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1

General Discussion / Re: Keyboard shortcut

« Last post by pbeilschmidt on January 08, 2021, 08:47 AM »

Hi Ashok,

apparently the keyboard shortcut CTRL+L was introduced since 2013/14... so you don't have it in e!Sankey 3. Also. the insert into multiple arrows was not available in this older version.

Still, even with the newest version e!Sankey 5.1 you would still have to first insert the flow, and then (for each flow) enter the quantity. I think an automatism wouldn't really work well in this situation, because flow quantities most likely are different in each arrow. 

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General Discussion / Re: Keyboard shortcut

« Last post by Ashok on January 08, 2021, 02:09 AM »

Hello sir.
Thanks for patiently answering my queries.. sorry if am troubling you more..

The version am using is 3.2.2
Your reply that it is just one click on the 'Insert Entries' button. Simply select all 10 arrows (keep CTRL key pressed for multi-selection), then select one or more entries in the 'Entries' window (selection of arrows will be maintained), and then hit the 'Insert Entries' button. -- but i already mentioned that each arrow has a different value so this wont work i guess.

Also Ctrl + L did not work for me.

Thanks again for your patience.

regards
Ashok

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General Discussion / Re: Keyboard shortcut

« Last post by pbeilschmidt on January 07, 2021, 12:24 PM »

Hi Ashok,

just, wondering if you are doing this in e!Sankey 5 or an older version?

In e!Sankey 5: if one entry has to be inserted into 10 arrows, it is just one click on the 'Insert Entries' button. Simply select all 10 arrows (keep CTRL key pressed for multi-selection), then select one or more entries in the 'Entries' window (selection of arrows will be maintained), and then hit the 'Insert Entries' button.

Also, the 'Insert Entries' button has the shortcut CTRL+L.

But I still see a potential for improvement there... because your selected flows will loose the focus, if you do something else in the application, and the return to inserting entries. In this case the shortcut CTRL+L won't work, because it has "forgotten" the last selected entry in the list. So if you repeatedly wish to insert the same entry - let's say for example "electricity') over a period of time, but in the meantime also draw new arrows... then you have to click again on the entry to mark it, before being able to insert it using CTRL+L.

I'll see whether we can come up with an improvement for this...

Thanks for bringing up feature requests driven from your intensive work with e!Sankey.

Peter

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General Discussion / Re: Keyboard shortcut

« Last post by Ashok on January 06, 2021, 04:40 PM »

Hi
Thanks for the reply. I was looking for an actual 'Insert Entry' action via keyboard. The scenario would be one entry, multiple arrows (say for example 10 arrows) and each having different values. So in this case i have to click insert entry/value ten times with the mouse.
So what am expecting is : I create a skeleton arrow using mouse --> do a quick keyboard shortcut and enter the value --> press another key to "complete" the arrow.
Eventhough it is very few seconds lesser than using my mouse fully for the above operation it matters when i need to do this for ~100 arrows.
What do you think?

regards
Ashok

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General Discussion / Re: Keyboard shortcut

« Last post by pbeilschmidt on January 06, 2021, 08:56 AM »

Hi Ashok,

great question. Is it really just a shortcut to bring one window into focus?
I guess what you are actually looking for is not solely a keyboard shortcut to bring the Entries window into focus, but also to control the actual 'Insert Entry' action via keyboard.

For those forum readers that are not into this particular action, let me elaborate a little bit: After setting processes, and drawing arrows between them (i.e. building the 'naked' diagram structure), the next step is to insert items from a list of entries (the 'Entries' window you mention) into/onto the arrow(s) and define a quantity for it, in order to indicate the actual flow.

There are several ways to do this inserting:
(1) simply drag an entry from the 'Entries' window onto an arrow (drag&drop). That is the most convenient way to insert flows...
(2) the other way is to select the target arrow by clicking it, then drag the entries onto the 'Flows' table in the Arrow properties panel on the left side.
(3) Finally, you can mark an arrow in the diagram and select an entry in the 'Entries' window, then click on the button 'Insert Entries into Arrow(s)'.

In addition, I think it depends on the number of flows you are inserting in one insert action, and on the number of target arrows. There are four cases
(a) 1:1 - select one entry, enter as flow into one arrow
(b) 1:m - select one entry, enter as flow into multiple arrows
(c) n:1 - select multiple entries, enter them as flows into one arrow
(d) m:n - select multiple entries, enter them as flows into multiple arrows

It depends on your case (a) to (d) which of the above ways of inserting (1) to (3) can be used. For example, if you want to use one entry only (b), you obviously can't drag&drop it in one go onto multiple target arrows.

