Contents   Introduction   Concepts   User Help   Modeler Help   Browser Help
Administrator Help   Developer Help    Utility Help   Visio   Graphical Modeler

SYMBOL DEFINITIONS

• The Symbol Definition Point Notation
• Structure of the Symbol Definition Script
• Canvas Section
• Annotation Section
• Pen Definition Section
• Pen Command Section
• Structure of the Canvas Section
• Canvas Examples
• Structure of the Annotation Section
• Annotation Examples
• Structure of the Pen Definition Section
• Pen Definition Examples
• Structure of the Pen Command Section
• Pen Command Examples

The Symbol Definition Point Notation

Before delving into the actual XML structure, it is important that users familiarize themselves with the Symbol Definition Point notation, since it is used throughout the document.

The symbol definition point notation defines a point consisting of an X and a Y value. The X value denotes a point along the horizontal axis, while the Y value denotes a point on the vertical axis. A point may be used as an absolute value, which is interpreted at rendering time as relative to the top-left corner of the canvas. Alternatively, a point may be relative to the current position of the pen, in this case a negative X value means that the point lies to the left of the pen position while a positive X value means the point lies to the right of the pen position. Similarly, a negative Y value indicates that the point lies above the pen position, while a positive Y value means the point lies below the pen position.

The point notation is written as follows: X@Y. If the value of X is -10, and the value of Y is 34, the point will be written as -10@34. The X and Y values may also be fractions. For example, a point with an X value of 1.25 and a Y value of -12.33 will be written as 1.25@-12.33.

The X and Y values may also be written as Smalltalk statements, provided the answer is numeric. These Smalltalk statements will be executed at rendering time. The statement "10 + 3 – 14 @ 25 * 2" will resolve to "-1@50" when the symbol is rendered.

Because the content of the XML needs to be encoded, all PLUS symbols should be written as "%2B". The previous example would therefore be written as "10 %2B 3 – 14 @ 25 * 2". Fortunately, most other mathematical symbols can stay the same and still be valid inside an XML tag.

When the Smalltalk statements describing point values are compiled, the values of the canvas' WIDTH, HEIGHT, TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT and RIGHT properties are passed into the statements as arguments. Using these keywords in the statements will therefore result in valid Smalltalk as well. For example, given a canvas with a WIDTH of 10 and a HEIGHT of 50, the statement "WIDTH * 2 @ HEIGHT / 2" will resolve to "20@25".

Structure of the Symbol Definition Script

The XML notation for EVA Netmodeler Symbol Definitions consists of four basic parts, viz. The Canvas, Annotation, Pen Definition and the Pen Command sections. The basic structure of the XML is as follows:

<SYMBOLDEFINITION>
       <CANVAS>
              …Canvas Commands…
       </CANVAS>
 
       <ANNOTATION>
              …Annotation Commands…
       </ANNOTATION>
 
       <PENDEFINITION>
              …Pen Definition Commands…
       </PENDEFINITION>
 
       …Pen Commands…
</SYMBOLDEFINITION>

Canvas Section

In this section, the properties describing the canvas on which the symbol will be drawn are specified. These properties describe the dimensions (i.e. Height and Width) of the canvas, as well as the background and border colors.

Annotation Section

This section is used to specify the annotation properties for the symbol. The annotation type (e.g. "ITEMNAME" or "ICON"), the position of the annotation relative to the canvas and the dimensions of the annotation are specified here. This section is optional. If it is omitted this simply means that no annotations will appear when the symbol is rendered.

Pen Definition Section

A symbol may be drawn using multiple pens that vary in color, type of pen and line width, amongst other things. In this section, different pens are created and their properties defined. Every pen should be given a name unique to the Symbol Definition script. This name is used to refer to the particular pen in the "Pen Command" section.

Pen Command Section

This section contains a series of pen commands. This is where the actual drawing of the symbol takes place. In this section pens can be activated, the state of the pen can be set and the pen can be moved around on the canvas.

