ILOG Diagrammer for .NET is a full service package for creating diagram and dashboard displays. It is a set of Windows® Forms and Web Forms controls designed for Microsoft's .NET framework.

Easy-to-build graphic controls Ready-to-use controls Data structure for graphs Automatic graph layout Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Customizable editors Support for Windows Presentation Foundation Deploy to desktop or browser

Easy-to-build graphic controls
Create custom graphic objects easily with ILOG Diagrammer for .NET. It supplies a complete set of primitives and common container objects, which can be used as-is or in combination with other graphics to create new variations. A Microsoft Visual Studio add-in helps create and modify the controls and add behaviors to respond to actions such as mouse movements.

ILOG Diagrammer for .NET’s set of primitives includes: rectangles, ellipses, paths, curves, lines, arcs, texts, images, scales, text along curved paths, and more.

Examples of graphic primitives included with ILOG Diagrammer for .NET.

Container objects are used to control the layout of its constituent graphic objects, which include canvas, stacking panels, docking panels, grid and scrolling viewers. You can create elaborate new graphic objects by combining various graphic primitives and containers. Stacking panels can be combined with vertical scroll bars, for example, to create sophisticated UML class diagram nodes.

Container objects. Enlarge thumbnail (opens a new window).

ILOG Diagrammer for .NET can also import a drawing saved in the Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) file format, allowing you to create more complex shapes Many popular drawing packages used by graphic designers, such as Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape and Corel Draw, can be exported to the SVG format. You can import the static shapes of your graphic symbols from SVG and assign behaviors with Microsoft Visual Studio.

Ready-to-use controls
ILOG Diagrammer for .NET comes pre-packaged with sets of graphical controls for graphic designers, for many common application domains. These controls are assigned pre-defined behaviors (for example, if a state variable associated with it changes to “alert” then its background may change color), and they may have specific pre-defined interactions, such as how to react to a mouse movement. In both cases you can override the look and feel of these controls to create completely new variations.

Examples of more advanced graphics included in ILOG Diagrammer for .NET.

The ILOG Diagrammer for .NET pre-defined controls address the following application types:

• Business process modeling and monitoring—Includes standard flow symbols in a stylized notation, as well as the complete Business Process Modeling Notation (see bpmn.org), including swimlanes and pools.
• Business Activity Monitoring—The library includes many types of controls for building business dashboards, including gauges, clocks, smallcharts and buttons.
• UML Class Diagram Modeler—Controls for representing various UML types and connectors.

Data structure for graphs
At the heart of ILOG Diagrammer for .NET is a highly-sophisticated data structure for representing diagrams, commonly known as graphs, that consist of nodes and interconnecting links.

This data structure is perfectly suited for applications dealing with all types of graphs: networks, processes, flows and any sort of technical or business diagram.

Any graphic control can be used as a diagram node in the graph data structure. These nodes are interconnected through links. Diagramer for .NET supports a variety of link types, including straight links, curved links, orthogonal links, free links and more.

Many link types are supported.

ILOG Diagrammer for .NET offers many advanced services, such as a link crossing detection mechanism, which can be used to draw tunnels and bridges, or even a cut (when one link crosses over another). Anchor points, which attach links to nodes, can be associated with the bounding box of the node and with its center. They can also be attached to a polyline segment. ILOG Diagrammer for .NET’s graph data structure also supports links that connect a node to a nested graph as well as intergraph links.

Automatic graph layout
ILOG Diagrammer for .NET includes a sophisticated set of graph layout algorithms that automatically arrange the nodes and route diagram links, to make complex diagrams more readable. The algorithm you choose to use for a given layout depends on the diagram’s topology and the application domain. For example, process flows are represented with a hierarchical layout (directed graph).

You can select from the following specialized algorithms, depending on the diagram you want to create:

The ILOG Diagrammer for .NET algorithms share generic goals such as:

• Minimizing the number of overlapping nodes
• Minimizing the number of link crossing
• Minimizing the total area of the drawing
• Minimizing the number of bends (in orthogonal drawings)
• Maximizing the smallest angle formed by consecutive incident links
• Maximizing the display of symmetries
• Supporting incremental layout, partial layout, subgraphs, intergraph links and nested layouts

Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET
ILOG Diagrammer for .NET fully leverages Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the best practices offered by the integrated development environment (IDE) and the .NET language. This feature allows you to seamlessly develop both the logical and graphical sides of your application from within the same environment.

Upon installation, ILOG Diagrammer for .NET enhances Microsoft Visual Studio .NET with palettes of objects for adding diagramming services to your application. You can insert diagram views, diagram toolbars, diagram palettes, and many other diagram components to rapidly generate the C# or Microsoft Visual Studio .NET code that will handle the diagramming services.

Full integration with Microsoft Visual Studio.

• Diagrammer-specific palettes
• Diagrammer-specific toolbars
• Code completion and Intellisense
• Diagram editing tools integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio .NET
  • A diagram editing tool can be activated in Microsoft Visual Studio to create an ad-hoc diagram for the application. The diagram will be loaded at runtime by the application.
  • A drawing tool can also be activated within Microsoft Visual Studio to create the custom graphic objects – the symbols – used to depict the application data.

ILOG Diagrammer for .NET can be embedded in Windows applications, Internet Explorer, or in ASP.NET. Written in C#, ILOG Diagrammer for .NET is compatible with any .NET language, including Visual Basic .NET, C#, Managed C++ and J#.

Customizable editors
ILOG Diagrammer for .NET provides three samples of stand-alone editors: Diagram Editor, the UML Class Diagram Editor, and the Business Process Modeling notation (BPMN) Editor. These editors are provided with full source code and are designed so you can tailor them for your use.

For example, Diagram Editor, a stand-alone version of the editor that is integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio, provides most of the same drawing functionality (but not the code compilation features) and can be used to design a complete diagram or dashboard. This editor can be customized and re-branded as an end-user design tool.

Diagram Editor (left). UML Class Diagram Editor (right). Enlarge thumbnails (opens a new window).

BPMN Editor Enlarge thumbnail (opens a new window).

Support for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
ILOG Diagrammer for .NET provides a library for building diagram displays in WPF. Developers can use Microsoft Visual Studio 2008's WPF design services to create diagrams with many advanced styling and layout capabilities. Diagrams can be defined in XAML, automatically arranged by the graph layout algorithms, and can be easily customized using the styling and templating features of WPF. When used in conjunction with Microsoft Expression Design and Expression Blend, ILOG Diagrammer for .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 offer a powerful new system for creating diagram displays.

Deploy to desktop or browser
Applications created with ILOG Diagrammer for .NET can be deployed as desktop applications for the Microsoft platform, as Windows Forms applications, or as ASP.NET Ajax-enhanced browser applications. This level of flexibility is especially useful if the same application is run on different deployment platforms.

Note: Diagrammer for .NET's thin client components are based on Microsoft's Ajax extensions, and not on a third-party Ajax provider. These Microsoft extensions are slated to be integrated into an upcoming release of the .NET framework, ensuring the Ajax interfaces created today are up to the standard services of tomorrow. These components will be fully integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio, and can take advantage of the full support of that environment (e.g., Intellisense).

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