Requesting Feedback: JSON Import / Post Document Contents!

@Alex B Your idea sounds super powerful and we understand the importance of customization and the value it brings to our users. While direct support for custom shape libraries in the standard import is not on our immediate roadmap, we encourage exploring the Lucid Extension API as an alternative approach. The Extension API offers flexibility in integrating custom shapes and functionalities into your Lucidchart diagrams. By building a custom extension, you could programmatically insert shapes from your custom shape library into diagrams, thus achieving a similar outcome to what you've described.

If you're interested in this approach, please see this post for resources to help with getting started building a Lucid extension.

Just read the

and found out z-order is not an option at this time.   I am here to make the feature request.     

Our company is investigating auto creating network diagrams with lucid since we already use lucidcharts in a manually and documents are quickly out of date.  However the inability to have the lines be under the shapes renders the output almost unusable.    I place the lines in x_pos, y_pos of 0.5 and 0.5 to connect ot the shape and it is always over the shape.   So i have to go into each of the 100+ shapes to move it to the “front”.    

I would ask for z-order to be an option.  My use case really is just to move ALL the lines “under” the shapes.    

@Ian Baenziger please see my request from 17 days ago.  Would love to programmatically create diagrams to simplify troubleshooting.   

Hi @vwong, thanks for your patience while we got back to you! I’m stepping in for Ian, who’s been fully focused on some exciting updates, including our new Azure DevOps integration and other API enhancements (you can check them out here: ADO Integration, API Keys, Editable Embeds).

Regarding your feedback about the z-order issue for our JSON import, I completely understand the impact here. Currently, we don’t have z-order as an option, which means shapes and lines are processed in the order they’re added. I see how this is a hassle when lines appear above shapes.

Your feedback is valuable and has been noted for future updates.

If you have any other questions or need further support, feel free to reach out anytime. We’re here to help. The team and I are excited about programmatically creating diagrams too! Let’s keep the conversation going about how we can make this even better for you.

Dear lucid team,
 

I am building a tool to import diagrams from external systems using Standard Import. It is quite easy to create shapes and link them to each other. However, the obvious challenge is arranging the diagram (especially a complex one) to make it readable.

So, one approach is to calculate all shapes and line positions using some algorithm like ELK. Well, this is quite a task. Another approach is to use Auto Layout → Hierarchy action in Lucid App. I discovered that lucid can call custom editor extension after Standard Import step (like upon first diagram opening), which offers more flexibility (even z-order stuff requested above). But unfortunately, it cannot access the Auto Layout action (with the Hierarchy option being the most useful). Therefore, my suggestion and “wish” for the Lucid SDK developers is to make this feature accessible at the client or document level. It would be incredibly helpful!

Thanks

@shineblu Can you share links and info about calling “custom editor extension” after standard import step?     Not sure what is meant by that.  

@lucid Team:  Is there any documentation on how that Auto Layout → HIerachy action determines placement?

@vwong , Hi, you can read about that here: https://developer.lucid.co/docs/editor-extension-data#bootstrap-data-for-documents-created-via-api

Thanks

It would be so nice to get a feedback on the issue above.

Hi @shineblu, 

Thanks for your post! We’re very interested in your feedback and committed to continually improving our products. I would recommend posting this as an Idea in our Product Feedback section, these ideas will be shared with our Product Development team for consideration. To do this please search the community  (with the filter Topic Type = Idea) to see if this idea has already been submitted. If so, please add any additional details you’d like and upvote the request - this consolidation helps to refine feedback and properly capture the popularity of the request.

If no one has submitted this idea yet, please create one of your own and be sure to include details about your use case or what you’d like to see in this experience. This will also allow other users with similar requests to discover and upvote it, then add details of their own.

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

Dear @Kelsey Gaag, Thank you for your reply. I’ve already submitted an idea, but I’m unsure who reviews it and when. Since this topic is marked as “Requesting Feedback,” I am providing my input. The idea I proposed is primarily for technicians who are building integrations with your product, rather than for a wide group of end-users. It would be great to get some clarity on whether it is possible to implement this feature. If not, we will all end up reinventing the wheel with our own algorithms. I believe it is better to support the developer community while there is interest.

Cheers!