Containers
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Containers provide a visual boundary with a label around items and can be used to group diagram items together.
Containers are encapsulated by DiagramContainer class objects.
End-users can add containers by selecting the corresponding ribbon item on the Insert ribbon page.
Containers can be moved by dragging with the mouse or pressing arrow keys, copied using CTRL+C/CTRL+V key combinations and deleted by pressing the DELETE key. Moving, copying or deleting the container will move, copy or delete its contents as well.
Any item can be placed within a container, including another container. To add or remove items, drag them in or out of the container. The container can automatically grow to fit the contents. This behavior is managed by the DiagramContainerBase.AdjustBoundsBehavior property.
The collection of diagram items placed within the container can be accessed using the DiagramContainerBase.Items property. For items placed within a container, the DiagramItem.Position property specifies the coordinates of the item’s upper left corner relative to the container.
Note
Do not add DiagramConnector items to the DiagramContainerBase.Items collection. Instead, add connector items to the DiagramControl.Items collection and use the DiagramConnector.BeginItem and DiagramConnector.EndItem properties to connect them to items that reside in a container.
Each container has a header. In code, the header can be edited using the DiagramContainer.Header property and hidden by setting the DiagramContainer.ShowHeader property to false. End-users can edit the header by double-clicking the container and toggle the header visibility via the Show Header ribbon item within the Container Tools ribbon category that appears when a container is selected. Additionally, end-users can customize the header and content paddings (the DiagramContainer.HeaderPadding and Padding properties) and select the container style.
By default, dragging corner selection handles resizes the container proportionally. To change the aspect ratio, hold the SHIFT key while dragging a corner selection handle or drag one of the side selection handles. To disable the proportional resizing, set the DiagramControl.EnableProportionalResizing to false.
The container’s DiagramItem.CanHideSubordinates property specifies whether to display the expand-collapse button below the container that is used to show/hide the container’s subordinate items. The DiagramItem.AreSubordinatesVisible property returns whether the subordinate items are currently shown.
