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Diagram shapes and layout

Diagram Layout

Diagram layout can be controlled in a number of ways. Diagram shapes can be moved (by dragging them with mouse or by keyboard), resized, and aligned to the diagram grid.

dbForge Studio allows you to layout diagram automatically or manually. To resize diagram automatically just click the Layout Diagram button on the Diagram toolbar.

To change the shape order, right-click required shapes, point to Shape, and then click Bring to Front or Send to Back. Alternatively, use the corresponding buttons on the Layout toolbar.

Align shapes

Each shape may be aligned to grid. To align shape to grid, select it and click the Align to Grid button on the Layout toolbar.

Several shapes can be aligned in a column or in a row.

• To align shapes in a row, click the Align Tops, Align Middles, or Align Bottoms button on the Layout toolbar to align the shapes by their top, center, or bottom of the primary selection respectively. Their horizontal position remains unchanged.

• To align shapes in a column, click the Align Rights, Align Lefts, or Align Centers button to align the shapes by their right side, left side, or center of the primary selection respectively. Their vertical position remains unchanged.

You can also use corresponding commands of the Align sub-menu of the Layout menu.

Change shape sizes

To change shape size, select it and drag the size handles at the shape sides and corners. To fit shape size to grid, select it and click Size to Grid on the Layout toolbar or select Size to Grid from the Make Same Size sub-menu of the Layout menu. Shapes have minimal and maximal height and width. Minimal width and height and maximal height are constant. Maximum height depends on the table shape column count.

You can also fit the same size for multiple shapes. To do this, select the shapes and click Make Same Width or Make Same Height on the Layout toolbar. You can also use corresponding items of the Make Same Size sub-menu of the Layout menu. When using this feature, the size of the selected shapes will be aligned with the size of primary selection.

To improve the shape size in terms of the content representation, right-click the shape, point to Shape and click Best Fit.

Note

A primary selection is one of the selected shapes. Its size handles are blue, while size handles of other selected shapes are black. If a selected shape cannot have the same size as the primary selection, its size will be changed to become as close to the primary selection size as possible.

Control spacing between shapes

Diagram provides you with flexible control over spacing between shapes on the diagram. You can proportionally increase and decrease horizontal and vertical spacing between the shapes, make it equal or remove it.

• To increase spacing between shapes, select shapes, which will be moved, and click Increase Horizontal Spacing or Increase Vertical Spacing on the Layout toolbar or select Increase from the Horizontal Spacing or Vertical Spacing sub-menus of the Layout menu.
• To decrease spacing between shapes, select shapes, which will be moved, and click Decrease Horizontal Spacing or Decrease Vertical Spacing on the Layout toolbar or select Decrease from the Horizontal Spacing or Vertical Spacing sub-menus of the Layout menu.
• To make spacing between shapes equal, select shapes, which will be moved, and click Make Horizontal Spacing Equal or Make Vertical Spacing Equal on the Layout toolbar or select Make Equal from the Horizontal Spacing or Vertical Spacing sub-menus of the Layout menu.
• To remove spacing between shapes, select shapes that will be moved, and click Remove Horizontal Spacing or Remove Vertical Spacing on the Layout toolbar or select Make Equal from the Horizontal Spacing or Vertical Spacing sub-menus of the Layout menu.

Note

Spacing is considered as distance between shape borders. When you remove, for example, vertical spacing, shapes will be arranged as follows: the top of the second shape will be located at the same height as the bottom of the highest shape, the top of the third one will be located at the same height as the bottom of the second shape and so on.

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