Swim lane
19 Jul 201923 minutes to read
Swim-lane Diagrams are typically used to visualize the relationship between a business process and the department responsible for it by focusing on the logical relationships between activities. Swimlanes may be arranged either horizontally or vertically.
##Initialize the Diagram model
Create a diagram properties model element that can be used to initialize the diagram widget as shown below.
//Initialize the Diagram Model
<ej:Diagram ID="Diagram" runat="server" Height="700px" Width="900px">
</ej:Diagram>Create a swimlane
To create a swimlane, you need to use the Swimlane class. By default, the swimlanes are arranged vertically. You can change that with the Orientation property of swimlane.
The following code example illustrates how to define a swimlane object.
<ej:DiagramSwimlane Name="Swimlane" Orientation="horizontal" OffsetX="400" OffsetY="200" Height="100" Width="700 ">
</ej:DiagramSwimlane>Add swimlane into diagram
Adding a swimlane to the Diagram is same as adding a node. You can add either through the Nodes collection or through the client side method add. You can also drag and drop a swimlane from symbol palette.
For more information about adding a node/swimlane to the Diagram, refer to Add Nodes.
The following code example illustrates how to add a swimlane to the Diagram through Nodes collection.
<!-- Add the swimlane in to the Nodes collection -->
<ej:Diagram ID="Diagram" runat="server" Height="700px" Width="900px">
<Nodes>
<ej:DiagramSwimlane Name="Swimlane" Orientation="horizontal" OffsetX="400" OffsetY="200" Height="100" Width="700 ">
</ej:DiagramSwimlane>
</Nodes>
</ej:Diagram>
Headers
Swimlane allows to define a header to textually describe it. The Header property of swimlane allows you to define its textual description(Text) and to customize its appearance. The following code example illustrates how to define swimlane header.
<ej:Diagram ID="Diagram" runat="server" Height="700px" Width="900px">
<%--Add the swimlane in to the Nodes collection--%>
<Nodes>
<%--Changes the orientation,position and size--%>
<ej:DiagramSwimlane Name="Swimlane" Orientation="horizontal" OffsetX="400" OffsetY="200" Height="100" Width="700 ">
<%--Defines the header and format its text and sets the header--%>
<Header Text="Swimlane" Height="50" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>
</ej:DiagramSwimlane>
</Nodes>
</ej:Diagram>//Updates the swimlane header at runtime
var diagram = $("#diagram").ejDiagram("instance");
diagram.updateNode("swimlaneName", { header: {fontColor:"white"} })
Update Header
Swimlane headers can be updated at runtime with the client side method updateNode. The following code example illustrates how to update a lane’s header at runtime.
var diagram = $("#diagram").ejDiagram("instance");
//Defines the header and format its text
var header = {
text: "swimlane",
bold: true,
italic: true
};
diagram.updateNode("swimlane", { header: header });Disable headers
You can hide the swimlane headers. The following code example illustrates how to hide headers.
<!-- // Defines the header and Sets "0" to hide header -->
<Header Text="Swimlane" Height="0" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>Lane
Lane is a functional unit or a responsible department of a business process that helps to map a process within the functional unit or in between other functional units.
You can add any number of lanes to a swimlane and the lanes are automatically stacked inside a swimlane based in the order they are added.
Create an empty lane
To create an empty lane, you need to define an object with Type property that helps identify the object as a lane. The following example illustrates how to define a swimlane with a lane.
<ej:Diagram ID="Diagram" runat="server" Height="700px" Width="900px">
<%--Add the swimlane in to the Nodes collection--%>
<Nodes>
<%--Changes the orientation,position and size--%>
<ej:DiagramSwimlane Name="Swimlane" Orientation="horizontal" OffsetX="400" OffsetY="200" Height="100" Width="700 ">
<%--Defines the header and format its text and sets the header--%>
<Header Text="Swimlane" Height="0" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>
<%--Defines an lanes Collection--%>
<Lanes>
<%--Add the lane in to the lanes collection--%>
<ej:DiagramLane Name="lane1" FillColor="#f5f5f5" MinHeight="120">
</ej:DiagramLane>
</Lanes>
</ej:DiagramSwimlane>
</Nodes>
</ej:Diagram>Create a lane with header
The Header property of the lane allows you to textually describe the lane(text) and to customize the appearance of the description. The following code example illustrates how to define a lane header.
You can limit the size of a lane with its MinWidth, MinHeight, MaxWidth, and MaxHeight properties.