Structure of the Canvas Section

This section defines the background canvas on which the symbol will be rendered, the following keyword commands are used to specify the canvas properties;

Keyword Command	Description	Valid Values
WIDTH	The width of the canvas (in inches)	Any integer or fraction (e.g. 1, 2.5, 3.25 etc.)
HEIGHT	The height of the canvas (in inches)	Any integer or fraction (e.g. 1, 2.5, 3.25 etc.)
BACKCOLOR	The background color of the canvas	Web-like HTML RGB value (e.g. 000000 for Black or FFFFFF for White)
BACKALPHA	This command sets the transparency of the canvas. A value of 0 means that it is totally transparent; while a value of 1 means that it is totally opaque.	Integer 1 or any fraction less than 1, e.g. 0.987
BORDERCOLOR	The color of the canvas border	Web-like HTML RGB value (e.g. 000000 for Black or FFFFFF for White)
BORDERWIDTH	The width, in pixels, of the canvas border	Any integer greater than or equal to 0
BORDERALPHA	The transparency of the canvas border, functions the same as BACKALPHA	Integer 1 or any fraction less than 1, e.g. 0.987

Canvas Examples

The following table shows sample canvas XML definitions and how they are rendered in EVA Netmodeler Graphical Modeler

Structure of the Annotation Section

This section defines the properties of annotations displayed on the canvas; the following keyword commands are valid for this section:

Annotation Examples

The following table shows sample annotation XML definitions and how they are rendered in EVA Netmodeler Graphical Modeler

Structure of the Pen Definition Section

This section defines the properties of Pen Definitions. The pens defined in this section of the XML will be used in the next section to draw lines on the canvas; the following keyword commands are valid for this section:

 

Keyword Command	Description	Valid Values
PENNAME	A unique pen name.	Any alphanumeric string.
PENTYPE	The type of pen.	POLYGON ELLIPSE LINE RECTANGLE
PENCOLOR	The color of the pen.	Web-like HTML RGB value (e.g. 000000 for Black or FFFFFF for White).
PENALPHA	This command sets the transparency of the pen. A value of 0 means that it is totally transparent; while a value of 1 means that it is totally opaque.	Integer 1 or any fraction less than 1, e.g. 0.987
PENWEIGHT	The thickness of the line that will be drawn by the pen.	Any integer greater than or equal to 0
PENFILLCOLOR	The fill color for the area delimited when the pen draws on the canvas. This setting is only relevant to pen types POLYGON, ELLIPSE and RECTANGLE	Web-like HTML RGB value (e.g. 000000 for Black or FFFFFF for White).
PENFILLALPHA	This command sets the transparency of the PENFILLCOLOR. A value of 0 means that it is totally transparent; while a value of 1 means that it is totally opaque.	Integer 1 or any fraction less than 1, e.g. 0.987
CORNERSTYLE	This command is only relevant to the RECTANGLE type of pen, and indicates whether the corners of the ellipse that is drawn should be rounded or not.	"rounded" or "straight"
MAJORDASHLENGTH	This keyword denotes the length (in pixels) of the major dashes. If it is set, it causes the pen to draw its outline as a dashed line.	Any integer greater than or equal to 0
MINORDASHLENGTH	The length (in pixels) of alternate dashes in the dashed line.	Any integer greater than or equal to 0
MINORDASHALPHA	This command sets the transparency of the minor dashes in the dashed line. A value of 0 means that it is totally transparent; while a value of 1 means that it is totally opaque.	Integer 1 or any fraction less than 1, e.g. 0.987
MINORDASHCOLOR	The color of the minor dashes in the dashed line.	Web-like HTML RGB value (e.g. 000000 for Black or FFFFFF for White).
DASHSTARTINGOFFSET	The purpose of this keyword is unclear, value should be left at 0	0
DASHMOVEAMOUNT	When this keyword is set, the dashes move around the perimeter of the outline drawn by the pen, thereby creating an animated "marquee" effect.	Any integer greater than or equal to 0

Pen Definition Examples

Although the pen drawing commands are only discussed in the next section, the table below illustrates how different pen types behave when they are moved from the top left corner of the canvas (i.e. 0@0) to the bottom right (i.e. BOTTOM@RIGHT).

