Ribbon-Based FlowChart Editor Dialog

• Jan 27, 2021
• 2 minutes to read

This dialog features tools that help users create charts and diagrams of different complexity. You can create/rearrange/remove chart symbols and customize their appearance.

Use the Editor at Design Time

To pre-populate the flow chart control with content (individual chart elements or charts), double click the control or choose the “Editor…” menu item in its context menu.

Give End Users Access to the Editor at Runtime

Call the ShowFlowChartEditor global function to invoke the dialog and enable users to create diagrams or customize the control’s content.

The editor consists of:

• The “Shapes“ and “Properties“panels that can be hidden.

• The edit area to build charts.

• The ribbon toolbar that includes the “Home“, “Design“, and “View“ tabs.

Shapes pane

This pane contains shape templates that you can drag to the edit area for further customization. Shapes are divided into the following categories:

• Arrow Shapes

• Basic Flowchart Shapes

• Basic Shapes

• Decorative Shapes

• SDL Diagram Shapes

• Software Icons

Home tab

This tab contains tools you can use to create a diagram and customize the appearance settings (fill and stroke color, z-order, text style, and position) of one or more chart elements. The features grouped in the “Clipboard” and “Editing” categories duplicate the functionality of the corresponding keys or key shortcuts (for instance, to select all chart elements in the edit area, press the Ctrl+A key combination).

Design tab

This tab includes the “Options” and “Layout” groups that allow you to toggle the reference grid positioning mode and choose a connection line type.

View tab

The “View” tab includes the “Grid”, “Antialiasing”, and “Zoom” buttons that allow users to toggle the reference grid and antialiasing within the editing area, and zoom the chart in or out.

Quick Access ToolBar

This customizable bar includes the frequently used commands. You can use the “Quick Access Toolbar Customization” dialog to change the list of available commands.

This toolbar initially includes only the Undo and Redo buttons that you can use to cancel or reapply the latest end-user actions made within the dialog. You can also press Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y to perform the same actions.

The editor allows you to customize the appearance of a chart symbol and connection in the following ways:

• Individually - from the corresponding dialogs.
• Collectively - through the “Properties“ pane that groups general settings of chart elements.