To create a diagram select “New Diagram” from the Elements menu. Elements can be dragged onto the diagram from either the project navigator or the stencils panel. The selected elements properties can be seen in the form below the diagram.
Selecting elements on a diagram can be accomplished in a few different ways. You can simply click on an element to select it. If you want to select multiple elements at the same time you can draw a box around them to select them all. Another way to select multiple elements is to hold the Shift key down while clicking on all the elements you wish to select.
Select multiple elements
Click and hold down the left mouse button.
Move the mouse in the direction you want to draw the selection box.
When you have the box where you want it, release the mouse button and all elements in the box will be selected.
Other helpful selection tools are the “Select All”, “Deselect” and “Select Inverse” buttons in the main button bar. To select all the elements on a diagram you can either click the “Select All” button, type Ctrl-A or select “Select All” from the “Edit” menu. The “Select Inverse” button or menu option will select all the elements that are currently not selected and will deselect everything that is selected. To deselect every element you can click the “Deselect” button, type Ctrl-D or select “Deselect” from the “Edit” menu.
The Process Modeler provides many tools for helping you keep all the elements on a diagram arranged in an organized manner. These tools are accessed either through the right-click context menu or the “Shape” menu.
- Group / Ungroup
Sometimes it is may be convenient to treat a group of elements as one big diagram element. To group elements together, select the elements you wish to group and choose the "Group" option in the Shape menu. Now that these elements are grouped you can select them all by just clicking on any element in the group. The group can be moved just like any other element, except all the elements in the group are moved together just like they were all selected. To ungroup, select the group and click the ungroup option.
- Alignment
A flow diagram is much easier to read when elements are neatly aligned. The process modeler makes it easy to keep elements aligned. To align the selected elements use one of the alignment options in the Shape > Align menu. The Process Modeler has options to align vertically or horizontally on any side of the selected elements. The “Array Horizontal” and “Array Vertical” options will do both a distribute and align in one step.
- Distribute
Even spacing between elements will make your flow diagrams easy to read. To distribute the space between selected elements use one of the distribute options in the Shape > Distribute menu. Elements can be distributed vertically or horizontally.
- Reorder
Sometimes a diagram may have notes or other shapes that need to be displayed on top of other shapes or elements. The Shape > Reorder menu has options to change the layered order of elements and shapes. The Reorder menu has options to send an element forward or backwards.
- Nudge
The nudge option on the Shape menu gives you fine grained control of the movement of an element or shape. This is useful when you only want to move an element a small amount in any direction.
Elements are linked together on a diagram to show the direction of flow for a process. To draw a link from one element to another on the diagram:
Hold down the CTRL key.
Click on the starting element (hold down the left mouse button).
Move the mouse until the pointer is over the target element.
Let go of the left mouse button.
If you want to have arrows going back and forth between two elements, just draw a second arrow in the opposite direction.
If you click on a link and give the link a name in the element properties editor, the text from the name field will automatically appear at the center point of the link on the diagram.
The Process Modeler provides some additional tools for working with the diagram canvas. The canvas can optionally have a grid that elements can “snap to” if desired. A ruler around the canvas can be displayed to show you the dimensions of your diagram. The Process Modeler also provides zoom control for your diagram so you can change the magnification level of each diagram.
- Grid
The diagram canvas has a grid that is displayed in the background to help you align your elements. This grid can be disabled by clicking the Show Grid button or deselecting Show Grid in the View menu. Elements can automatically line up in the grid if you have the Snap to Grid feature enabled. Clicking the Snap to Grid button or menu option will toggle this feature on or off.
- Ruler
The diagram canvas has a ruler around the top and left edges to show you the dimensions of your diagram. The ruler can be optionally turned off by clicking the Ruler button or deselecting Show Ruler in the View menu. When the ruler is displayed the unit of measure can be changed by clicking the grey button in the upper left of the diagram canvas. The units can be switched to inches, centimeters, or pixels.
The Process Modeler can draw basic shapes such as circles and rectangles. These shapes can have a border color and a fill color, and can have links drawn from them to other shapes and elements.
Text can be placed on a diagram by using the text button. The background color and border color can also be modified. By default, the background color is white and the border color is transparent.
The color of shapes and elements can be modified using the text color, line color and fill color buttons. The color dialog allows you to choose any color and transparency level you wish.
The Process Modeler can also save individual diagrams as image files. First, you need to have the diagram open. Then select “Save Image As” from the File menu. Select gif, jpg or png, enter a file name for the image and then click the “Save” button.
To modify the printing setup configuration select “Print Setup” from the Fle menu. This screen will allow you to edit header and footer information. The size and position of the print out can also be adjusted here.
To view a preview of what a printed diagram will look like, select “Print Preview” from the File menu.