groupAPI/UseCase_10A - Cytoscape Wiki

Use Case Name : Groups of Graphical Elements

For Feature : Groups

Editors: Kristina Hanspers

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Summary

To facilitate pathway editing, grouping of graphics lets the user move around a set of graphics that have already been optimally aligned, to avoid having to move each graphic separately. It also effectively enables the user to create custom graphics, by combining various graphics. This should be very similar to how grouping works in Powerpoint. This implementation of Groups will not necessarily use collapse and expand.

Step-by-Step User Action

Creating a New Grouping of Graphics

Select two or more graphics
Choose "Group” from a context menu, main menu or toolbar
Be able to move the group around the canvas
Be able to un-group (destroy) the individual graphics to move them separately or delete particular graphics in the group

Visual Aides

The below figure shows and example from GenMAPP where a number of separate graphical objects (lines, arcs, rectangles) are joined to form a larger custom graphic, in this case an illustration of a striated muscle fiber.

Requirements for Cytoscape

The Group API can handle this one in terms of create and destroy
A simple GUI for create and destroy should be sufficient.
Need to support the storage of groups in a pathway file format. xGMML and GenMAPP's GPML?

Importance

Using a grouping feature, users will be able to create much more sophisticated custom graphics by joining existing simpler graphics together. Handling groups of graphics is important for effective pathway editing.

Other Examples

Illustrator and other such programs have a grouping function that mimics the restriction on children once a group is formed. You cannot move the children relative to each other, for example. If you want to treat them independently, you have to ungroup.

Comments

AllanKuchinsky - 2006-11-27 16:18:03

How would one add a child to a group? Would you need to destroy the group then build a new group that includes the new member?

Can groups be nested?