sgcDiagram Feature Matrix
Everything sgcDiagram does, grouped by task, with a link to the help topic of each feature. A diagram saved as JSON opens in Delphi, C++ Builder and .NET.
Everything sgcDiagram does, grouped by task, with a link to the help topic of each feature. A diagram saved as JSON opens in Delphi, C++ Builder and .NET.
7 features
7 features
7 features
6 features
7 features
6 NuGet packages
Online help and PDF manuals
Registered marks the features that are in the Registered and Trial editions and not in the free Community edition. ~ marks a feature that Community has in part, with the difference below it.
Every row links to its help topic. The Community column shows what the free .NET Community edition includes; Registered and Trial include everything.
| Feature | Details | Community | Help |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palette and editor | Users drag shapes from TsgcVCLDiagramPalette onto TsgcVCLDiagramView, connect ports and edit text in place. | Help | |
| 14 shapes | Process, decision, terminator, data, document, container, image, SVG path and more. | Help | |
| Connectors | Straight, orthogonal and curved connectors with labels and arrows. Obstacle avoiding routing is in the Registered edition. | ~Community routes orthogonal connectors as simple elbows that do not avoid the nodes. | Help |
| Ports and gluing | Connectors glue to the ports of the nodes and follow them. | Help | |
| Undo and clipboard | Undo and redo of every action, grouped changes with BeginTransaction and EndTransaction, copy and paste. | Help | |
| Snapping and guides | Snap to grid and alignment guides. | Help | |
| Layers | Several layers in one diagram. The Community edition has one layer. | Registered | Help |
| Accessibility | Nodes, links, groups and the shape palette are exposed to UI Automation, with a generated text alternative for the diagram. Keyboard alternatives move, nudge and resize nodes, draw links (Ctrl+K) and add shapes from the palette, the focus ring is always visible and Windows high contrast is followed. On by default on VCL (Delphi 7 to 13), FireMonkey on Windows, WinForms, WPF and Avalonia. | Help |
| Feature | Details | Community | Help |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eight shape libraries, 278 stencils | Flowchart, Basic, Org chart, Network, BPMN, UML, P&ID and Mind map, drawn by eSeGeCe and loaded on demand. The palette searches the names and keywords of every stencil, and its Libraries property chooses the libraries it shows. | ~Community has the Flowchart, Basic, Org chart and Network libraries (108 stencils). BPMN, UML, P&ID and Mind map are Registered. | Help |
| P&ID symbols (ISA-5.1 style) | The pid library has 56 stencils in six categories for process screens: valves, pumps, vessels, heat transfer equipment, instruments and piping. The actuator property picks the actuator of a control valve, and the instrument signal lines are line styles of the connectors. Load it with sgcDiagramStencilsEnsureLibrary('pid') or add pid to the Libraries of a palette. | Registered | Help |
| Custom stencils in JSON | Describe your own shapes in a JSON file, with vector parts, ports, a text area and properties, and register it with sgcDiagramStencilsLoadFromFile. The built-in libraries use the same format. | Help | |
| Rulers and guides | ShowRulers adds rulers in pixels, millimeters or inches. Drag a guide out of a ruler: boxes snap to it and it is saved with the diagram. | Help | |
| Align and distribute | Align the selection to the left, center, right, top, middle or bottom, distribute three or more nodes by centers or by gaps, make nodes the same size, change the z order and flip. Each command is one undo step. | Help | |
| Minimap | TsgcVCLDiagramMinimap shows the whole diagram with the visible area. Click or drag to move the view, and use the wheel to zoom. | Help | |
| Swimlanes and pools (BPMN) | AddPool and AddLane build a pool with horizontal or vertical lanes, and the shapes of a process are children of a lane. Lanes can be added, removed, resized and collapsed. | Registered | Help |
| Feature | Details | Community | Help |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mind map mode | With MindMapMode, Tab adds a child topic, Enter adds a sibling and F2 edits the text. Branches collapse and expand, and TsgcDiagramMindMapLayout keeps the map laid out around the central topic. | Registered | Help |
| Import from draw.io, Visio, GraphML and Mermaid | ImportFromFile reads draw.io (diagrams.net) files, Visio (.vsdx) files, GraphML files, yEd graphics included, and Mermaid flowcharts, and detects the format by itself. | Registered | Help |
| Import Mermaid flowcharts | sgcDiagramImportMermaid turns Mermaid flowchart text into nodes and connectors: the node shapes, solid, dotted and thick links with labels, subgraphs as containers with their own direction, and the classDef, style and linkStyle colours. The nodes are placed with the layered layout, unsupported statements are listed as warnings and a syntax error reports its line, leaving the diagram unchanged. | Registered | Help |
| Live status colors | TsgcDiagramStatusBinding paints nodes and connectors from values per key, with rules for color, badge, blink, opacity and animated dashes. The status is an overlay, so the saved diagram does not change. | Registered | Help |
| Process states and animated pipes | The rules of TsgcDiagramStatusBinding turn tag values into a process state of the equipment (State: off, on, fault, open, closed or transit), drawn with the state colours, the stencil parts of that state and a fault mark, and into a flow of the pipes (Flow), drawn as dashes that move forward or in reverse along the connector. With reduced motion the dashes stand still and a chevron shows the direction. | Registered | Help |
