Dynamically adding connection points?

Me again :)

I was wondering if it was possible to add Connection Points to a node dynamically? One of the things we need is to be able have a node and not know how many things are going to need to be connected to it in advance - i wanted to configure a node so that, when a connection was made to it, that it generates an additional connection point for use by something else? I saw that it was possible to configure a node to have multiple connection points for a given edge in the FlowDiagrams.ConnectionPointRelocation example but could i have it so that extra connection points were added after i had placed the node on the DiagramSurface?

Thanks!

Martin BG

 Hello Martin

Indeed it is possible to add connection points to a node dynamically. I will be putting out a blog post about this in a few more days with details about how to do this, but for now, here is the basic idea:

Implement your own type of FlowDiagramNode.
Include an ObservableCollection<FlowDiagramConnectionPoint> field for all the connections to be in (both inbound and outbound)
In the constructor, as seen in the samples, attach what ever initial connection points the node will have. Put all these nodes into the ObservableCollection.
Override FlowDiagramNode.ConnectionPoints to return the ObservableCollection.
Implement the Inbound / OutboundConnectionPointsCore properties by running through the Observable collection and returning all inbound or all outbound connection points as needed.

Now simply add connection points to the ObservableCollection when you need to, and they will dynamically appear on the node. Try this out and let me know if you get stuck.

 Cheers
Jason Fauchelle