Default settings for nodes and edges

[dgsachs@…]

I was thinking along the lines of default and preset styles that there should be a "recently used" style list on the style sheet. That is, if I select and edit the style of a node, the style gets added to "recently used" style list. This gets the user out of having to maintain a "preset style" list. It also provides an implicit way to copy a style from one node to another: open the style sheet of a node you want to copy *from*, and then that style appears in the recently used style list at the top, and can be used in one tap. [Daniel]

Another possible workflow might be for me to draw the first box (geoprocessing tool) and have a setting in the node properties dialog where I could make the properties changes (in this case just color) to this node, all new rectangles, or even all new nodes in the graph. This would be cool, because thereafter when I draw a new rectangle it'd already be colored in properly... You could have similar options in the edge settings dialog, so I could set the new-edge properties. [Eric]

is it possible at this time to define a style for a node, and set it as the default style for every new node that is created? additionally, it would be great if i could define the style for a few items - a square node, oval node, arrow, and access them in some sort of
palette. [virga]

customization with instaviz doesn't seem to have a memory, and as i create new nodes, i have to redefine all of the (many) style options for each new node i add. there is no default override, nor is there a palette of "favorite" customizations to use. [mountainboy]

[glen.low@…]

I see the common need to quickly apply a set of customizations to nodes and edges. However this must be easy and obvious in the user interface, so that the user doesn't have to mental map these styles, it should be visible in the interface.

This rules out default settings that are editable independent of actual nodes/edges, or affect existing nodes/edges in various ways. The default settings must be visible in the interface as actual nodes/edges as far as possible, and changing them must not affect existing nodes i.e. apply default settings is a copy not a reference.

In 2.0, we want to achieve this with some combination of palettes and multiple select.

For 1.3, the interim solution will be to record the last style whenever a node or edge is edited, and to apply this last style when the node or edge is created. This way, the last style will typically still be an actual node or edge. The style will be used for edges and also for each kind of shape -- Eric's and virga's suggestion of per-shape styles outweighs having a global style for all nodes (the global style will not always be immediately visible after being changed by several different shapes, and I would think most graphs would only have a couple of different shapes at most).

[glenlow]

(In [117]) Added default styles for node shapes and edges: record last change on editing, apply last change on creating (fix #78).