<ej:Diagram ID="Diagram" runat="server" Height="700px" Width="900px">
<%--Add the swimlane in to the Nodes collection--%>
<Nodes>
<%--Changes the orientation,position and size--%>
<ej:DiagramSwimlane Name="Swimlane" Orientation="horizontal" OffsetX="400" OffsetY="200" Height="100" Width="700 ">
<%--Defines the header and format its text and sets the header--%>
<Header Text="Swimlane" Height="0" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>
<%--Defines an lanes Collection--%>
<lanes>
<%--Add the lane in to the lanes collection--%>
<ej:DiagramLane Name="lane1" FillColor="#f5f5f5" MinHeight="120" MinWidth="500" MaxHeight="200">
<Header Text="Lane" Height="0" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>
</ej:DiagramLane>
</lanes>
</ej:DiagramSwimlane>
</Nodes>
</ej:Diagram>Disable/Update header
You can disable/update the lane header at runtime with the client side method, updateNode. The following code example illustrates how to disable the lane header at run time.
var diagram = $("#diagram").ejDiagram("instance");
//Sets "0" to hide header
diagram.updateNode("laneName", { header: {height: 0} })Add nodes to a lane
To add nodes to a lane, You need to add them to the Children collection of lane. The following code example illustrates how to add nodes to a lane.
<ej:Diagram ID="Diagram" runat="server" Height="700px" Width="900px">
<%--Add the swimlane in to the Nodes collection--%>
<Nodes>
<%--Changes the orientation,position and size--%>
<ej:DiagramSwimlane Name="Swimlane" Orientation="horizontal" OffsetX="400" OffsetY="200" Height="100" Width="700 ">
<%--Defines the header and format its text and sets the header--%>
<Header Text="Swimlane" Height="0" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>
<%--Defines an lanes Collection--%>
<lanes>
<%--Add the lane in to the lanes collection--%>
<ej:DiagramLane Name="lane1" FillColor="#f5f5f5" MinHeight="120" MinWidth="500" MaxHeight="200">
<Header Text="Lane" Height="0" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>
<Children>
<ej:BasicShape Name="NewIdea" Width="70" Height="30" OffsetX="300" OffsetY="60" FillColor="#1BA0E2" BorderColor="#1BA0E2" MarginLeft="70" MarginTop="1">
<labels>
<ej:DiagramLabel Name="NewIdea_Label" Text="Node" FontColor="White"></ej:DiagramLabel>
</labels>
</ej:BasicShape>
</Children>
</ej:DiagramLane>
</lanes>
</ej:DiagramSwimlane>
</Nodes>
</ej:Diagram>
Phase
Phases are the sub-processes that are used to break the swimlane into multiple smaller regions.
Add phase
To define a phase, you have to set the length of the region to the Offset property of phase. Every region can be textually described with the Label property of phase.
The following code example illustrates how to add a phase on initializing swimlane.
<ej:Diagram ID="Diagram" runat="server" Height="700px" Width="900px">
<%--Add the swimlane in to the Nodes collection--%>
<Nodes>
<%--Changes the orientation,position and size--%>
<ej:DiagramSwimlane Name="Swimlane" Orientation="horizontal" OffsetX="400" OffsetY="200" Height="100" Width="700 ">
<%--Defines the header and format its text and sets the header--%>
<Header Text="Swimlane" Height="0" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>
<%--Defines an lanes Collection--%>
<Lanes>
<%--Add the lane in to the lanes collection--%>
<ej:DiagramLane Name="lane1" FillColor="#f5f5f5" MinHeight="120" MinWidth="500" MaxHeight="200">
<Header Text="Lane" Height="0" FillColor="#C7D4DF" FontColor="black" FontSize="11" FontFamily="Arial" Italic="true" Bold="true" TextDecoration="Underline">
</Header>
<Children>
<ej:BasicShape Name="NewIdea" Width="70" Height="30" OffsetX="300" OffsetY="60" FillColor="#1BA0E2" BorderColor="#1BA0E2" MarginLeft="70" MarginTop="1">
<labels>
<ej:DiagramLabel Name="NewIdea_Label" Text="Node" FontColor="White"></ej:DiagramLabel>
</labels>
</ej:BasicShape>
</Children>
</ej:DiagramLane>
</Lanes>
<%--Define the Phase collection--%>
<Phases>
<%--Define the Phase appearance--%>
<ej:DiagramPhase Name="Phase1" LineWidth="1" LineDashArray="3,3" LineColor="#606060">
<%--Define the Label for the phase--%>
<Label Text="Phase1"></Label>
</ej:DiagramPhase>
<ej:DiagramPhase Name="Phase2" LineWidth="1" LineDashArray="3,3" LineColor="#606060">
<Label Text="Phase2"></Label>
</ej:DiagramPhase>
</Phases>
</ej:DiagramSwimlane>
</Nodes>
</ej:Diagram>
Add phase at runtime
You can add a region at runtime with the client side method, addPhase. The following code example illustrates how to add a phase at runtime.
var phase = {
name: "Phase3",
label: { text: "Phase3" }
};
var diagram = $("#diagram").ejDiagram("instance");
diagram.addPhase("swimlaneName", phase);A phase can be updated at runtime with the client side API updateNode. The following code example illustrates how to a update phase at runtime.
var diagram = $("#diagram").ejDiagram("instance");
var options = {
//Specifies the style of the phase to be updated
lineDashArray: "3,3",
lineColor: "#C7D4DF",
lineWidth: 2
}
diagram.updateNode("phaseName", options);NOTE
A default phase is added, when the phase collection of the swimlane is empty. When the phase collection is initialized, a default phase is appended at the end of swimlane.
Limitations
- You cannot add connectors as the children of lanes.