When preparing templates for diagrams, specially those with curved boundaries and with more than one glue point, this feature can be a time saver. For instance, for digital OR and AND gates (which I'm currently preparing) the inputs can be from 2 to 4 glue points; such points could be then copied from one prepared component to the other and displaced accordingly to match the contour. Or, for instance, copied from a prepared AND gate to a NAND gate with minor adjustments. Some examples of such diagrams can be found at https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Digital_Circuits/Gates or, more elaborate with 3 inputs diagrams, at https://mindhunter74.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/xor-the-interesting-gate/
@Regina, what do you think ?
Hi Xisco and all. & thanks for your attention. Let me add some extra info and (possibly) make my points more clear (no pun intended). I don't really know if these are documented features but ([] means optional) - one can actually select multiple glue points (when using the "glue point menu" and with the mouse, or selecting one by one only holding the shift key); - if you try to delete them all ([Edit-]Ctrl-X or Del), all points are deleted; - if you try to move them with the mouse, the points move with the cursor. - a status message is displayed: "<n> glue points from Shape selected" But (again) - if you try to paste ([Edit-]Ctrl-V or Del), the *whole shape* is pasted; - when one tries to move them with the keyboard arrows, as you were dealing with a plain object, the *whole shape* is moved and not only the points. - consistently, when these selected points are copied and pasted (with [Edit-]Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V, within the contour and still in "glue point menu"), the *whole shape* is pasted (together with the glue points). IMHO, the usage of connections, glues and groupings is somewhat natural in making diagrams. Before I began to use the glue points facilities, I used to group "nearly radius=0 circles, no lines, no color filling" and the relevant shape; the collapsed circles' "bounding boxes points" were used to make the connections. Of course, the final result was a beginner's mess since the internal shapes/glue points of a group are not exposed to the outside of the group (which is another feature request I intend to ask for you patient guys); but it worked like a charm (and of course with the group removed) when one had to make some movings, and copyings and so on. Hope it helps. Thanks again.
Yes, the glue points need some improvement. A copy tool would be nice. It would be useful especially if you have a lot of glue points with non default settings in regard to direction and position. (In reply to Luiz Gonçalves from comment #2) Of course, the final result was a beginner's mess > since the internal shapes/glue points of a group are not exposed to the > outside of the group (which is another feature request I intend to ask for > you patient guys) => bug 76277, bug 106621.
(In reply to Regina Henschel from comment #3) > Yes, the glue points need some improvement. A copy tool would be nice. It > would be useful especially if you have a lot of glue points with non default > settings in regard to direction and position. > > (In reply to Luiz Gonçalves from comment #2) > Of course, the final result was a beginner's mess > > since the internal shapes/glue points of a group are not exposed to the > > outside of the group (which is another feature request I intend to ask for > > you patient guys) => bug 76277, bug 106621. Thanks. moving to NEW