[Netron-graphlib] Black-box shapes / Grouping

[Dr. P. H. <pl...@in...>]

Francois, Martin,

some weeks ago you were discussing the issue of=20
black-box shapes, grouping of shapes and perhaps
collapsing and expanding of grouped shapes.

I think that would be a really useful feature. It=20
could help a lot to overview complex graphs by=20
a kind of hierarchy.

Here are my 2 cents:

Perhaps it could be implemented by a "group-shape"
with a boolean variable "expanded".
All grouped shapes would need a reference to this
parent group-shape. The reference can be null, if the=20
shape is not grouped.

So, when it comes to paint, the shape would branch:
If no parent exists or the parent is expanded, it=20
is painted as usual. If not, it is not painted at all.
On the other hand, the group-shape is only painted,
when it is not expanded.=20

The group shape would need a special kind of connector=20
for each connection between an included shape and a not=20
included shape. These connectors on the group-shapes=20
need to behave like the subpoints on the connections,=20
so they won=B4t disturb the logic.

Of course, there will be the issue with the positions=20
of the shapes, that Martin mentioned in his post.
Perhaps the automatic layout could help there.

What do you think?

Greetings=20

Helge