Allow user to manually fix the location of exit+entry ports for an edge, through the mouse movement

Question

While making some diagrams, I felt that it would be fantastic if we can tell yEd which side of the node to attach the edge, simply through the direction of the mouse movement.

In other words, we should be able to specify the side on which the entry+entry posts are located, through the mouse movement.

For example, if we exit through Top side of a node, yEd should understand that we wish to exit from Top side. Similarly if we enter a node via its Left side, then it should attach the edge there.

See examples below (black dots denote entry/exit ports).

 

Answer 1

This is already possible (with and without "Orthogonal Edges" enabled) by explicitly creating bends:

At position 0, start dragging the mouse to position 1.
At position 1, release the mouse button. Continue moving the mouse to position 2.
At position 2, click the mouse button. Continue moving the mouse to position 3.
At position 3, click the mouse button once more to finish edge creation.

There is a good reason for creating the above edge paths and connection points through explicit bend creation: analyzing the mouse movement is much, much more complicated and computationally expensive than using explicit bend creation approach.

Comments

Thanks a lot! Yes, it makes a lot of sense to let the user define the path. Since he wants the exactitude in the edge, he would be more than willing to click a few extra times.

I am capturing these points with illustrations in the user manual I am creating. IINW the existing documentation does not have such clarity.

So this will help all users.