Vixels, createthroughs, dragthroughs and attachment regions in BuildByWire

Abstract

BuildByWire is a direct-manipulation meta-editor for composing sophisticated visual notations and their editors from JavaBean components. It in turn generates JavaBeans, which can be plugged into other tools. BuildByWire has been used to generate editors for a variety of visual languages and notations. We describe new features that eliminate several previous limitations of BuildByWire and its generated editors. The designer of a notation now has more control over the tools that are provided in the generated editor. The composition of notational elements using layout managers has been improved. Connectors between notational elements have been made more general and flexible.