Background: My previous experience with reading online documentation are iOS docs Android docs Sqlite docs CPAN jquery angular etc etc. So that is my point of reference here.
Often when i try and search the telerik documentation i come across pages that looks like this.
http://www.telerik.com/help/silverlight/f_telerik_windows_controls_diagrams_raddiagramshapebase_glidingstyleproperty.html
So this is a property , i already knew that. But what does it do ? how am i supposed to find out what this property is used for ?
to me this type of documentation does not tell me anything i could not find out via clicking in the Object browser.
Am i using the documentation the wrong way or is it just documentation for documentations sake ?
Often when i try and search the telerik documentation i come across pages that looks like this.
http://www.telerik.com/help/silverlight/f_telerik_windows_controls_diagrams_raddiagramshapebase_glidingstyleproperty.html
So this is a property , i already knew that. But what does it do ? how am i supposed to find out what this property is used for ?
to me this type of documentation does not tell me anything i could not find out via clicking in the Object browser.
Am i using the documentation the wrong way or is it just documentation for documentations sake ?
1 Answer, 1 is accepted
0
Hi Fredrik,
You have actually reached our API reference. This is automatically generated documentation out of the comments in our source code. You are right that you can see the exact same information in the Object browser. This API reference is meant to list the properties and the methods of the objects, rather than providing users with extensive explanations. If you need deeper explanations, you can check our documentation. If the information is missing, you can contact us through our forums or our support ticketing system. We are constantly trying to improve our online documentation but till there are functionalities that are not yet documented. Our effort are focused on describing at least the core functionalities as well as the new features.
Now let me try to explain what this property is designed to do. It is designed to better handle the behavior of the RadDiagramConnections when they are connected to a RadDiagramShape. You can see that there are several points (RadDiagramConnectors) that can be used to attach connection to the shapes. When you connect two shapes using those points, the created connection always points to those points. This behavior can be inconvenient in some cases. This is why you can create the connection using the central connectors. This will force the connection to jump from a connector to another connector whenever the connected shapes are moved around. The jumping behavior may also be inconvenient in some cases. This is why we exposed the UseGlidingConnector property to each of the RadDiagramShapes. This property replaces all connectors with a single (central) one. If that property is set to True and when two shapes are connected and moved around the connection will always be attached to the edge of a figure. This figure is invisible and users can predefine the shape of the figure, only. The RadDiagramShape internally calculates the size of that firure. Our customers are allowed to define some predefined shapes. You can see all of them and choose one from the GlidingStyle property of the RadDiagramShape control.
For better understanding, you can refer to the ClassDiagram demo from our online QSF. Try to move any class in a circular pattern around another class. The gliding connector feature can be noticed in such scenario.
I hope this answers your questions.
Regards,
Pavel R. Pavlov
Telerik
You have actually reached our API reference. This is automatically generated documentation out of the comments in our source code. You are right that you can see the exact same information in the Object browser. This API reference is meant to list the properties and the methods of the objects, rather than providing users with extensive explanations. If you need deeper explanations, you can check our documentation. If the information is missing, you can contact us through our forums or our support ticketing system. We are constantly trying to improve our online documentation but till there are functionalities that are not yet documented. Our effort are focused on describing at least the core functionalities as well as the new features.
Now let me try to explain what this property is designed to do. It is designed to better handle the behavior of the RadDiagramConnections when they are connected to a RadDiagramShape. You can see that there are several points (RadDiagramConnectors) that can be used to attach connection to the shapes. When you connect two shapes using those points, the created connection always points to those points. This behavior can be inconvenient in some cases. This is why you can create the connection using the central connectors. This will force the connection to jump from a connector to another connector whenever the connected shapes are moved around. The jumping behavior may also be inconvenient in some cases. This is why we exposed the UseGlidingConnector property to each of the RadDiagramShapes. This property replaces all connectors with a single (central) one. If that property is set to True and when two shapes are connected and moved around the connection will always be attached to the edge of a figure. This figure is invisible and users can predefine the shape of the figure, only. The RadDiagramShape internally calculates the size of that firure. Our customers are allowed to define some predefined shapes. You can see all of them and choose one from the GlidingStyle property of the RadDiagramShape control.
For better understanding, you can refer to the ClassDiagram demo from our online QSF. Try to move any class in a circular pattern around another class. The gliding connector feature can be noticed in such scenario.
I hope this answers your questions.
Regards,
Pavel R. Pavlov
Telerik
Check out Telerik Analytics, the service which allows developers to discover app usage patterns, analyze user data, log exceptions, solve problems and profile application performance at run time. Watch the videos and start improving your app based on facts, not hunches.