Now, Ashok, from what you describe I have the impression you are inserting entries into multiple arrows. Not sure whether this is always the same entry, different entries for each arrow, or if you are selecting several different entries for each arrow.

If I have to insert one or more flows into several arrows, I typically use the option (3) above. I mark several target  arrows in the diagram either by selecting them one after another, or simply by pulling a marker rectangle around the diagram section, then I choose the flow(s) in the 'Entries' window and hit the button 'Insert Entries into Arrow(s)'. Still, I then have to revisit each flow and enter a flow quantity, so I could also loop through dragging&dropping the entry onto the arrow and directly entering the flow quantity (2).

I understand that you are looking for a keyboard shortcut, maybe one that repeats the last insert action. I'll think about it and also have a look at best-practice examples for such a task in other programs. Maybe other users have suggestions on this?
 

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General Discussion / Keyboard shortcut

« Last post by Ashok on January 06, 2021, 02:39 AM »

Hi
Is there a keyboard shortcut for bringing the flow entry window?

As soon as i draw an arrow between two processes using a mouse i have to reach and click the insert entry in arrow. If i need to draw some 100+ process flows it would save some time if i can quickly do it using a keyboard shortcut instead of clicking and bringing the flow window.
Any help would be appreciated ..

regards
Ashok

7

General Discussion / Re: very short process arrows

« Last post by pbeilschmidt on December 14, 2020, 04:21 PM »

it can be found in the Options dialog (via Menu Edit > Options) on the second page "Diagram"

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General Discussion / Re: very short process arrows

« Last post by ltjudd on December 13, 2020, 02:46 AM »

Thanks- how to get to "options dialog in arrow panel" ?
I don't have the default segment length option.

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General Discussion / Re: very short process arrows

« Last post by pbeilschmidt on October 27, 2020, 03:49 PM »

Hello Lloyd,

great question, and I am sure it is of interest to many users. That's why I am answering in some more detail.
I also redid your little example to show 3 or 4 steps, what the issue is and how to get it fixed.

Nothing *you* are doing wrong here... just a general issue when drawing a Sankey arrow between two nodes that are located close to each other and have little spacing. In my example I left the grid on, so you can see the spacing is just one grid step (48 px).

In the first image the arrow from node "waste heat boiler" to "stack losses". I guess this arrow is later supposed to carry the difference of the waste heat input (dark red arrow from the bottom) minus the energy recovered (light red arrow to the right), so basically the losses.

The screengrab 2a shows what happens, when the arrow is drawn. A graphical artifact is produced, with "wings" protruding to the bottom and the top over the nodes. To understand why this happens, I have moved the "stack losses" node a little bit to the right, just temporarily (see 2b).

Explanation: Each Sankey arrow has two yellow waypoints. They mark the first segment of an arrow from the edge of the node where the arrow still runs vertically before it "allowed to" bend. The same is true at the destination (target node): the yellow waypoint is where the arrow comes in and then runs to the node vertically [the same principle applies for horizontal arrow connections at the node].

As you can see the yellow arrows are too far away from the nodes. The yellow arrow delimiting the first arrow segment has been moved away too far up from the node "waste heat boiler", the yellow point that marks the last vertical segment of the arrow before it connects to the node "stack losses" is too far down.
Actually they are so far away from their nodes, that they have intersected (crossed each other on the arrow line and switched sides). And this is just impossible to draw correctly.... hence the "wing artifacts".

So, how to solve this? What I did is to pull the yellow arrows closer to their respective neighboring node. In the last image (No 3) they are just a few pixels away from the node. The arrow can now run straight from start node over first and second yellow waypoint to destination node.
An alternative option would be to space the nodes a little more and move "stack losses" further away from the other node. However, leaving more space between the nodes is not always possible.

The default segment length can be set in the Options dialog on the "Diagram" page in the "Arrow" panel. You can try and set "Default Segment Length" from 40 px to - let's say - 10 px and see if that works better for you. Note that a change of the value in the options does not apply retrospectively for existing arrows, but only for the arrows being newly drawn.

This graphical issue of "very short arrows" is even worse, if you have arrow tails and arrow heads in combination with "fat" arrows. I hope this lengthy explainer can help you better manage the "very short arrows".

Peter

10

General Discussion / very short process arrows

« Last post by ltjudd on October 25, 2020, 09:30 AM »

Hi,

When I try and make a very short process arrow , e-sankey always seems to get confused and tries to double the arrow back- see attached file, what am I doing wrong?

regards

Lloyd