How do I add nodes to an imported graphic?

Question

Today is my first day with yEd. While my first impressions are good, I'm missing some fundamentals and have not been able to find them with extensive reading and searching.

Most of the images I need to use are imported PNG files. As I understand it, when these images are imported into a palette, they become a node that has one connection point. How can I add multiple connection points at specific locations in the graphic, such as along the left edge of the image, and have the image saved to the palette while retaining the nodes for future use?

If you can point me to a help file, FAQ, or video that explains this process such that a beginner can follow it, I'm happy to spend the time.

Answer 1

By default, connections end in the center of nodes but each edge can end at a different location which can be placed freely in the diagram, even outside of node symbols. It is easily possible to change this 'port locations' as we call it: selecting the desired edge makes two black squares visible. These are the port location indicators which you can drag to any other position.

If edges are selected, it is also possible to change these locations in the Ports section of the Properties View dock panel.

While creating new edges, you can keep the Shift key pressed to make edges start and end at the current node cursor location.

Since the port location is a setting of the edges and not of the nodes, it's currently not possible to store custom port locations for the symbols in the palette.

The manual pages which describe some (but most likely not all) of these tips are:
http://yed.yworks.com/support/manual/edit_mode.html
http://yed.yworks.com/support/manual/keys_mouse.html