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Dear Colleagues



I've successfully created custom shapes with properties/meta-data being sourced from a data-source in Lucid applying the data-set to the the shape group and using the underlying entities pointing to the PARENT.propertyname



However I wish to extend a Lucid BPMN object. I created the additional graphical objects the group and applied the meta-data to the group. The individual properties did update. However to access the default Activity marker and Task type one must first edit the group to then set the layout.



Is there a means to set activity marker & task type via data-source properties? can one add to the BPMN symbol the additional properties without creating a group and applying the data-source/meta-data to teh group?



 



Thanks



 



 



 

Following is the additional info to go on the BPMN task object:












Hi John thank you for contributing to the Lucid Community! Are you looking for a solution that can be achieved through existing features or customization options within Lucidchart or are you open to exploring custom development options?


It may be possible to create a custom shape that can dynamically update with the BPMN icons based on the data linked to this shape. This would require some custom development with Lucid's Extension API and we also offer professional services that can assist in building this custom shape for you.


I appreciate your patience and I will get back to you shortly.











Hi Richard - OOTB functionality if at all possible maybe via formulas etc.


Please advise


 

Addendum: Richard I may be interested in API questions per some other functionality we are seeking. Can you advise on this? is there a DEVOPS guide for Lucid? are the customizations implemented in the backend web services environment or as jscript on the client side of the SaaS platform?


Please advise

Hey John! These are very good questions and thanks for your work. We unfortunately don't currently have a way to extend an existing Lucidchart shape via our Extension API.


I would love to get feedback on your ideas and see what we can support. I have your email from the Extension API Beta submission. Will follow up there


 


 

Ibaenzinger - thanks for your reply. That is unfortunate. I realize on an SaaS platform one cannot directly affect the functionality of a platform (ie: Visio + VBA) as one would in a desktop application. However there are some capabilities that could be significantly enhanced and/or extended via custom coding that may well lead to product enhancements adopted by Lucid to the benefit of both the product portfolio and user community.


Just a thought.

Hi Ian a thought.


Can sub-shapes within an shape/object group be "turned on/off" (made visible or invisible) based on metadata settings? I'm thinking of an alternative to the task-type and activity-marker symbols.


Thanks

Hey John! Good news we do support this! It's discussed in this section of our documentation though we do not yet have a code example (will seek to add one shortly).


You'd add a "condition" field inside a geometry. The condition field is of type "formula". Here are all the formulas we support. 


This is a very basic code example.



.

 


Hi Ian thanks for the update. Please help me understand where to implement. Searching formulas there are no functions for "geometry" "type" or "condition". I assume one must inspect the page and update? How does this become persistent with a custom object in the Lucid repository?


Thanks




 

I believe I misunderstood how you were implementing the library. It looks like you're trying implementing the shapes in code (via an editor extension).


We have separate functionality to build a more traditional shape library on the Extension API. This allows you as a developer to define shapes in an extension/app. When a user installs the app they will be able to add the shapes to the canvas like they would with a typical Lucidchart shape (e.g. shapes appear in left hand panel and user can drag onto canvas to create an instance of the shape). That documentaiton is here.


We've never actually had a developer try to implement shape library functionality via an editor extension (e.g. a script). I'd recommend against it as it's not how we've designed the API. But of course how you build is up to you and happy to answer questions as they come up! 

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