tree layout...

[Nathan Sturtevant]

Hi -

I'm just getting started with OmniGraffle, and I'm trying to put 
together some palettes for tree layout, and I've run into a bunch of 
questions. (Computer Science-style search trees, games trees, etc.)

The basic idea is to connect a bunch of lines and shapes... : ) Any 
help or suggestions on how to accomplish these items, or do them more 
efficiently would be appreciated.

* When you have 2 lines that connect to a shape at the same point, it 
is easy to accidentally connect the lines instead of connecting the 
lines to the shape. Is there any way to set up connectivity so that 
nothing can connect to a line, but a line can still connect to a shape? 
(I just updated to 2.1.1 and this is much better, but it'd be nice to 
eliminate the possibility all together.)

* When you insert a line from a palette, you then have to click and 
drag multiple times to connect it up properly. It would be nice to be 
able to have several defaults for a particular shape, and then be able 
to draw them directly into a document.

* You can group multiple objects in order to drag them out of a palette 
together, but I'd like to have a box and a line connected but not 
grouped, so I can drag them out of my palette and then be able to move 
the line around without having to ungroup them first. Any way to do 
something like this? Perhaps an AppleScript that automatically ungroups 
the objects when dropped in the document?

* Is there any way to add custom start/finish shapes for a line? I'd 
like a line that ends with another short line that is perpendicular to 
the original line.

* Last question. : ) For auto-layout, it's be nice to be able to use a 
slightly tighter grid. Any way/suggestions on how to do this?

Thanks!

Nathan

---------
   Nathan Sturtevant                     UCLA CS Graduate Student
   nathanst at cs.ucla.edu                  Artificial Intelligence
   http://www.cs.ucla.edu/~nathanst/     4659 Boelter Hall
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