Creating a Structured Diagram with Diagram Master

This video provides and overview of a structured diagram using Diagram Master. Diagram Master is an Excel add-in for creating node based diagrams. For more information visit the Diagram Master product page.

Topics Covered

Create a diagram worksheet.

Add nodes.

Edit nodes.

Change diagram settings.

Introduction

This video demonstrates how to create a structured diagram using Diagram Master.  The term structured diagram simply refers to the fact that node relationships are defined by their incoming and outgoing connections.  This structure can be used to define hierarchy, process flow direction, parent-child relationships and so on.

Create a Diagram Worksheet

First we start by creating a diagram worksheet.  Click the New Diagram button on the ribbon.  The new diagram form will appear and you can set diagram settings or you can just enter a sheet name and start creating the diagram.

We’ll just show the node name and ID.

Clicking on the shape & size tab we can set all nodes to be rounded rectangles and auto size with a 0.5 aspect ratio.

On the connectors tab, we’ll use elbow connectors.  This diagram will have a top down orientation so the incoming connection point for each node will be on the top and outgoing connections on the bottom.  Note that we can change the connection points of nodes individually by using the Edit Node button.

Diagram Master also has the option to auto arrange nodes to make layout easier.  Layout orientation can be left to right, top to bottom or radial.  Layout is performed according to node level.  For this diagram we will be using top to bottom orientation so node level 0 will be at the top and each higher node level will be on separate rows of nodes.

Add Node

Once the diagram worksheet is created, the add node form will appear.  Node information is entered and we can keep creating nodes as needed.

For this diagram, each node will only have one parent, but will have more than one child node.  For a structured diagram in general, the software allows a node to have more than one parent, such as dotted line reporting in an org chart or multiple inputs in a flow chart.

Note that when the add node form is closed, the nodes are auto arranged according to the settings when the diagram was created.  The root node is node level 0.  The two child nodes are node level 1 and the sub-nodes are node level 2.

We can add more nodes using the Add Node button.

Diagram Settings

Diagram settings can be changed at any time using the Diagram Settings button on the ribbon.

The type of node text that is visible, node shape and size, connector properties, auto arrangement, node visibility and node order within a given node level can be changed.

Edit Node

A node can be edited two ways.

The first way is by clicking on the edit node button and selecting the node from the drop down box.

The second way is to turn on the click to edit function in diagram settings.  Click the Diagram Settings button to open the settings form.

When click to edit is turned on, you can click on a node and the edit node form will appear with the node already selected.