User handle in EJ2 JavaScript Diagram control

18 Apr 202324 minutes to read

User handles are used to add some frequently used commands around the selector. To create user handles, define and add them to the userHandles collection of the selectedItems property.
The name property of user handle is used to define the name of the user handle and its further used to find the user handle at runtime and do any customization.

Alignment

User handles can be aligned relative to the node boundaries. It has margin, offset, side, horizontalAlignment, and verticalAlignment settings. It is quite tricky when all four alignments are used together but gives more control over alignment.

Offset for user handle

The offset property of userHandles is used to align the user handle based on fractions. 0 represents top/left corner, 1 represents bottom/right corner, and 0.5 represents half of width/height.

Side

The side property of userHandles is used to align the user handle by using the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right options.

Horizontal and vertical alignments

The horizontalAlignment property of userHandles is used to set how the user handle is horizontally aligned at the position based on the offset. The verticalAlignment property is used to set how user handle is vertically aligned at the position.

Margin for the user handle

Margin is an absolute value used to add some blank space in any one of its four sides. The userHandles can be displaced with the margin property.

Appearance

The appearance of the user handle can be customized by using the size, borderColor, backgroundColor, visible, pathData, and pathColor properties of the userHandles.

index.js
index.html
var shape = { type: 'Basic', shape: 'Rectangle' };
var node1 = { id: 'node', offsetX: 100, offsetY: 100, shape: shape };
var handles = [{
    name: 'clone', pathData: 'M60.3,18H27.5c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2h5.5V23.5h32.7V18z M68.5,28.9h-30c-3,' +
        '0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2c0,3,2.4,5.5,5.5,5.5h30c3,0,5.5-2.4,5.5-5.5V34.4C73.9,31.4,71.5,28.9,68.5,28.9z ' +
        'M68.5,72.5h-30V34.4h30V72.5z',
    visible: true, offset: 0, side: 'Bottom', margin: { top: 0, bottom: 0, left: 0, right: 0 }
}];

    //Defines the diagram content
    diagram = new ej.diagrams.Diagram({
        width: '100%', height: '600px',
        nodes: [node1],
        selectedItems: { constraints: ej.diagrams.SelectorConstraints.All, userHandles: handles },
        getNodeDefaults: function (node) {
            node.height = 100;
            node.width = 100;
            node.style.fill = '#6BA5D7';
            node.style.strokeColor = 'white';
            return node;
        },
        getCustomTool: getTool

    });
    diagram.appendTo('#element');
    //Enable the clone Tool for UserHandle.
    function getTool(action) {
        var tool;
        if (action === 'clone') {
            tool = new CloneTool(diagram.commandHandler);
        }
        return tool;
    }

    var __extends = (this && this.__extends) || (function () {
    var extendStatics = Object.setPrototypeOf ||
        /* jshint proto: true */
        ({ __proto__: [] } instanceof Array && function (d, b) { d.__proto__ = b; }) ||
        function (d, b) { for (var p in b) if (b.hasOwnProperty(p)) d[p] = b[p]; };
    return function (d, b) {
        extendStatics(d, b);
        function __() { this.constructor = d; }
        d.prototype = b === null ? Object.create(b) : (__.prototype = b.prototype, new __());
    };
})();
var CloneTool = (function (_super) {
    __extends(CloneTool, _super);
    function CloneTool() {
        return _super !== null && _super.apply(this, arguments) || this;
    }
    CloneTool.prototype.mouseDown = function (args) {
        var newObject;
        if (diagram.selectedItems.nodes.length > 0) {
            newObject = ej.diagrams.cloneObject(diagram.selectedItems.nodes[0]);
        }
        else {
            newObject = ej.diagrams.cloneObject(diagram.selectedItems.connectors[0]);
        }
        newObject.id += ej.diagrams.randomId();
        diagram.paste([newObject]);
        args.source = diagram.nodes[diagram.nodes.length - 1];
        args.sourceWrapper = args.source.wrapper;
        _super.prototype.mouseDown.call(this, args);
        this.inAction = true;
    };
    return CloneTool;
}(ej.diagrams.MoveTool));
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Diagram</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-diagrams/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/fabric.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Fixed user handles

The fixed user handles are used to add some frequently used commands around the node and connector even without selecting it.

