Options for highlighting DCF connections
In addition to the options determining how connections are displayed, there are also a number of options that determine how they can be highlighted:
| Option | Section |
|---|---|
| ActivePathHighlighting | Highlighting connections from a Connectivity.xml chain |
| HighlightAnimation | Displaying an animated shape on highlighted connections |
| HighlightPath | Controlling highlighting when using physical connectors |
| HighlightShapesOnly | Applying highlighting to shapes only |
| HighlightStyle | Customizing the highlight style |
| HighlightStyle|LineProperty | Applying only certain highlight style properties |
| HighlightTarget | Conditionally applying a highlight style |
| IgnoreInternalConnections | Ignoring internal connections |
| NoHighlightLineStyle NoHighlightFillStyle NoHighlightTextStyle |
Ignoring the highlight style |
| SelectionHighlighting | Disabling path highlighting when a connection line is clicked |
Note
- When connectivity has been defined in a drawing, you can highlight the connectivity chain using a shortcut menu command. Right-click a shape, and select Display connectivity.
- When a shape or connection is highlighted, only the connections before and after the shape will be highlighted, instead of the entire connected framework.
- If multiple kinds of highlighting are used in one drawing, and only a single highlighting style is used, all highlight conditions must be true for an object to be highlighted.
- If multiple kinds of highlighting are used in one drawing, i.e. connectivity highlighting using the HighlightTarget shape data combined with redundancy group highlighting and/or conditional shape highlighting, and a different highlighting style is used for each type, a shape is highlighted as soon as one of the highlight conditions is true.
- For an example, see Ziine > Visual Overview Design Examples view > [dcf] page.
Tip
See also: Highlighting a connection chain based on a filter shape
Controlling highlighting when using physical connectors
When shapes are physically connected via drawn connectors, you can use the "HighlightPath" option to make sure the chain is highlighted when users click a shape or a connection in the chain.
Add a shape data field of type Options to the page, and set its value to "HighlightPath".
Customizing the highlight style
If you want to customize the highlight style, create a shape or a connection, apply a custom style to it, add a shape data field of type Options to it and set its value to "HighlightStyle". The shape or connection you created will not be displayed, but its line style will be used for all shapes and connections in the chain.
Note
If no highlight style has been defined, the thickness of a highlighted line or border will be three times the normal thickness (with a minimum of 3 px).
Displaying an animated shape on highlighted connections
You can use the "HighlightAnimation" option to display an animated shape on a highlighted DCF connection line.
When you do so, you can also configure the animation speed and interval with the "LineAnimationSpeed" and "LineAnimationInterval" options respectively. The animation speed is measured in pixels/second and the interval is measured in milliseconds.
For example:
| Shape data field | Value |
|---|---|
| Options | HighlightAnimation|LineAnimationSpeed=100|LineAnimationInterval=500 |
Note
- The shape will follow the path of the line, even when "MultipleCurvedLinesMode" is used.
- Configuring an offset is possible by positioning the rotation point of the animated shape.
Ignoring internal connections
To ignore the internal structure of elements for path highlighting, add a shape data field of type Options to the page, and set its value to "IgnoreInternalConnections".
Ignoring the highlight style
If you want a particular shape to ignore parts of the custom highlight style you configured, you can add a shape data field of type Options to that shape and set its value to one or more of the following options:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| NoHighlightLineStyle | Keeps a shape from changing its line style when it is highlighted. |
| NoHighlightFillStyle | Keeps a shape from changing its fill style when it is highlighted. |
| NoHighlightTextStyle | Keeps a shape from changing its text style when it is highlighted. |
If you specify more than one option, separate the options with pipe characters as shown in the following example:
NoHighlightLineStyle|NoHighlightFillStyle|NoHighlightTextStyle
Applying only certain highlight style properties
If you want to apply only certain line properties of a HighlightStyle shape to the shapes and connections, add the "LineProperty=" option to the shape's Options shape data field, followed by one or more of the following properties. If you specify multiple properties, separate them by commas.
- Thickness
- Color
- Dash
Example:
| Shape data field | Value |
|---|---|
| Options | HighlightStyle|LineProperty=Dash,Thickness |
Applying highlighting to shapes only
If you only want the shapes to be highlighted and not the connections between them, then add a shape data field of type Options to the page, and set its value to "HighlightShapesOnly".
Conditionally applying a highlight style
- Applying a highlight style depending on a connection property
- Applying highlight styles depending on various conditions
- Highlighting connections based on the table column value of connected shapes
- Highlighting connections based on the source and target of the connection
Applying a highlight style depending on a connection property
To have the highlight style applied conditionally depending on whether a specific connection property condition is fulfilled, add an additional shape data field of type Highlight to the shape determining the highlight style, and specify the following value:
property:[PropertyName]=[Regular expression matching the property value]
The style of this shape will then be applied to all connections of which the value of the specified property matches the specified regular expression.
Note
The condition in the shape data field of type Highlight can contain placeholders referring to session variables (e.g. "[var:mySessionVariable]").
