Let’s start by adding our first node to the network. Find the Basic Node shape in the GUNNS_Generic.xml library, hold down the left mouse button on it and drag it over into the network container box, like shown below. When you let go of the mouse button, it will create a new node at that location. You should get something like this:

Notice how the network container box highlights with a blue outline when you mouse-hold the node over it. This means that Draw.io is going to place the new object inside the network container, which is what we want.

In the picture above, the blue dots and dashed blue outline around the node means that the node is selected. Notice how the network container also has a dashed blue outline. This means that the node is contained inside the network container. You can use this to make sure that an object that we want to be in the network is contained inside the network container — just select it and look for that dashed blue outline of the network container.

Also notice above that we’ve selected the Network layer in the Layers window. Even if we hadn’t selected the Network layer, when we move the node from the library over the network container, we get the blue outline of the network container, and it will drop the node into the network container, which is in the Network layer.

You can also copy & paste shapes. You can copy & paste multiple shapes at a time.

Watch out for this quirk of Draw.io: Whenever you copy-paste an object into the network container, it usually won’t belong to the network container. See the example below. I simply copy and pasted Node 0. But notice how when I select the new node, it doesn’t belong to the network container — the network container is missing that dashed blue outline. This means that the pasted node won’t be in the network! To get it into the container, drag it around a bit until the network container gets its blue outline, then drop it.

To remove a shape, simply select it and hit the delete key. you can delete multiple shapes at a time.

You can do all kinds of graphical things to the shapes — GunnsDraw doesn’t care:

• Resize, flip & rotate
• Change line, text & fill colors
• Some shapes allow you to customize the shape graphics via the Edit Shape button in the Style tab of the Format Panel. This uses Draw.io’s shape editing system-

Previous Page / Next Page