Initialization an fixed user handles

To create the fixed user handles, define and add them to the collection of nodes and connectors property. The following code example used to create an fixed user handles for the nodes and connectors.

index.js
index.html
var node = {
    // Position of the node
    offsetX: 250,
    offsetY: 250,
    // Size of the node
    width: 100,
    height: 100,
     style: { fill: '#6BA5D7', strokeColor: 'white' },
     fixedUserHandles: [{ margin: { right: 20 },pathData: 'M60.3,18H27.5c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2h5.5V23.5h32.7V18z M68.5,28.9h-30c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2c0,3,2.4,5.5,5.5,5.5h30c3,0,5.5-2.4,5.5-5.5V34.4C73.9,31.4,71.5,28.9,68.5,28.9z M68.5,72.5h-30V34.4h30V72.5z' }]
     };

// initialize Diagram component

var diagram = new ej.diagrams.Diagram({
    width: '100%', height: '600px', nodes: [node]
    }, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Diagram</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-diagrams/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/fabric.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Customization

The id property of fixed user handle is used to define the unique identification of the fixed user handle and it is further used to add custom events to the fixed user handle.
The fixed user handle can be positioned relative to the node and connector boundaries. It has offset, padding and cornerRadius settings. It is used to position and customize the fixed user handle.
The Padding is used to leave the space that is inside the fixed user handle between the icon and border.
The corner radius allows to create fixed user handles with rounded corners. The radius of the rounded corner is set with the cornerRadius property.

Note: The PathData needs to be provided to render fixed user handle.

Size

Diagram allows you set size for the fixed user handles by using the width and height property. The default value of the width and height property is 10.

Style

You can change the style of the fixed user handles with the specific properties of borderColor, borderWidth, and background color using the handleStrokeColor, handleStrokeWidth, and fill properties, and the icon borderColor, and borderWidth using the iconStrokeColor and iconStrokeWidth.
The fixed user handle’s iconStrokeColor and iconStrokeWidth property used to change the stroke color and stroke width of the given pathData.
The fixed user handle handleStrokeColor and fill properties are used to define the background color and border color of the userhandle and the handleStrokeWidth property is used to define the border width of the fixed user handle.
The visible property of the fixed user handle enables or disables the visibility of fixed user handle.

The following code explains how to customize the appearance of the fixed user handles.

index.js
index.html
var nodes = {
            id: 'node1', width: 100, height: 100, offsetX: 100, offsetY: 150, isExpanded: true,
            fixedUserHandles: [{ offset: { x: 0, y: 0 }, margin: { right: 20 },fill:'black',iconStrokeColor:'white',handleStrokeWidth:3,handleStrokeColor:'black',  width: 20, height: 20, id: 'user1', pathData: 'M60.3,18H27.5c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2h5.5V23.5h32.7V18z M68.5,28.9h-30c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2c0,3,2.4,5.5,5.5,5.5h30c3,0,5.5-2.4,5.5-5.5V34.4C73.9,31.4,71.5,28.9,68.5,28.9z M68.5,72.5h-30V34.4h30V72.5z' }]
        };

 var connector = {
            id: 'connector1',
            type: 'Orthogonal',
            sourcePoint: { x: 300, y: 100 },
            targetPoint: { x: 400, y: 200 }, fixedUserHandles: [{ offset: 0.5, width: 20,fill:'black',iconStrokeColor:'white',handleStrokeWidth:3,handleStrokeColor:'black', alignment: 'Before', height: 20, id: 'usercon1', displacement: { x: 10, y: 10 }, pathData: 'M60.3,18H27.5c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2h5.5V23.5h32.7V18z M68.5,28.9h-30c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2c0,3,2.4,5.5,5.5,5.5h30c3,0,5.5-2.4,5.5-5.5V34.4C73.9,31.4,71.5,28.9,68.5,28.9z M68.5,72.5h-30V34.4h30V72.5z' }]
        };       

var diagram = new ej.diagrams.Diagram({
    width: '100%', height: '600px', nodes: [nodes], connectors: [connector]
    }, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Diagram</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-diagrams/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/fabric.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Note: The fixed user handle id need to be unique.

Customizing the node fixed user handle

The node fixed user handle can be aligned relative to the node boundaries. It has margin and offset settings. It is quite useful to position the node fixed userhandle and used together and gives you more control over the node fixed user handle positioning.

Margin for the node fixed user handle

Margin is an absolute value used to add some blank space in any one of its four sides. The fixed user handle can be displaced with the margin property.

Offset for the node fixed user handle

The offset property of fixed user handle is used to align the user handle based on the x and y points. (0,0) represents the top or left corner and (1,1) represents the bottom or right corner.

The following table shows all the possible alignments visually shows the fixed user handle positions.

Offset	Margin	Output
(0,0)	Right = 20
(0.5,0)	Bottom = 20
(1,0)	Left = 20
(0,0.5)	Right = 20
(0,1)	Left = 20
(0,1)	Right = 20
(0.5,1)	Top = 20
(1,1)	Left = 20

The following code explains how to customize the node fixed user handle.

index.js
index.html
var node = {
    // Position of the node
    offsetX: 250,
    offsetY: 250,
    // Size of the node
    width: 100,
    height: 100,
     style: { fill: '#6BA5D7', strokeColor: 'white' },
     fixedUserHandles: [{ offset: { x: 0, y: 0 }, margin: { right: 20 }, width: 20,height: 20, id: 'user1', pathData: 'M60.3,18H27.5c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2h5.5V23.5h32.7V18z M68.5,28.9h-30c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2c0,3,2.4,5.5,5.5,5.5h30c3,0,5.5-2.4,5.5-5.5V34.4C73.9,31.4,71.5,28.9,68.5,28.9z M68.5,72.5h-30V34.4h30V72.5z' }]
     };

