Skip to main content
hamburger menu
+ Create a topic
Idea

Adding a prescribed text on a connector between shapes

Related products:Lucidchart
  • May 8, 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 77 views
C
Forum|alt.badge.img+1

I’m working on a shape library; the shapes have distinct business meaning. For example, I have a shape for “product” and a shape for “capability”. All shapes in my shape library have names (like “product” and “capability”).

What I’m aiming for is this: when I draw a connector from the product shape to the capability shape, I’d like the text on that connector to be “requires”. As in “product requires capability”. One in place, users would be free to edit the term, I’m only interested in providing the recommended verb term.

I have read about formulas with UPSTREAM and DOWNSTREAM, but I have not been able to come up with the ‘magic formula’,  and I have not found a way to manipulate the text of the connector, either.

Anybody with good ideas?

May 8, 2024

Hi @Club Traveller, well done! You’re very close with the formulas, but unfortunately it’s not possible to auto-add text to lines - you will have to click the +T button from the data panel every time you draw that line in order to add the “Element” text to it. 

 

This is such an interesting use case, however, and I definitely understand how powerful this would be. Conditional formatting that adds text to lines, or a setting so that a line will have text by default, would be ideal. I’ve gone ahead and converted this to an idea in our Product Feedback space to surface it to our development team and so that others can upvote and comment on it. Thanks for taking the time to share!

Finally, for more information on how Lucid manages feedback via this community, take a look at this post:

 

Comments

C
Forum|alt.badge.img+1

Making progress!

I have managed to define a condition on the connector that makes use of shape data. I defined a key named “Element” for this:

If UPSTREAM."element" = "product" AND DOWNSTREAM.”element” = “capability”

and this evaluates to true.

Now, how do I set the text on the connector (THIS) to “requires”?

Micah
Forum|alt.badge.img+20
  • Micah
  • Lucid community team
  • May 8, 2024

Hi @Club Traveller, well done! You’re very close with the formulas, but unfortunately it’s not possible to auto-add text to lines - you will have to click the +T button from the data panel every time you draw that line in order to add the “Element” text to it. 

 

This is such an interesting use case, however, and I definitely understand how powerful this would be. Conditional formatting that adds text to lines, or a setting so that a line will have text by default, would be ideal. I’ve gone ahead and converted this to an idea in our Product Feedback space to surface it to our development team and so that others can upvote and comment on it. Thanks for taking the time to share!

Finally, for more information on how Lucid manages feedback via this community, take a look at this post:

 

    C
    Forum|alt.badge.img+1

    Hi @Club Traveller, well done! You’re very close with the formulas, but unfortunately it’s not possible to auto-add text to lines - you will have to click the +T button from the data panel every time you draw that line in order to add the “Element” text to it. 

     

    This is such an interesting use case, however, and I definitely understand how powerful this would be. Conditional formatting that adds text to lines, or a setting so that a line will have text by default, would be ideal. I’ve gone ahead and converted this to an idea in our Product Feedback space to surface it to our development team and so that others can upvote and comment on it. Thanks for taking the time to share!

    Finally, for more information on how Lucid manages feedback via this community, take a look at this post:

     

    Hi @micah, thank you for your feedback and initiative to move this into a feature request.

    Two aspects for a feature request:

    1 - conditional formatting would evolve into ‘shape automation’, it’s no longer just about formatting.

    2 - you’ll need to be very specific on exactly when the conditions are evaluated. In most cases, you want to re-execute the ’automation’ part only when any term of the condition changes.

    Micah
    Forum|alt.badge.img+20
    • Micah
    • Lucid community team
    • May 13, 2024

    @Club Traveller I appreciate that insight! Thanks for taking the time to share. Please continue to let us know what we can do to support your work!

    Level up your skills & unlock exclusive perks!

    Join Lucid Legends
    Lucid Software Inc. Supplemental Community TermsAccessibility statement

    Get Started

    Products

    Solutions

    Company

    Resources

    Privacy Legal Cookie privacy choices Cookie policy Your privacy choices
    © 2026  Lucid Software Inc.