State Machine

Question

How can I draw a state machine where I want to have nodes similar to the Entity Relationship nodes (i.e. node has a heading and items under that heading) but where the node is circluar or oval?

Roger

Answer 1

1. Create a circular/oval node (see the "Shape Nodes" and/or "Flowchart" palette sections for possible templates).
2. Use the default label as heading. To do that, switch the label's "Placement" to "Internal: Top".
3. Add a second label for the items. To do that, right-click the node to open its context menu and choose "Add Label".

Alternatively, you can use HTML formatting in the default label for heading and items instead of working with two labels.

Comments

Yes that seems to work but is not so nice. I can underline the label but the underline does not go jst the width of the node when the node is oval. And the second label added seems to be in the centre of the node & I cannot move it?
An oval Entity type would be more useful. Also I find in that type if I add more lines then it does not autosize to cover the added lines.
 
Roger

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To create a separator line between heading and items, you can use yet another label. Do not add any text to that label, but set its "Border" to the desired color (e.g. black), its "Insets" to "0 0 0 0", its "Placement" to "Internal: Center", and its "Size" to "Fit Node Width".

Corresponding GraphML.

The second label can be moved the same way as all other labels: Select it (press and hold CTRL, then left-click) and either drag it to the desired position or choose an appropriate "Placement". However, in an oval node, only horizontally centered positions will work well.