(Bug?) Flipping arrows
 

I don't know if it is a bug, but for sure it prevents me from doing what I need.

In OGpro I need to draw a type of arrow in which the arrow symbol is not at the start/end of the line, but in the middle.

So I did a customized arrow type by doing this:
1. draw a simple line
2. draw a triangle
3. connected the triangle at the center of the line
4. set the triangle's "Label orientation relative to the line" to "parallel"

Apparently, it works. But when the line's inclination is changed, the triangle flips 180 degrees. For instance:
- When the line goes from top-left to bottom-right, the custom arrow points to bottom-right.
- When the line is moved and goes from top-right to bottom-left, the custom arrow points to **top-right**.

Sounds complicated but you can verify it easily.

The only way I found to go around this is to manually flip the triangle. But when I have a graph with tenth of connecting lines, even a little modification requires to review the whole graph.

Any help, present (a better workaround) or future (a fix?), is welcome.

Thanks

[QUOTE=alsien;28314]I don't know if it is a bug, but for sure it prevents me from doing what I need.


Thanks[/QUOTE]

OK I think I got it, when you make the custom arrow you can set the label to operate in a number of different modes in the properties fpr the label parallel horizontal and so forth, to rotate whole arrow you need to draw it and set the label properties then select all of it and group the object, that way it stays the same hhen you rotate or stretch it etc.

I may have totally miss read it but HTH

[QUOTE=RobertKD;28895]draw it and set the label properties then select all of it and group the object[/QUOTE]

Thank you for your reply.

I tried to do what you said - essentially, managing the custom line as a group, right? - but I haven't seen any change: the arrow flips when moving from 89° to 91°.

It seems to me that it is a behavior of the "parallel" orientation option.

[QUOTE=alsien;29062]Thank you for your reply.

I tried to do what you said - essentially, managing the custom line as a group, right? - but I haven't seen any change: the arrow flips when moving from 89° to 91°.

It seems to me that it is a behavior of the "parallel" orientation option.[/QUOTE]

Ok I have made a couple of triangles one out of lines and one out of lines and a "triangle" shape and i can rotate them freely 360 deg or more with none of the components moving or flipping that is all the components kept the same relative position to each other, I had to add text as the label would flip depending on what orientation the object was at, i'm using Omnigraffle Pro 4.2.2 latest version on an Intel Mac, maybe I still don't fully understand.

Robert

[QUOTE=RobertKD;29187]I had to add text as the label would flip depending on what orientation the object was at
[/QUOTE]

I think this "label flipping" is exactly what I'm experimenting, but to me the whole triangle flips. I'm using OmniGraffle Pro 4.2.2 on an Intel MacBook.

I made some screenshots of what I do: [url]http://www.mediafire.com/?8x4xwseotm7[/url]
1 - Draw the line
2 - Draw the triangle
3 - Connect the triangle to the line
4 - Set the triangle parallel to the line
5 and 6 - but when I move, it flips

Sorry for taking your time anyway..

Same behavior in OG 4, fixed in OG 5
 

I see the same thing you're reporting when using OmniGraffle 4.2.2 - a triangle shape that's grouped with a line will always point to the left, never to the right. It rotates through 90 degrees up or down, then flips when past 90 degrees.
In OG 5 beta, the triangle rotates smoothly throughout 360 degrees.

Fix for flipping triangles
 

I experimented a little more and found what seems to be the issue.
In the Connections inspector, there's a radio button "Allow shapes to become labels". If this is unchecked, a shape will rotate smoothly throughout 360 degrees.
I guess that in OG 5, i had this unchecked by default(?)

Thank you for this information, it looks interesting.

Unfortunately, I tried many options but it seems to me that if I uncheck the "Allow shapes to become labels" box I can't connect anymore the shape to the line.. maybe I'm doing something else wrong.

Perhaps I'll consider to switch to OG5.