Using the NavBar tool for flowcharts

[bejurin]

I frequently have to make organizational charts. I have experimented to find ways to automate this relatively boring task, and discovered that I could combine text with a shape to create a basic cell style for my chart, then apply the NavBar tool and have an org chart cell that I could copy or clone and it would stretch to fit new text. Not the intended use of the tool, but hey.

So mostly it works fine, but every now and then as charts get updated and saved as other charts, I start to get unexpected results: editing one cell will cause odd changes in another cell, messing up my chart, sometimes to the point I have to start over.

My questions are:
1. Is there a better way to do this?
2. If not, how do I minimize or avoid the weirdness? I don't need the new layers that NavBar creates (MouseOff, etc.). All I need is a box/ellipse/polygon that'll stretch with my text, and that I can freely copy, paste, and clone, with each new unit being independent of its ancestors.

I have sometimes grouped the box with the text that's in it, sometimes not; I can't say I've seen a pattern indicating whether grouping helps or hinders.

Thanks!

Bejurin Cassady
Seattle

[bejurin]

I frequently have to make organizational charts. I have experimented to find ways to automate this relatively boring task, and discovered that I could combine text with a shape to create a basic cell style for my chart, then apply the NavBar tool and have an org chart cell that I could copy or clone and it would stretch to fit new text. Not the intended use of the tool, but hey.

So mostly it works fine, but every now and then as charts get updated and saved as other charts, I start to get unexpected results: editing one cell will cause odd changes in another cell, messing up my chart, sometimes to the point I have to start over.

My questions are:
1. Is there a better way to do this?
2. If not, how do I minimize or avoid the weirdness? I don't need the new layers that NavBar creates (MouseOff, etc.). All I need is a box/ellipse/polygon that'll stretch with my text, and that I can freely copy, paste, and clone, with each new unit being independent of its ancestors.

I have sometimes grouped the box with the text that's in it, sometimes not; I can't say I've seen a pattern indicating whether grouping helps or hinders.

Thanks!

Bejurin Cassady
Seattle

[jclements]

Bejurin,

This a technique that I tried a few years ago. You may want to do a search for my name to find the posting.

I had unpredictable results too. I believe I attributed it to reaching a certain number of buttons per document. I stopped using this method because of this (it wasn't worth the risk of trashing a file). I believe Xara did up the internal coding to allow more stretchable buttons, but I don't recall what that limit is.

I do wish that X1+ could some how include the label adjustment feature in the InfoBar for QuickShapes and/or Text so it could be more widely used. I believe it would really be a highly used feature for those of us who create illustrations, orgcharts, and schematics which require labels/"callouts".

Regards, John
Portland

[stlewis]

Would this be worth trying...

Create the shape eg rectangle. Align centrally some template text eg "title" and group shape and text. Add to the clipart gallery.

Then you can drag a copy out a la Visio. Click on the shape and F8 - you can edit the text. Only problem is that is does not remain centred vertically if you go to a second line...