Pen Definition XML	XML rendered in Archi Graphical Modeler
<PENDEFINITION>        <PENNAME>RECT</PENNAME>        <PENTYPE>RECTANGLE</PENTYPE>        <PENCOLOR>0000FF</PENCOLOR>        <PENWEIGHT>3</PENWEIGHT>        <PENALPHA>1.0</PENALPHA>        <CORNERSTYLE>rounded</CORNERSTYLE>        <PENFILLCOLOR>00FF00</PENFILLCOLOR>        <PENFILLALPHA>0.2</PENFILLALPHA>        <MAJORDASHLENGTH>10</MAJORDASHLENGTH>           <MINORDASHLENGTH>10</MINORDASHLENGTH>           <MINORDASHCOLOR>FF0000</MINORDASHCOLOR>         <MINORDASHALPHA>0.5</MINORDASHALPHA>     </PENDEFINITION>
<PENDEFINITION>        <PENNAME>POLLY</PENNAME>        <PENTYPE>POLYGON</PENTYPE>        <PENCOLOR>000000</PENCOLOR>        <PENWEIGHT>1</PENWEIGHT>        <PENALPHA>1</PENALPHA>        <PENFILLCOLOR>FF0000</PENFILLCOLOR>        <PENFILLALPHA>1</PENFILLALPHA>           <MAJORDASHLENGTH>10</MAJORDASHLENGTH>           <MINORDASHLENGTH>10</MINORDASHLENGTH>           <MINORDASHCOLOR>FFFFFF</MINORDASHCOLOR       <MINORDASHALPHA>0</MINORDASHALPHA>\             <DASHSTARTINGOFFSET>0</DASHSTARTINGOFFSET>        <DASHMOVEAMOUNT>0</DASHMOVEAMOUNT> </PENDEFINITION>	This pen will have no effect, because a polygon must circumscribe an area, which is then filled using PENFILLCOLOR.
<PENDEFINITION>        <PENNAME>ELLY</PENNAME>        <PENTYPE>ELLIPSE</PENTYPE>        <PENCOLOR>000000</PENCOLOR>        <PENWEIGHT>1</PENWEIGHT>        <PENALPHA>1</PENALPHA>        <PENFILLCOLOR>FF0000</PENFILLCOLOR>        <PENFILLALPHA>1</PENFILLALPHA>       <MAJORDASHLENGTH>10</MAJORDASHLENGTH>           <MINORDASHLENGTH>10</MINORDASHLENGTH>           <MINORDASHCOLOR>FFFFFF</MINORDASHCOLOR>        <MINORDASHALPHA>0</MINORDASHALPHA>        <DASHSTARTINGOFFSET>0</DASHSTARTINGOFFSET>        <DASHMOVEAMOUNT>0</DASHMOVEAMOUNT> </PENDEFINITION>
<PENDEFINITION>        <PENNAME>LINEY</PENNAME>        <PENTYPE>LINE</PENTYPE>        <PENCOLOR>000000</PENCOLOR>        <PENWEIGHT>1</PENWEIGHT>        <PENALPHA>1</PENALPHA>        <PENFILLCOLOR>FF0000</PENFILLCOLOR>        <PENFILLALPHA>1</PENFILLALPHA>        <MAJORDASHLENGTH>10</MAJORDASHLENGTH>           <MINORDASHLENGTH>10</MINORDASHLENGTH>           <MINORDASHCOLOR>FFFFFF</MINORDASHCOLOR>        <MINORDASHALPHA>0</MINORDASHALPHA>        <DASHSTARTINGOFFSET>0</DASHSTARTINGOFFSET>       <DASHMOVEAMOUNT>0</DASHMOVEAMOUNT> </PENDEFINITION>

Structure of the Pen Command Section

In this section, the Pen Command XML is described. Pen commands are the parts of the XML that do the actual drawing on the canvas. The following pen commands are available;

Pen Command Examples

The following table shows how Pen Commands are executed. In this example, two pens are defined, the first is of PENTYPE=LINE and has a NAME=LINE, while the second is of PENTYPE=ELLIPSE and has a NAME=ELLIPSE.