric in content but I have set the format to be 'text' in Excel (i.e. not numeric or general).

The problem is that when I import into yEd my numbers are not coming over correctly, i.e. even in the import dialogue (in yEd) I can see that the numbers are being represented in exponential format (which I don't want because they're phone numbers).

The only way I can fix this is to prepend an alpha character to the numeric string (in Excel) before doing the import into yEd (but then I have an alpha character which I don't need).

Any thoughts appreciated.

graphview vindow shows small

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:40:39 +0000

Hello,

I’m trying to insert a flash object into WP, the object is showed but is quite small. The code I’m using is:

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
id="GraphMLViewer" width="100%" height="100%"  codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab">
  <param name="movie" value="http://www.yworks.com/products/graphmlviewer/1.0.1/GraphMLViewer.swf" />
  <param name="quality" value="high" />
  <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" />
  <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" />
  <param name="FlashVars" value="graphUrl=sast_map.graphml&overview=true&toolbar=true&tooltips=true&
                                    &movable=true&scrollbars=true&links=true&linksInNewWindow=true&
                                    &viewport=full"/>
</object>

I’m using the theme Atahualpa 3.7.3 on WordPress.

I’m trying to set width and height within the object but nothing. The flash window is always the same size, quite small.

Any idea how to fix this issue, please?

Please, find below a screencapture of the issue.

Answered: A layout process that will lay out cells so that they are horizontal in rows

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:17:23 +0000

yEd has no such layout process, but it's a good idea. I changed this into a feature request.

Answered: What is the the behavior for copy&paste with group?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:17:20 +0000

Thanks Michael.

Sounds good to me.

Answered: Empty Palette after upgradeing to 3.9

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:56:39 +0000

I just found out there was a palette manager. I could restore the palette from here. No idea what caused it though. Problem solved

Have you considered implementing multiple views of the same graph, each with independent layout?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:35:42 +0000

It would be great to have multiple "secondary" views of the same graph, with the possibility of defining an alternate node/edge layout for each view without altering the "base" view's layout.

I often use yEd to draw graphs whose nodes are positioned so that they match some underlying geographical base. For example, nodes may correspond to elements of a water supply network, with edges being water pipes. When nodes are positioned that way, however, the graph may become harder to work with, due to partially overlapping nodes or nodes that are too far apart. In this case, a secondary view that allows me to re-arrange the graph so that all nodes are equidistant, for example, would be very useful. I'd use the main view to get the final result, and the alternate view to define the graph topology more easily. Of course, the underlying model would be the same graph, and adding an edge to a node in the secondary view would automatically update the main view (and vice-versa).

Answered: XLS import screen not showing correct input labels in dialogue after u/g to 3.9

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:49:43 +0000

Which version of yEd did you download and install? In any case, please try either first deinstalling yEd before installing the new version or installing into a new directory.

Answered: Flowchart error with Group node

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:41:32 +0000

That is an unfortunate bug in the new Flowchart layout algorithm. Basically, it currently does not work with group nodes at all. The problem will be fixed in the next release of yEd.

Answered: Target Arrow 1 to "0 or 1 or many"

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:31:55 +0000

As far as I know, it is either "0 or 1" or "0 or more" (think about it, "0 or 1 or many" is really no different from "0 or more") and both of these are supported.

Answered: How do you reset the count used for nodes when default labeling is enabled?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:12:05 +0000

Unfortunately, you cannot reset the count. The default label is simply the current number of nodes. E.g. if you create three nodes "1", "2", "3", then delete node "2", then create another new node, that last node will be labeled "3" and you will end up with node "1", "3", "3". The only option available is to turn off default labels altogether (to do that, go to "File" -> "Preferences", tab "Editor", option "Create Default Label for New Nodes").

Answered: French translation of yED

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:06:05 +0000

Unfortunately, your last comment is right on spot: yEd is not designed for (easy) addition of languages other than English and German.

Answered: Problem with distance and SmartFree for labels

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:01:09 +0000

Yes, you are right, "SmartFree" ignores the distance setting. So do "Free", "Centered", "3 Pos Center", and "Center Slider" by the way.

We should probably disable the setting for those models that ignore it anyway.

Answered: BPMN pool in groups cannot use "bpmn" autolayout

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:51:12 +0000

Thank you very much for the sample graphs.

Re diagram 2: The BPMN layout algorithm does not support nested pools. As far as I know, pools have to be top-level in BPMN (i.e. diagram 2 is not a valid BPMN diagram). So, I would classify this as "invalid input".

Re diagram 3: Due to the inherent complexity of restricted layouts (the restrictions being the rows and columns of pools), BPMN layout does not support mixed diagrams very well. (By "mixed" I mean that you have nodes in pools as well as nodes that do not belong to any pools.) The algorithm handles such diagrams by adding an additional invisble column and assigning all free nodes to the first row in that fake column.

