Also an *object* separation bug in automatic layout
 

Perhaps not surprising given the [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=22504"]rank separation bug[/URL], but there also seems to be an object separation bug in the [I]automatic layout[/I] code.

In the the automatic layout result below, shapes that should be separated are actually overlapping ...

[IMG]http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6215/6307118176_2fe7b66548_o.png[/IMG]

(In the meanwhile, also fixable with the [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=22521"]Tree Tool[/URL] script)

Curious bug ...

Opening the same file again, changing the shape width, and re-running [I]Automatic Layout[/I], I now get some [I]oversized[/I] object gaps.

(Note that the rank separation bug is also showing up here ...)

[IMG]http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6115/6307373033_f808cea84e_o.png[/IMG]

Now confirmed and recorded as a bug by the ninjas.

Automatic layout of diagrams based on outlines is a very useful feature, understandably foregrounded in the marketing [URL="http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnigraffle/"]presentation of[/URL] OG 5, although the 'underlying engine' is, a little puzzlingly, foregrounded more than the actual layout features provided to the user.

Worth pausing, perhaps, to wonder if it is really the right engine to use:[LIST=1][*]It can't generate simple orthogonal layouts of outlines, with parents centered over their child ranges.[*]It is not consistently generating the row gaps (rank separations) specified in the Layout Inspector (confirmed bug).[*]It is not consistently generating the object separations specified in the Layout Inspector (also now a confirmed bug).[*]Even an applescript can generate orthogonal layouts of outlines, with correct spacing of rows and objects ...[/LIST]Better perhaps to start from the features desired, and then move towards an architecture that can deliver them ?