Arrow bends, curves, and styles

New to Analytica 6.0

You can modify Influence Arrows to have multiple line segments or curves -- very handy when you want to avoid arrows crossing other arrows or nodes. You can also set an arrow's thickness, linestyle, colors, and more.

Bends and Curves

Here's how to add segments or spline curves to an influence arrow in Edit mode:

• Click a straight arrow to select it. It will show a square and round handles in the middle of the arrow.
• To bend the arrow into two straight line segments, drag the square handle.
• To add a curve to the arrow, drag the round handle.

To modify a segmented or curved arrow, click the arrow to select it and then:

• To move the waypoints (the dark circles or squares), just drag them.
• To add another lines or curve, drag a new midpoint (open circle or square).
• You can also move the start point or end point of an arrow where it meets a node border. Simply drag the point along the border.

Arrow menu

Use the arrow menu to further modify the arrow styles.

• Click an arrow to select it.
• Shift-click on additional arrow(s) if you want to select several.
• Right-click a selected arrow to show the arrow context menu:

• Then select:
  • Curved to toggle between curved and straight segments.
  • Remove way point to remove a segment.
  • Remove all way points to restore a simple straight arrow.
  • Dash style and then select solid, dashes, dots, dash-dot, or Dash-dot-dot.
  • Double line to show the arrow as two lines.
  • Thickness and then select a number to make the arrow thicker or thinner.
  • Show color palette to show the Color palette. Click a color from the palette to color the selected arrow(s).

Show or hide arrows

You can use the Diagram Style dialog for each Diagram (Module) to control whether to show arrows to and from indexes and functions (off by default) or modules (on by default). You can use the Node Style dialog for one or more selected nodes to control whether to show arrows from all its inputs or to all its outputs. You can use the Arrow menu above to show or hide individual arrows:

To hide an arrow,

• Click the arrow to select it
• Right-click to show the Arrow menu.
• Select Hide arrow

To show a hidden arrow,

• You'll need to click around where you think it might be until you manage to select it.
• Right click to show the Arrow menu
• Select Show arrow to show the hidden arrow

Examples

An influence diagram using Systems Dynamics notation for a software business. All nodes have their borders hidden, except for the stock nodes (rectangles using Decisions). The flows to and between stocks use the double arrow style. The cloud (source or sink for stock flows in Systems Dynamics is an image pasted into a node. So is the "valve" image that controls stock flows.

An influence diagram for a supply chain model for a beer brewery.

Curved arrows show influences that go in both directions between modules.

See also

• Draw arrows
• Draw arrows between modules