Applying highlight styles depending on various conditions
To make a highlighting style conditional, in the Options shape data field of the shape that defines the highlight style, add the option "HighlightTarget=", followed by one or more of the methods listed below. If you specify multiple methods, separate them by commas.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| ActivePath | Shapes and connections will be highlighted if they are part of the active path. |
| ConnectionProperty | Shapes and connections will be highlighted if they have a specific property. In that case, the property and the property value have to be specified as "Property:PropertyName=RegularExpression" in a shape data field of type Highlight. When you specify a highlight style without HighlightTarget, and there is a shape data field of type Highlight, DataMiner Cube will automatically set the HighlightTarget to "ConnectionProperty". |
| Filter | Shapes and connections will be highlighted if a connection filter matches. |
| Select | Shapes and connections will be highlighted if they are logically linked to the shape or connection that was clicked. |
| SourceDestination | See Highlighting connections based on the source and target of the connection. |
| TableColumn | See Highlighting connections based on the table column value of connected shapes. |
Example:
| Shape data field | Value |
|---|---|
| Options | HighlightStyle|HighlightTarget=Select,Filter |
Note
- By creating different HighlightStyle shapes with different conditions applied, you can combine several highlight styles within the same Visual Overview.
- The "HighlightTarget" option can be combined with the "LineProperty" option. For example: "HighlightStyle|HighlightTarget=ConnectionProperty,Select|LineProperty=Color".
See Applying only certain highlight style properties.
Highlighting connections based on the table column value of connected shapes
A specific type of conditional connection highlighting is available where connections are highlighted depending on the table column value corresponding to the connected shapes.
To enable highlighting based on table column value, add a highlight shape to the Visio page with the following shape data items:
| Shape data | Value |
|---|---|
| Options | HighlightStyle|HighlightTarget=TableColumn |
| Highlight | TableColumn:ColumnParameterID=Value |
Highlighting connections based on the source and target of the connection
It is possible to configure a highlight style that is only applied if the path comes from a certain source and (optionally) goes to a certain destination.
To do so, add the following fields in the Options shape data field next to the "HighlightStyle" option, using a pipe character ("|") as a separator:
HighlightTarget=SourceDestination: This option must be added to indicate that the type of highlighting to be used is source-to-destination highlighting.
Source:<x>: This option must be added to indicate where the highlighted path should start.
<x> can take the following values:
Element=[Element name or DMA ID/Element ID of the source element]
Protocol=[Protocol name of the source element (not including the version)]
Tag=[tag name]
To use the Tag option, a shape elsewhere in the drawing will need to be configured with the shape data Tag, of which the value is set to the tag name.
Destination:<y>: This is an optional field that can be added to indicate where the highlighted path should end. The highlighted path will then only include shapes and lines that run towards this destination.
<y> is configured in the same manner as <x>, allowing the same three kinds of values.
Priority:<z>: This optional field allows you to give a highlight style priority over another style.
<z> is a number indicating the priority of the style. This way, multiple of these source-to-destination highlight styles can be defined with different priorities. If this field is not defined, the style will get the lowest priority.
Direction=Forwards/Backwards/Both: This optional field allows you to specify the direction in which DataMiner should crawl through the DCF network. Default direction: Forwards.
Using "Direction=Backwards" together with "Source:Tag=MySource" will highlight all paths that lead to the "MySource" shape.
Using "Direction=Forwards" will highlight all paths starting from the source shape.
Examples:
HighlightStyle|HighlightTarget=SourceDestination|Source:Element=231/88|Priority=3
HighlightStyle|HighlightTarget=SourceDestination|Source:Protocol=MyDCFProtocol|Destination:Tag=Antenna|Priority=2
HighlightStyle|HighlightTarget=SourceDestination|Source:Tag=MySource|Direction=Backwards
Highlighting connections from a Connectivity.xml chain
In a Visio drawing that contains connected elements, it is possible to highlight DCF connectivity chains configured in Connectivity.xml files located in C:\Skyline DataMiner\Connectivity and its subfolders.
To do so:
Make sure the Visio drawing is uploaded to a service.
On the page where you want to visualize a connectivity chain, add a page-level shape data field of type Options, and set it to one of the following values:
ActivePathHighlighting=Service: Any active path that has an entry point on this service will be highlighted. If several paths are available, you can choose which one to highlight.
ActivePathHighlighting=[folder name]: The specified folder name must refer to a folder containing a Connectivity.xml file. The connections configured in the connectivity chain in this Connectivity.xml file will be highlighted.
ActivePathHighlighting=[GUID]: The specified GUID must be the GUID of a Connectivity.xml file. You can find the GUID for such a file by checking in the file. The connections configured in the connectivity chain in this Connectivity.xml file will be highlighted.
Note
- Only connection properties that determine the connectivity path will be displayed. All other connection properties will be hidden.
- When you use path highlighting in conjunction with connection property highlighting, connection property highlighting is reinstated when you click the background of the Visio drawing.
Tip
Disabling path highlighting when a connection line is clicked
By default, when you click a connection line between shapes, the path connected to that line is highlighted. You can change this default behavior by adding a "SelectionHighlighting" option to the shape that represents the connection and setting it to "False".
Example:
| Shape data field | Value |
|---|---|
| Connection | Connectivity |
| Options | SelectionHighlighting=False |