Answered: Double-line - how to place?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:42:49 +0000

Currently, arrows are always solid. There is no separate border color for arrows.

Answered: How do you get automatic edge names when exporting to svg

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:16:32 +0000

Yes, that id is indeed due to the associated URL. To associate an URL with an edge, select the edge, go to the properties table in yEd's lower right corner, scroll down to the "Data" section, and enter some text in the field labeled URL. On export, make sure option "Export URL" on tab "Links and Descriptions" is selected.

You could select all edges (select one, then use CTRL+A) and enter some nonsense data in the URL field to force an id for each edge. Unfortunately, this approach has the downside of each edge being an active but broken hyperlink.

Another way to force an ID is to specify a description for an/each edge. (Using the same approach as with URLs.)

I am afraid there is no way to force an ID without exporting either an URL for a hyperlink or a description that is shown on mouse overs.

Answered: YEd won't let me write in any box: I can't enter text, only backspace works!

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:41:25 +0000

A forum search for Mac shows that there are strange problems on Mac OS in rare cases. Usually, deleting the profile directory helps. It is located at /Users/[USERNAME]/Library/yWorks/yEd.

Please let us know if neither this not the other answer solves the problem.

Optional anchorage points in shapes

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:30:30 +0000

Both top figures show some printings I did by hand in yEd. Having an optional connection pattern, like the one below, would make the design process easier. Maybe with the possibility of defining the number of anchorage points on each side of the shape.

Answered: how to superscript/subscript numbers or letters?

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:41:24 +0000

Please see this answer: http://yed.yworks.com/support/qa/16/

Answered: I would like to add Text to my diagram

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:40:23 +0000

All text must be part of a label of either a node or a connection but it is not forbidden to have invisible nodes (no fill colors and no line color).

Answered: default values in mapping

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:33:12 +0000

The properties mapper has no explicit support for default values. However, it should leave alone all elements for which no mapping is defined. Therefore, to mimic the required behavior, you can either set all elements to the default appearance before running the properties mapper or choose a template in the properties mapper configuration that has the default appearance.

Answered: How to import .ged file with accents on characters ?

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:59:26 +0000

Since version 3.9, yEd additionally supports the most common encodings, including UTF-8, UTF-16, and ANSI.

Answered: No automatic closing of tooltips please ...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:54:34 +0000

This feature is available since yEd 3.9.

Answered: Hiding open/close sign of group nodes when exporting (or printing)

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:52:23 +0000

This feature is available since yEd 3.9.

Answered: How to assign fixed edge lengths/weights?

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:43:08 +0000

None of yEd's layout algorithms considers individual edge weights in its calculation at the moment. I suggest re-posting this as a feature request.

Find&replace

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:37:11 +0000

I propose a find&replace function

How can I lay out nodes according to edge value AND length (i.e. minimise total sum of edge value x length)

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:47:37 +0000

I wish to form groups of survey question-items (nodes) based on their correlation coefficients (edge values. I can read these into yEd from Excel, no problem, but seem to be limited to node layout prioritised by number of connections to node (and not their value).

This is very similar to the machine layout problem in industrial facility layout.

Many thanks.

Answered: Change node height with font size (?)

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:44:15 +0000

When changing a node's size due to a label change, yEd uses the "Fit Node to Label" tool settings. By default, only a node's width is changed, but unmarking the tool's "Ignore Height" setting will result in both, width and height, being changed.

Answered: How to Copy Whole Graph from yed to paint?

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:48:40 +0000

yEd can export diagrams to various common image formats on its own. Please have a look at the menu command File > Export and the corresponding manual page: http://yed.yworks.com/support/manual/fileformat.html

Answered: Attach notes to edges according to UML 2 use case extensions points

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:05:05 +0000

Due to the reasons described in the cited article, it is currently not possible to connect a note to such edges.

After giving some more thoughts to this, I think it's not required to allow node-edge connections in general for this use case. Instead, an edge label style which mimics an UML note and comes with an indicator line connecting it to its edge would be sufficient and much easier for use to implement. Therefore, I changed this to a feature request.

Answered: Support for Sequence diagrams in yEd

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:38:58 +0000

I would like to have some building blocks for life line elements.

If I use a dotted line to draw a life line it has to be connected to another element (maybe I am doing it wrong). I would like the edge to "hang loose".

I am requesting a special element which is a square on a dotted line, where one could change the size of the square and the size of the line.

Maybe this will be difficult since I am requesting an edge connected to nothing which seems rather odd if one thinks of a graph.

Answered: Option for exporting GraphML file corresponding to an undirected graph?

