Formatting

Go Up to Preferences

You can set global preferences for the following element types:

• Business Process Modeling Formatting
• Conceptual Modeling Formatting
• External Data Objects Formatting
• Reference Objects Formatting
• Shapes Formatting

The changes you make in these preference dialogs are then applied to all future elements you place in the Diagram View. For example, if you change the fill color of a gateway to red. Now all gateways you place in the diagram View will be red. The preferences you can set are fonts and colors, text justification, rendering, display option settings, and line display options.

To open the Formatting Preferences dialog, do the following:

1 From the main menu select Windows > Preferences.

2 Expand the Formatting node and select element types you want to format (i.e., Business Process Modeling, Conceptual Modeling, External Data Objects, etc.).

Once you select the type of elements you want to format, additional information appears where you can specify display format defaults for a selected element. The formatting options are explained below:

Detail	Description
Tree	The Tree contains the set of business processing modeling elements which have visual formatting preferences set. This is anything which can be viewed in a diagram and printed. When you open the Formatting Preferences, all available elements are listed.
Font and Color Options	Once you select an object in the List Pane, you can change the following settings: font type, font size, font style, and font color. You can also change an element’s fill color and line color.
Horizontal Alignment	You can set the justification style for text in a selected element.
Vertical Alignment	You can set the top to bottom alignment of text in a selected element.
Rendering	You can set the appearance of a selected element using the shadowed and gradient settings.
Display Options	The Show Name on Creation option displays an element’s name when that element is placed on a diagram. Note: This only applies to newly created elements on a diagram. Existing elements are not updated when you click the Apply to Diagram button.
Line Display Options	Depending on the element you are formatting, you can change the following: line width, source decorator, source decorator size, line style, target decorator, and target decorator size.

Each dialog offers action buttons. The table below describes each button:

Button	Description
Apply to Diagram	Applies the changes immediately to elements in an open diagram. Note: The Apply to Diagram function does not apply to the Display Options command for existing elements in a diagram.
Restore Defaults	Restores formatting of the element to the application defaults.
Apply	Applies your specifications without closing the dialog box.
OK	Applies your specifications, and then closes the dialog box.
Cancel	Closes the Preferences dialog and cancels all changes made in the Formatting dialog, unless something has been applied earlier.