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Hi,

I am wireframing out interactions for an application that uses assets created in Adobe Illustrator. I used the Place Image... command and linked to files that contain the various UI elements. In theory this would let me wireframe out the interactions with the components provided and the visual designers can update the ai files I have linked to so that my wireframes always show the latest visual design.

I noticed that only some of the ai files are selectable when placing them. If I open and re-save the ai files they are then selectable. What is it about those ai files that makes them not selectable until I re-save them?

Also, is there a way to relink a single file to a folder and have all the files in that folder relink automatically? Currently I get a dialog that tells me there are files that are missing but it doesn't give me the option to correct the problem. Once I dismiss that dialog those files don't show up in the opened document and I can't selected them to relink them individually. Am I missing something or is there no way to relink these files as a group?

Any insight would be appreciated.
 
I'm pretty sure that .ai files must be saved as PDF-compatible in order for them to be placed in OmniGraffle, rule of thumb is if Preview.app can open and view a file, then it can be placed as well in OmniGraffle.

As for relinking to a folder, this is quite simply our own UI not being as good as it can be, we have hopes that we can improve how this works, in the meantime you'll have to relink manually (the shapes are still there, just very hard to figure out where they are since they might have no fill or stroke).
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Thanks Joel,

I think the new version of Illustrator saves them as PDF compatible and that's why the ones I re-saved allow me to select them... they get updated to the new Illustrator CS4 format.

I created a stencil library by selecting New Stencil from the File>NewResource>New Stencil menu option. I then placing the linked illustrator file in to that new stencil file and save it to my stencil directory in Application Support>OmniGraffle>Stencils. I was hoping that if I changed the original Illustrator file that it would update the stencil and any instance of that stencil used in an OmniGraffle file. To my disappointment I found that it loses the link to the original Illustrator file and I can't even re-open the stencil file to relink it there. I have to click on each and every instance of that object and manually relink.

I came up with a workaround where I place all the header objects on a layer, place all the footer objects on another layer etc.... Since they are all the same object on the layer I lock the other layers, select all the objects in the layer and then relink from the Image inspector. The relink applies to all the selected objects and they update. It gets very complicated and is not ideal.

Take a look at the Flash Symbol library...If I use an instance of a symbol in my Flash file I can open and edit the symbol and then the changes flow where ever the instance of that symbol is used. Ideally OmniGraffle would work like this too. This concept is used a lot in 3D programs too.

Thanks for your response. I use this program all day and despite this limitation it is still light years ahead of doing all this in Illustrator or even Visio. Keep up the good work!
 
 


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