Techniques
Pinned placement — anchors in an automatic layout
Automatic placement with declared anchors: the pinned elements hold their positions, the algorithm places everything else around them.
ddn@1New DDN source
Why use it?
Real diagrams have landmarks ("the customer is always top-left"); pins say which positions are intentional and which are computed.
When it helps
Any layout where some positions carry meaning — geography, org convention, reader habit.
How to read it
- The pinned elements are the fixed points; every other position derives from the algorithm working around them.
- Switch variants to see the same pins honoured by different algorithms.
What you need
- The model
- The pin declarations
- The algorithm that works around them
Things to check
- Do not pin everything — that is the manual algorithm wearing a costume.
- A pin that contradicts the reading order fights the reader, not the engine.
Scope of this diagram
Declared pins honoured by the placement engine; pixel-perfect composition belongs to the manual algorithm.
Work with the converted example
- Open the viewer and select
circular. Inspect the rendered view and its source. - Open the designer. Keep the selected profile and inspect its legal palette and property controls.
- Change one displayed title or an appropriate data value. Apply the edit and check the resulting diagram.
- Run the verifier and review its diagnostics before moving complete content into review.
- Download your edited DDN source to retain the change.
The example uses the indentation-based ddn-next-1 dialect. The language guide explains reusable definitions, dotted data rows and explicit property blocks.