DesignerDraw is a program for drawing diagrams. It is useful for such things as structure charts, flow charts, organization charts, dataflow diagrams and other diagrams which have boxes containing text connected by lines. Because connections remain between boxes when the boxes are moved, diagrams are much easier to maintain than when a standard drawing program is used to create them. DesignerDraw deals mainly with boxes which contain blocks of text. When a box is moved, the text in it is moved as well and when it is resized, the text is adjusted to fit.
Although this program is copyrighted, there is no charge for its use.
Basic Information
Look at the sample diagrams that come with the program for more information.
Also, be sure to read the known bugs section in the release notes.
At the left side of the screen are three movable selection palettes, the Tool Palette, Connector Type Selector, and Line Width Selector.
Tool Palette - From top to bottom, the items are:
Pointer: Used for selecting boxes, annotation symbols, or connector handles.
Text: Switches to text editing mode for editing text in boxes or adding text blocks to the diagram.
Box: Switches to box drawing mode. (See the section below "To draw a box" for more information.
Annotation Symbol: Switches to annotation symbol mode. Clicking on the diagram in this mode will draw an annotation symbol. To select a symbol, bring up the annotation symbol floating window (if it's not already visible) by selecting Annotation Symbols from the Edit menu, and select a symbol from the window.
Connecting line: Switches to connecting line drawing mode. In this mode, a connection can be drawn between two boxes by clicking in or near one box and dragging to another. (see To draw a connection between boxes, below.)
Connector Type Selector - From top to bottom, the items are:
Square connector: Click here to make all connectors consist of horizontal and vertical lines.
Straight connector: Click here to make all connectors consist of straight lines.
Arc connector: Click here to make all connectors consist of arcs.
Line Width Selector: Select one of these as the default line thickness or to change the width of selected connecting lines and box outlines.
To draw a box - Select the box drawing tool (the rectangle) from the palette and click where the upper left corner of the box is to go. Or click and drag to set the box size when creating it. Alternatively, a box can be created while another tool is selected by holding down the command key () while clicking. To select a box shape, choose Select Box Shape from the Boxes menu before creating the box. Once a box is created, its shape can be changed by selecting a new shape from the Box Shapes selection window and choosing Change Box Shape from the Boxes menu. However, each box shape has an associated location where text is placed and when the box shape is changed the text remains where it was, which may not be the ideal location. It may be necessary to use the Adjust Text feature to move it to a better location.
To draw a connection between boxes - Click on the box where the connection is to start and drag (with the mouse button down) until the "rubber band" line goes to the destination box. The connecting line will attach to the boxes at the place where you start and end the drag, although it can be moved later. Once created, the connecting line will remain attached to the boxes at the same points even if the boxes are moved.
Moving boxes - Make sure the pointer tool is selected, then click in a box and drag. You can select several boxes and drag them all at once.
Moving connections - Connections automatically move when the boxes they are attached to move. However, connections can be moved by themselves to attach to boxes at different places. To move a connection, first select it by clicking on it. Then click in one of the squares shown along the line (a "handle") and drag the line. The end of the line nearest the square you pick will be moved.
Adjusting Text - After selecting Adjust Text from the Boxes menu, moving the mouse moves the text inside the box. Holding down the option key while moving the mouse does the following: Moving to the right widens the text margins while moving to the left narrows the margins; moving up narrows the spacing between lines while moving down widens the spacing.
Pictures - Pictures may be pasted from the clipboard into the diagram.
Child Windows - Any box may have a child window, which can be used to contain a sub-diagram showing additional levels of detail. These are primarily useful when drawing a diagram of a complex system where the top level diagram shows an overall view and boxes have sub-diagrams to show more detailed views. Boxes in child windows may themselves have child windows to show additional levels of detail.
Miscellaneous stuff
Two useful shortcuts: Double clicking in a box switches to text entry mode, and clicking outside of all boxes after editing text switches to pointer mode. This saves a lot of going to the palette to change modes.
The default justification is Centered, since this is the most commonly used one in diagrams. The default font is Helvetica, if present, or Geneva otherwise.
Moving a connecting line from one box to another causes it to attach itself to the new box.
When a connecting line is split (from Split Connection in the Connections menu), a small connecting box is created in the middle and the connecting line is replaced with two lines, one going from the original box to the connecting box and the other going from the connecting box to the destination. This connecting box can have other connections made to it, which can be used to give the effect of a connecting line being attached to another line. Connecting boxes offer a way to manually route connecting lines between boxes, if you don't like the default routing. They are especially useful when using square connectors, in which the connecting lines all consist of vertical and horizontal line segments. See the sample diagram, Connecting Box Info for helpful hints.
The program keeps track of which side of a box a line is connected to. This affects the way square and arc connectors are drawn and the direction which arrowheads point. This is true for connecting boxes also, so you can change the way square or arc connectors going to a connecting box look by moving the connector from a side to the top or bottom or vice versa.
If you have the Drag&Drop extension installed or are using System 7.5 or later, you can drag selected text between boxes and between DesignerDraw and other applications which support Drag&Drop (such as SimpleText).
