Hidden or overlapping elements. about skov

[kustomzone]

Sure, i understand the goal of keeping the layout in an automatic functioning mode.

Perhaps an [alt] key or toggle switch (whichever doesn't interfere with keyboard shortcuts is fine) that slides a slight horizontal gap between the overlapped objects as a temporary state (but only when it's pressed or toggled) and snaps back to automatic positions when released, just so we can make another connection which will re-orient the layout, thus saving us from disconnecting or removing our construction.

[nicolas-p]

I am aware about this issue.

The graph layout algorithm has been by far the hardest thing to develop in this project. I tried many different (bad) ideas before converging towards the current algorithm that works satisfyingly in 95% of cases. But I know it's still not perfect.

So currently, if you end up in a situation where nodes overlap, the solution is to go back (disconnect nodes by placing the cursor on a connector and pressing X) and try to wire them up in a different order.

I am not in favor of allowing manual re-positionning. If the automatic layout algorithm doesn't work as expected, then the right thing to do is to improve the algorithm, not to fall back on the easy solution of manual layout.

[nicolas-p]

I've thought a bit about it and I think the right thing to do is to build a safety mechanism at the end of the graph layout algorithm so that if it generates a bad layout with overlapping nodes, the problematic nodes will be moved so that they don't overlap. The layout will still look bad, but at least it will be usable.

[nicolas-p]

This issue has become irrelevant in New Skov (see #12).