Managing glue points

As described above, a glue point is the point of attachment for a connector to a shape or graphic object. Each shape has a number of predefined glue points, but it is possible to define new ones as well as edit them, using the Gluepoints toolbar, shown below.

The Gluepoints Toolbar.

Use the first tool to insert a new glue point. The next four tools determine the exit direction of the connector terminating at the glue point. To maintain the relative position of the glue point when resizing the object, make sure that the Glue point relative icon (highlighted in the figure above) is selected. Deselecting the Glue point relative icon enables the next six icons of the toolbar; use these to fix the position of the gluepoint during the resizing of the object. Hover the mouse over the buttons to obtain a tooltip giving a short description of its function.

To delete a custom glue point, select it with the mouse and press the Delete key.

Setting custom glue points is particularly useful where multiple connectors terminate on the same side of a shape or where the default glue point position is not satisfactory.

To move a predefined or newly inserted glue point:

1. Select the glue point tool from the Drawing toolbar.
2. Click on the glue point you want to move. The glue point should now be highlighted.
3. Keep the mouse button pressed and drag the glue point to the desired position. Release the mouse button.

Glue points are placed by default on the grid (see Alignment using the grid and snap guides for information), however it is sometimes required to fine tune the position of the glue point depending on the shape. To do this, keep the Control key pressed while dragging the glue point to the new position.