Ports

Port is a part of an item, which defines connectable part of an item. This concept has been introduced Gaphas version 0.4.0 to make Gaphas connection system more flexible.

Port Types

There are two types of ports implemented in Gaphor (see gaphas.connector module).

First one is point port, as is often use in EDA applications, a handle connecting to such port is always kept at specific position, which equals to port’s position.

Other port type is line port. A handle connecting to such port is kept on a line defined by start and end positions of line port.

Line port is used by items provided by gaphas.item module. Element item has one port defined at every edge of its rectangular shape (this is 4 ports). Line item has one port per line segment.

Different types of ports can be invented like circle port or area port, they should implement interface defined by gaphas.connector.Port class to fit into Gaphas’ connection system.

Ports and Constraints (Covering Handles)

Diagram items can have internal constraints, which can be used to position item’s ports within an item itself.

For example, Element item could create constraints to position ports over its edges of rectanglular area. The result is duplication of constraints as Element already constraints position of handles to keep them in a rectangle.

Therefore, when port covers handles, then it should reference handle positions.

For example, an item, which is a horizontal line could be implemented like:

class HorizontalLine(gaphas.item.Item):
    def __init__(self):
        super(HorizontalLine, self).__init__()

        self.start = Handle()
        self.end = Handle()

        self.port = LinePort(self.start.pos, self.end.pos)

        self.constraint(horizontal=(self.start.pos, self.end.pos))

In case of Element item, each line port references positions of two handles, which keeps ports to lie over edges of rectangle. The same applies to Line item - every port is defined between positions of two neighbour handles. When Line item is orthogonal, then handle and ports share the same constraints, which guard line orthogonality.

This way, item’s constraints are reused and their amount is limited to minimum.

Connections

Connection between two items is established by creating a constraint between handle’s position and port’s positions (positions are constraint solver variables).

ConnectHandleTool class provides functionality to allow an user to perform connections between items.

Examples

Examples of ports can be found in Gaphas and Gaphor source code

• gaphas.item.Line and gaphas.item.Element classes

• gaphas.examples.PortoBox class has an example of movable port

• Gaphor interface and lifeline items have own specific ports