Menu Reference
File Menu:
New - Opens a new diagram. This can only be selected if no diagram is currently open.
Open - Brings up a standard file selection dialog to allow selection of a diagram to open. This can only be selected if no diagram is currently open.
Close - Closes the current window.
Save - Saves the diagram.
Save As - Saves the diagram with a new name.
Page Setup - Standard setup for printing. Selecting portrait vs. landscape or various scaling size options (if your printer supports them) affects the maximum size of the window on the screen. The window is always constrained to show no more than can be printed.
Print - Prints the topmost window. A dialog box will appear allowing the choice of printing in color or black & white. Color printing may not work well on all printers.
Print All Windows - If child windows exists, all of them are printed along with the main window.
Quit - Quits the program.
Edit Menu:
No Undo - Sorry. It always seemed like such a big pain to add that I never got around to it.
Cut - Cuts selected boxes or text and puts them (it) into the clipboard.
Copy - Copies selected boxes or text to the clipboard.
Copy Picture - Similar to Copy, but copies text in selected boxes as a picture rather than as editable text. This preserves the 3D appearance, if you are using this option. Copy Picture is useful if you want to paste part of the diagram into another program such as a presentation or word processing program, and want to preserve the exact appearance.
Paste - Pastes in text, boxes, or pictures from the clipboard.
Select All - Selects all boxes.
Duplicate - Makes copies of selected boxes, pictures, or annotation symbols. Unlike copy and paste, does not copy the connecting lines between the boxes.
Group - Groups selected boxes so that when one is selected, all become selected.
Ungroup - Ungroups selected boxes.
Box Shapes - Brings up the Box Shapes floating window.
Line Colors - Brings up the Line Colors floating window. A selection in this window changes the color of selected connecting lines and the outline colors of selected boxes. It also sets the default line color for new connections and boxes.
Fill Colors - Brings up the Fill Colors floating window. A selection in this window changes the fill colors of selected boxes. It also sets the default fill color for new boxes.
Annotation Symbols - Brings up the Annotation Symbols floating window.
Select Background - Allows selection of a background fill pattern to fill the window.
Fonts Menu:
Allows selection of a font. If some text is selected in a box, it is changed to this font. If one or more boxes are selected, all of the text in them is changed to this font.
Style Menu:
Allows selection of a text size or style. If some text is selected in a box, it is changed to this size or style. If one or more boxes are selected, all of the text in them is changed to this size or style.
Connections Menu:
Split Connection - Splits a connecting line into two lines, joined by a connecting box.
Add Arrowhead - Adds an arrowhead to a line. (If you want arrowheads by default, see the Options menu.)
Reverse Arrowhead Direction - Moves the arrowhead to the other end of the line.
Remove Arrowhead - Removes arrowheads on a line.
Set Connector Pattern - Selected connecting lines will be drawn using the pattern chosen.
Attach Text Or Symbols - Selected text boxes and annotation symbols become attached to the selected connecting line, such that when the line is moved the text and symbols are moved. This is of limited usefulness, since it only works if the connecting line is moved by itself. If the line moves because the boxes it is attached to move, the attached text and symbols do not move.
Detach Text Or Symbols - Detaches selected text boxes and annotation symbols from a connecting line.
Boxes Menu:
Change Box Shape - Changes all currently selected boxes to have the shape which is currently selected in the shapes selection window. (Note: it may be necessary to use Adjust Text to move the text in the boxes after doing this if the shape of a box is changed significantly.)
Use This Box Type as Default - Changes the currently selected box shape to be the same as the currently selected box. Any boxes created after this will have this shape.
Adjust Text - Allows the text to be moved inside a box, and allows the text margins and spacing to be changed. An information alert appears when this item is selected, explaining how to do the adjustments.
Open Child Window - Opens a child window for a box, if one exists, or creates a new child window if not. The child window is intended to be used to contain a diagram containing more detail concerning the box to which it belongs, although it can be used for any purpose. Initially, the child window contains a copy of the parent box.
Find Parent Window - If a child window is frontmost, brings the parent window to the front.
Options Menu:
Change Default Box Sizes - If this option is selected, the new default size for a box will be set any time a box is resized.
No Arrowheads on Connectors - Connecting lines are initially drawn with no arrowheads. (But they can be added later.)
'From' Arrowheads on Connectors - Connecting lines are initially drawn with arrowheads at the start.
'To' Arrowheads on Connectors - Connecting lines are initially drawn with arrowheads at the end.
Set Drawing Size - The drawing size (in pages) can be specified - up to 6 pages wide by 3 pages high.
Show Reduced View - A reduced view of the entire diagram is shown in a window.
2D appearance - Boxes and connectors are drawn normally.
3D appearance - Boxes and connectors are drawn with shading to make them have a 3 dimensional appearance. This will only work if your monitor can show at least 256 colors. Otherwise, things will look pretty bad.
Always Show Connecting Boxes - If this option is selected, connecting boxes are always shown with a dotted outlne. Usually they are only visible when selected.