| Live status from sgcWebSockets | TsgcDiagramWSStatusSource feeds the status binding from a WebSocket, MQTT or HTTP client of sgcWebSockets. The same values can come from your own code with SetValue. | Registered | Help |
| Faster connector routing | The obstacle avoiding router keeps its grid in Document.RouterCache and searches again only the routes that changed, so a large diagram stays smooth while nodes move. | ~Community routes orthogonal connectors as simple elbows that do not avoid the nodes. | Help |
| Screen reader support | The minimap, the align and distribute commands, swimlanes, mind maps and stencil nodes speak to screen readers, for example '1 topic added'. | ~Community has it for the features it includes. | Help |
| Feature | Details | Community | Help |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layered layout | One call arranges the whole diagram, left to right or top to bottom, in one undo step (TsgcDiagramLayeredLayout). | Registered | Help |
| Tree layout | TsgcDiagramTreeLayout for org charts and hierarchies. | Registered | Help |
| Data binding | TsgcDiagramDataBinding builds a diagram from a dataset, for example an org chart from a table. | Registered | Help |
| Live two way binding | The binding follows the dataset while it runs: new, changed and deleted records update their nodes by Id, and the nodes keep their place. Links come from a second dataset (LinkDataSource with a from and a to field) or from a parent field, and XField, YField, WidthField and HeightField store the position and the size. With WriteBack the nodes and links that users add, move, edit or delete are written back to the datasets, with OnBeforeWriteBack, OnWriteBack and OnWriteBackError; a refused or failed write reloads the diagram from the data. Throttle groups fast changes into one update. In .NET the WinForms, WPF and Avalonia views do the same with their data sources and the NodeXMember, NodeYMember, NodeWidthMember, NodeHeightMember and LinkKeyMember properties. | Registered | Help |
| NodesSource and LinksSource (.NET) | TsgcWpfDiagramView and TsgcAvaloniaDiagramView build the diagram from collections: NodesSource gives one node per item, NodeParentMember a connector to its parent for an org chart, and LinksSource one connector per item for a graph. TsgcWinFormsDiagramView binds NodesDataSource and LinksDataSource. The binding is one way: the diagram is rebuilt when the data changes. | Registered | Help |
| Designer and sample diagram (.NET) | The WinForms view opens in the Visual Studio designer on .NET Framework and on .NET 8 or later, and a view with no nodes shows a small sample flow in the designer and in the WPF and Avalonia previewers. In the Registered edition the smart tag also shows Nodes Data Source, Node Key Member, Node Parent Member and Links Data Source. | Help |
| Feature | Details | Community | Help |
|---|---|---|---|
| JSON files | SaveToFile and LoadFromFile; the same file opens in Delphi, C++ Builder and .NET. | Help | |
| PNG and SVG export | TsgcDiagramRenderer and the view save PNG and SVG, also on a server or console without a window, Linux64 included. | Help | |
| Themes and styles | Light and dark themes shared with the other sgcUI products, per node styles, custom drawing with OnDrawNode. | Help | |
| Viewer mode | ReadOnly shows diagrams without edits. | Help | |
| Right to left (Arabic and Hebrew) | The palette, rulers, minimap and toolbars are mirrored; the canvas keeps the geometry of your shapes, and shape text reads in its own direction. dglRightToLeft makes the layered and tree layouts (Registered) read from the right. | Help | |
| Printing and print preview | Print and ShowPrintPreview print the whole diagram, the same area as the PNG and SVG export, without the selection, the handles and the guides. PrintSettings sets the paper, orientation, margins, scaling, header and footer once for the printer, the preview and the PDF. In every edition, on VCL, FireMonkey, WinForms, WPF and Avalonia (FireMonkey prints on Windows and macOS). | Help | |
| Accessible PDF export, PDF/UA and PDF/A (with sgcPDF) | ExportToPDF writes vector pages with real text and an alternative text with the number of shapes and connectors and the shape texts. The file is a tagged PDF/UA document by default, and PDFALevel adds PDF/A-2a or PDF/A-3a. Needs the sgcUIPDF bridge and a licensed sgcPDF (esegece.sgcUICore.sgcPDF in .NET). | Registered | Help |
The .NET diagram is a C# port with the same class names, for WinForms, WPF and Avalonia, with a headless rendering package.
| Package | Edition | Contents |
|---|---|---|
esegece.sgcDiagram.Community | Community (free) | Core library |
esegece.sgcDiagram.WinForms.Community | Community (free) | Windows Forms controls |
esegece.sgcDiagram.Wpf.Community | Community (free) | WPF controls |
esegece.sgcDiagram.Avalonia.Community | Community (free) | Avalonia controls |
esegece.sgcDiagram.Rendering.Community | Community (free) | Headless rendering |
esegece.sgcDiagram | Registered | Core library |
esegece.sgcDiagram.WinForms | Registered | Windows Forms controls |
esegece.sgcDiagram.Wpf | Registered | WPF controls |
esegece.sgcDiagram.Avalonia | Registered | Avalonia controls |
esegece.sgcDiagram.Rendering | Registered | Headless rendering |
esegece.sgcDiagram.sgcWebSockets | Registered only | sgcWebSockets bridge |
Every feature of sgcDiagram is documented in the sgcUI help, with one build for each development environment.
Start with the sgcDiagram introduction, then follow the quick start and the feature topics.
Delphi →The complete sgcUI help as a PDF file, to read offline or print.
Delphi (PDF) →