Bidirectional Connection (horizontal and vertical connection)

Meaning

Represents a connection between an active and a passive component of the system. The active component has read and write access to the passive component.

This shape layouts automatically when connected with both ends. It will choose a vertical or horizontal layout and connect to the appropriate connection points.

Utilization

Control Points

A )
  • moves the position of the explaining text
  • appears only when text has been entered
  • to enter text double click the shape or start typing while the shape is selected
B1, B2) connection points of the bidirectional connection
C ) allows to move the bidirectional connection along the axis

Context Menu

Depending on the layout, whether the Bidirectional Connection is horizontally or vertically, you can set the alignment. Accordingly there is always only one of the following shown in the context menu.

  Align Top - The shape will be aligned at the top end-point.
Align Center - The shape will be aligned at the center (always shown by the dotted line).
Align Bottom - The shape will be aligned at the bottom end-point.

  Align Left - The shape will be aligned at the left end-point.
Align Center - The shape will be aligned at the center (always shown by the dotted line).
Align Right - The shape will be aligned at the right end-point.

The shape can be automatically (this is the default setting) or manually layouted. To control this, use the context menu as well:

  Make Horizontal - If automatic layout is turned off, you can manually set the shape to horizontal.
Make Vertical - If automatic layout is turned off, you can manually set the shape to vertical.
Automatic Layout - The shape will layout itself either horizontally or vertically and choose appropriate connection points of the shapes it is connected to. This depends on the position of the other shapes.

See also

Channel
Bidirectional Connection (direct connection)
Communication Channel (horizontal and vertical connection)
Communication Channel (direct connection)
Universal Communication Channel (horizontal)
Universal Communication Channel (vertical)