This menu provides a range of functions to help in the alignment of artifacts on diagrams within the editing pane. In general the menu function invoked is applied to any artifact or artifacts currently selected in the editing pane.
This sub-menu aligns the selected items. There are seven alignment options provided.
Align
Tops
. Aligns the selected artifacts by their top
edges.
Align
Bottoms
. Aligns the selected artifacts by their bottom
edges.
Align
Rights
(Shortcut Ctrl-R). Aligns the selected artifacts by their right
edges.
Align
Lefts
(Shortcut Ctrl-L). Aligns the selected artifacts by their left
edges.
Align
Horizontal Centers
. Aligns the selected artifacts so their
horizontal centers are in a vertical line.
Align
Vertical Centers
. Aligns the selected artifacts so their
vertical centers are in a horizontal line.
Align To
Grid
. Aligns the selected artifacts so their top and right
edges are on the grid snap boundary (see
Section 9.5.5, “Adjust Grid Snap”) edge.
![]() | Tip |
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The alignment is to the current grid
snap setting, which may be smaller, larger or the same as
the displayed grid. Since items are aligned to the grid snap boundary
any way when you place them, this menu entry has no effect unless you
have either changed the grid snap to a larger value or used one of
the other |
This sub-menu distributes the selected items. There are four distribution options provided.
Distribute
Horizontal Spacing
. The leftmost and rightmost selected
artifacts are not moved. The others are adjusted horizontally until
the horizontal space (i.e. from the right edge of the left artifact
to the left edge of the right artifact) is the same for all of
the selected items
Distribute
Horizontal Centers
. The leftmost and rightmost selected
artifacts are not moved. The others are adjusted horizontally until
the distance between the horizontal centers of all the selected
items is the same.
Distribute
Vertical Spacing
. The top and bottom selected
artifacts are not moved. The others are adjusted vertically until
the vertical space (i.e. from the bottom edge of the top artifact
to the top edge of the bottom artifact) is the same for all of
the selected items
Distribute
Vertical Centers
. The top and bottom selected
artifacts are not moved. The others are adjusted vertically until
the distance between the vertical centers of all the selected
items is the same.
This sub-menu adjusts the ordering of overlapping items. There are four reorder options provided.
Forward
. The selected artifacts are moved one
step forward in the ordering hierarchy with respect to
other artifacts they overlap.
Backward
. The selected artifacts are moved one
step back in the ordering hierarchy with respect to
other artifacts they overlap.
To
Front
. The selected artifacts are moved to the front of
any other artifacts they overlap.
To
Back
. The selected artifacts are moved to the back of any
other artifacts they overlap.
This sub-menu provides fine adjustment to the positioning of selected artifacts. There are four nudge options provided.
Nudge
Left
. The selected artifacts are moved one pixel to the
left.
Nudge
Right
. The selected artifacts are moved one pixel to the
right.
Nudge
Up
. The selected artifacts are moved up one
pixel.
Nudge
Down
. The selected artifacts are moved up one
pixel.
This menu-item acts on all selected items on the current diagram. It resets all sizes of all artifacts to its “preferred” size, i.e. the minimum size for which all text fits inside.
This sub-menu provides automatic diagram layout functions, i.e. when activating this menu-item, all items on class diagrams are rearranged according a certain layout algorithm. Currently, it provides two arranging algorithmes:
Automatic
. Automated layout.
![]() | Caution |
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For all except class diagrams, this menu entry is grayed out and unavailable. So the utility of this menu entry is somewhat limited. |
Incremental
. Incremental layout.
![]() | Warning |
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In V0.14 of ArgoUML, this menu entry is always grayed out and unavailable. |