Base text direction: in the JViews Diagrammer SDK

At the Diagram level

The default base text direction of the diagram can be set programmatically by changing the property of the current instance. For example:

IlvDiagrammer diagrammer = new IlvDiagrammer();
diagrammer.setBaseTextDirection(IlvConstants.RIGHT_TO_LEFT);

The same result can be achieved by adding the code for the following selector to the CSS file attached to the Diagram component:

Diagrammer { 
   baseTextDirection : "Right-To-Left" ;
}

Or you can set the base text direction property of IlvStyleSheetRenderer. Add the code for the following selector to the CSS file:

StyleSheet { 
   baseTextDirection : "Right-To-Left" ;
}

At the Node level

You can set base text direction for graphic implementation of a specific node or types of nodes to a constant value, for example, Right To Left:

node {
   baseTextDirection : "Right-To-Left" ;
}

Alternatively, it can be defined by reference to a property. Place baseTextDirection style into the selector that describes such a node or nodes. For example:

node[baseTextDirectionProperty] {
   baseTextDirection : @baseTextDirectionProperty ;
}

Assuming that the property baseTextDirectionProperty is referenced in CSS (see @baseTextDirectionProperty in the example) , you can dynamically change base text direction in the selected node or nodes by using the following Java code:

nodeObj.setObjectProperty(nodeModelObj, "baseTextDirectionProperty", IlvBidiUtil.LEFT_TO_RIGHT)

At the Link level

You can set base text direction for graphic implementation of a specific link or types of links to a constant value, for example, Right To Left:

link {
   baseTextDirection : "Right-To-Left" ;
}

Then, it can be defined by reference to a property; Place baseTextDirection style into the selector that describes such a link or links For example:

link[baseTextDirectionProperty] {
   baseTextDirection : @baseTextDirectionProperty ;
}

Assuming that the property baseTextDirectionProperty is referenced in CSS (see @baseTextDirectionProperty in the example) , you can dynamically change base text direction in the selected link or links by using the following Java code:

link {
   baseTextDirection : "Right-To-Left" ;
}

In the property sheet

You can set base text direction for specific cells of the property sheet. The definition can be static by assigning a constant value or dynamic by assigning a reference to a property. For example, to define base text direction in the property sheet dynamically:

node:DiagrammerTable:name[baseTextDirectionProperty] {
   baseTextDirection : "@baseTextDirectionProperty" ;
}

If the property sheet can be edited, you can use a special property editor to edit base text direction. For example:

node:DiagrammerPropertySheet:baseTextDirection[baseTextDirectionProperty] {
   propertyEditor : "@#BaseTextDirectionNameEditor" ;
}
Subobject#BaseTextDirectionNameEditor {
   class : "ilog.views.util.beans.editor.IlvBaseTextDirectionNameEditor" ;
}

In the IlvDiagrammer table

You can set base text direction for a specific cell of an IlvDiagrammerTable object. The definition can be static by assigning a constant value or dynamic by assigning a reference to a property. For example, to define base text direction in the IlvDiagrammerTable dynamically:

node[baseTextDirectionProperty]:DiagrammerTable:name {
       baseTextDirection : @baseTextDirectionProperty;
}

Base text direction: suitable JViews Diagrammer components

Specifying base text direction for a specific component has the highest priority. Only when base text direction is defined on a specific component as DIRECTION_INHERITED is the value from a higher level used.

Level where base text direction is specified	Additional levels where specification applies	Comments
Diagram (IlvDiagrammer)	Nodes, links, property sheet, IlvDiagrammerTable.	Top level
Node	Text that appears on node.
Link	Text that appears on link.
Property sheet cells	Text that appears in property sheet cells.
IlvDiagrammerTable	Text that appears in IlvDiagrammerTable cells.

Enabling dynamic change at run time

You can set base text direction dynamically to have the same value for all text elements of an IlvDiagrammer object or to assign one specific base text direction value to a specific text element of the IlvDiagrammer object.

Dynamically setting a consistent base text direction for all text elements

Setting any of the following values for base text direction in any JViews Diagrammer components (node, link, property sheet, table) is an explicit or static assignment:

Left To Right
Right To Left
Contextual

The only external factor that can affect these settings on a given component is a call to the Java API.

Setting base text direction to one of the following values means that base text direction can be affected by external influences at run time:

Inherited: For example, change of the base specification in the IlvDiagrammer object in which the text element is embedded affects the value of the base text direction of text elements in the IlvDiagrammer instance.
Component Orientation: For example, change of GUI direction for the container in which the diagram is embedded affects the base text direction of text elements in the diagram.

By such a change at run time you can dynamically affect the base text direction in a consistent way for all text elements contained in the IlvDiagrammer object.

For such a dynamic run time change, the following conditions must be satisfied:

No explicit value is assigned to the base text direction property of any objects in the IlvDiagrammer object.
The API is used to change the value of base text direction at the highest level of graphic object; for example, diagrammerObj.setBaseTextDirection(IlvBidiUtil.RIGHT_TO_LEFT);.

Dynamically assigning one specific base text direction value to a specific text element

You can dynamically assign one specific base text direction value to a specific text element of the IlvDiagrammer object by using the Designer. See Assigning one specific value to a specific text element of an IlvDiagrammer object.

Then, you can implement the setting dynamically at run time by the following code:

designerObj.setObjectProperty(linkObj, "myBaseTextDirection", IlvBidiUtil.RIGHT_TO_LEFT)

where:

linkObj: An instance of the link that contains the Text element.
“myBaseTextDirection”: Name of the parameter added to the link object and identified in the expression that is referenced by the baseTextDirection property; in this example, myBaseTextDirection.
IlvBidiUtil.RIGHT_TO_LEFT: One of the valid values of base text direction.