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:20:39 +0000

Unfortunately, it is not possible to configure yEd to write "undirected GraphML".

Answered: How to convert a set of files to svg while keeping the URLs pointing to subprocesses consistent?

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:04:14 +0000

Unfortunately, there is currently no feature in yEd that allows you to automatically adjust URLs on export. You could try to open the generated SVG files in a text editor and fix the wrong URLs. Other alternatives would be to change all URLs manually in yEd before export or modifying the GraphML files with a text editor.

Answered: Layout Algorithm doesn't resize empty group-nodes

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:55:40 +0000

No, you have to resize empty groups manually.

Answered: Adding a group node to the pallette does not add children

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:54:00 +0000

Yes, that is right. The palette only supports templates for single nodes. It cannot be used as a factory for subgraphs.

Answered: Display Html flash files on the Intranet using IIS

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:36:31 +0000

I suppose this is due to a known problem with IIS servers: IIS servers don't serve unknown MIME types. If you have administration rights on your server you can create the missing MIME type (text/xml) for the .graphml file extensions as described here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326965/EN-US.

If not, you can simply rename the file extension to .xml or .txt - the GraphMLViewer doesn't care about file extensions.

Answered: Allow for proxy when reporting crashes online.

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:12:18 +0000

There is already a feature request for this: http://yed.yworks.com/support/qa/156/

Answered: Examples of layout algorithms in manual?

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:09:52 +0000

That's a good idea. In the meantime, you can find some examples here:

Answered: Use scroll mouse button for scrolling

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:05:45 +0000

I agree—that would be very useful and intuitive.

Allow nodes to belong to more than one group

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:46:39 +0000

I would like to be able to have nodes belong to more than one group. This would allow automatic Venn diagram creation

Right now, I can only make nodes appear to belong to more than one group. The automatic layout tools produce something like this right now:

Nodes 4 and 5 should belong to multiple groups.

Answered: Property mapping to node label doesn't work for group nodes

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:59:35 +0000

Yes, that's true. There is already a feature request for this: http://yed.yworks.com/support/qa/93/

Answered: Create organizational charts from spreadsheet data

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:57:29 +0000

Yes, that is possible. Please have a look at the article about Excel Import in the yEd manual and the posts in this forum about Excel for more details on data input:

After importing, you can use the hierarchical layout algorithm to calculate a organigramm-style layout. Please get back to me if you need more assistance.

Answered: Add BPMN2.0 Symbols with BPMN functionality

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:09:56 +0000

Since yEd 3.9, symbols of all Events, Gateways, and Activity Markers are included. Additionally, there are Swimlanes and symbols of some of the Activities and Data Types.

We are currently working on including support for decorations of Activity nodes (i.e. marker and task type icons) as well as Data nodes (collection, input, and output icons).

Answered: Fail to install yEd

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:08:22 +0000

Thank you for your information.

It seems this is caused by a custom Windows theme, which is somehow a problem for Java (or the install4j code). Switching to the default theme should solve the problem.

Answered: Alt+click+drag to copy objects?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:30:54 +0000

yEd supports the well-known CTRL+C, CTRL+V keyboard shortcuts for copy/paste. Additionally, CTRL+D will create copies of selected elements that are connected to the appropriate original nodes. And finally, CTRL+W can be used to conveniently create one new node that is connected to all selected nodes.

Answered: Keypress to auto-zoom out to show whole diagram?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:26:04 +0000

Try the numpad * key (see "View" -> "Fit Content").

Answered: Grab and drag when clicking an empty spot?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:23:46 +0000

You can do that in yEd by holding down the right mouse button instead of the left mouse button. (Left-drags are used for marquee selection.)

Answered: Wouldn't it make more sense to call it "Connector Types" rather than "Edge Types"?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:18:23 +0000

Well, we use the term "edge", because yEd is a graph editor and in graph theory, the formal term for a line connecting two endpoints is edge.

Answered: Default label placement

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:52:57 +0000

No, there is currently no way to configure default label placement.

There is, however, a partial workaround for this shortcoming:

1. Create an edge.

2. Use F2 to add some meaningless text.

3. Set the desired default label placement.

4. Use the property grid to remove the text.

5. Use the edge context menu to add the edge as template to a user-created palette section (right-click, "Add to Palette").

6. Double-click the new template in the palette to make it the default edge.

Now, edges should have an invisible label with the desired placement. Using F2 to enter text will work on the invisible label. This approach only works for one label, because additional empty labels are hard/impossible to select for editing.

Answered: Do not allow meaningless connections between node types

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:43:26 +0000

No, there is currently no way to restrict which nodes/node types can be linked.

It is the user's responsibility to create meaningful diagrams.