// initialize Diagram component

var diagram = new ej.diagrams.Diagram({
    width: '100%', height: '600px', nodes: [node]
    }, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Diagram</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-diagrams/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/fabric.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Customizing the connector fixed user handle

The connector fixed user handle can be aligned relative to the connector boundaries. It has alignment, displacement and offset settings. It is useful to position the connector fixed user handle and used together and gives you more control over the connector fixed user handle positioning.
The offset and alignment properties of fixed user handle allows you to align the connector fixed user handles to the segments.

Offset for the connector fixed user handle

The offset property of connector fixed user handle is used to align the user handle based on fractions. 0 represents the connector source point, 1 represents the connector target point, and 0.5 represents the center point of the connector segment.

Alignment

The connector’s fixed user handle can be aligned over its segment path using the alignment property of fixed user handle.

The following table shows all the possible alignments visually shows the fixed user handle positions.

Offset	Alignment	Output
0	Before
0.5	Center
1	After

Displacement

The displacement property allows you to specify the space to be left from the connector segment based on the x and y value provided.

The following table shows all the possible alignments visually shows the fixed user handle positions.

Displacment	Alignment	Output
x=10	Before
x=10	After
y=10	Before
y=10	After

Note: Displacement will not be done if the alignment is set to be center.

The following code explains how to customize the connector fixed user handle.

index.js
index.html
var connector = {
            id: 'connector1',
            type: 'Orthogonal',
            sourcePoint: { x: 300, y: 100 },
            targetPoint: { x: 400, y: 200 }, fixedUserHandles: [{ offset: 0.5, width: 20, alignment: 'Before', height: 20, id: 'usercon1', displacement: { x: 10, y: 10 }, pathData: 'M60.3,18H27.5c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2h5.5V23.5h32.7V18z M68.5,28.9h-30c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2c0,3,2.4,5.5,5.5,5.5h30c3,0,5.5-2.4,5.5-5.5V34.4C73.9,31.4,71.5,28.9,68.5,28.9z M68.5,72.5h-30V34.4h30V72.5z' }]
        };
var diagram = new ej.diagrams.Diagram({
    width: '100%', height: '600px',  connectors: [connector]
    }, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Diagram</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-diagrams/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/fabric.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

The diagram provides support to show tooltip when the mouse hovers over any user handle. To show the tooltip on mouse over, the tooltip property of diagram model needs to be set with the tooltip content and position as shown in the following example.

index.js
index.html
var node = {
    // Position of the node
    offsetX: 250,
    offsetY: 250,
    // Size of the node
    width: 100,
    height: 100,
     style: { fill: '#6BA5D7', strokeColor: 'white' },
     tooltip: { content: 'node1', position: 'BottomRight', relativeMode: 'Object' },
     constraints: ej.diagrams.NodeConstraints.Default | ej.diagrams.NodeConstraints.Tooltip,
    };
    var handle = [{
        name: 'clone', pathData: 'M60.3,18H27.5c-3,0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2h5.5V23.5h32.7V18z M68.5,28.9h-30c-3,' +
            '0-5.5,2.4-5.5,5.5v38.2c0,3,2.4,5.5,5.5,5.5h30c3,0,5.5-2.4,5.5-5.5V34.4C73.9,31.4,71.5,28.9,68.5,28.9z ' +
            'M68.5,72.5h-30V34.4h30V72.5z',
        visible: true, offset: 0, side: 'Bottom', margin: { top: 0, bottom: 0, left: 0, right: 0 },
        tooltip: { content: 'handle1', position: 'BottomRight', relativeMode: 'Object' }
    }];
// initialize Diagram component

var diagram = new ej.diagrams.Diagram({
    width: '100%', height: '600px', nodes: [node],
    constraints: ej.diagrams.DiagramConstraints.Default | ej.diagrams.DiagramConstraints.Tooltip,
    nodeTemplate: '#nodetemplate', 
    userHandleTemplate: '#userHandletemplate',
    selectedItems: { constraints: ej.diagrams.SelectorConstraints.All,userHandles: handle },
    }, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Diagram</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-diagrams/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/fabric.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

User handle in EJ2 JavaScript Diagram control

Alignment

Offset for user handle

Side

Horizontal and vertical alignments

Margin for the user handle

Appearance

Fixed user handles

Initialization an fixed user handles

Customization

Size

Style

Customizing the node fixed user handle

Margin for the node fixed user handle

Offset for the node fixed user handle

Customizing the connector fixed user handle

Offset for the connector fixed user handle

Alignment

Displacement

Tooltip support for User Handle