Customizing the Business Process Display

The Business Process Designer provides standard tools to automatically align the modeling elements you select. You can also change the style of the lines that link modeling components together and specify grid options.

Changing Link Styles

You can choose two different styles for the links in a Business Process, direct linking (diagonal) or indirect linking (orthogonal). The style you choose applies to all links in a model and the style is applied automatically.

The default setting is direct linking, which links modeling elements using the most direct line between two modeling elements and using diagonal lines when connecting elements that are not precisely aligned. Indirect linking uses only horizontal and vertical lines with right angles for elements that are not aligned.

To Change Link Styles

1. Open the Business Process in the Business Process Designer.
2. In the Projects window, right-click the Business Process name, and then click Toggle Link Style.

   The link style changes from diagonal to orthogonal or from orthogonal to diagonal.

3. On the NetBeans toolbar, click Save.

Changing Grid Properties

You can change grid properties in the Properties dialog box of the Business Process or you can right-click in the Business Process Designer, which displays the grid options context menu. This section describes how to change grid options from the Business Process Designer.

To Change Grid Properties for a Business Process

1. Right-click in the Business Process Designer canvas.

   A context menu appears.

2. To display grid lines, select Show Grid.
3. To force modeling elements to align to the grid, select Snap to Grid.
4. To edit additional grid properties, click Grid Properties.

   The Edit Grid Properties dialog box appears.

5. Edit any grid properties, and then click OK.

Aligning and Distributing Modeling Elements

In order to clarify the display of Business Process modeling elements, you can automatically align and distribute the elements by selecting Align or Distribute from the toolbar.

To Automatically Align or Distribute Modeling Elements

1. Do one of the following:
   • Click and drag over a portion of the Business Process model to select the items you want to align or distribute.
   • Press the Control key and click the items you want to align or distribute.
2. In the Business Process Designer toolbar, click Align or Distribute.
3. From the menu that appears, select the type of automatic alignment or distribution you want to use.

   The options are described in Aligning and Distributing Modeling Elements.

4. In the NetBeans toolbar, click Save to save the new element placement.
   

   Menu Item Description Align Left Aligns elements vertically along their left edges. Align Center Aligns elements vertically through their centers. Align Right Aligns elements vertically along their right edges. Align Top Aligns elements horizontally along their top edges. Align Middle Aligns elements horizontally through their centers. Align Bottom Aligns elements horizontally along their bottom edges. Distribute Horizontally Distributes elements horizontally. Distribute Vertically Distributes elements vertically.

Automatically Arranging Modeling Elements

In order to save time and effort, you can automatically arrange the modeling elements on the Business Process Designer canvas. The Auto Layout feature provides several options for arranging modeling elements for clear display.

To Automatically Arrange Modeling Elements

1. In the Business Process Designer toolbar, click Auto Layout.

   The Auto Layout dialog box appears.

2. Select the display options.
3. When you are done, click OK.

Auto Layout Options

The following tables describe the different options available for arranging modeling elements. Default values are indicated with bold text.

Table 8 Cycle Remove Options

Table 9 Layering Options

Table 10 Initialize Options

Table 11 Crossing Reduction Options

Table 12 Layout Options