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What is it ? Menu ThinkGraph is a 2D Drawing application specialized for Concept Maps authoring. A concept map is a diagram meant to represent Ideas (each idea being represented by a shape (i.e rectangle, ellipse, image, ...). This diagram becomes a concept map when relations link these ideas and Hypertext Links are added to these ideas which allows navigation to other either a detailed description (e.g a web page providing details on this idea) or an other concept map.ThinkGraph is a mix between a 2D Drawing application and a Concept Map editor. News (7th may 2005) * New function: mini project manager (see details in the "Download" page) Note: delivered 5th may, fixed 7th may * It is now possible to define the suffix (eg 1.1.a) which is automatically added to new ideas 1.2. Saved as XML document MenuMost drawing applications and concept map editors use a proprietary format for the documents that they generate. ThinkGraph generates a pure XML document which means that the document is independent from ThinkGraph and may be viewed or modified later by other applications. ThinkGraph uses only standard XML: SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics, a XML language specialized for 2D drawing) is used for the presentation part (shape and graphical attributes of the ideas) while XTM (Xml Topic Maps) is used for the data part (relations between ideas, e.g parent-child relations).Documents generated by ThinkGraph may be visualized by any SVG applicationHypertext Links Add a Link To add a Hypertext Link (*) to an entity of the document, you must select it with left mouse button (**) then click on the right mouse button to open the contextual menu then select Properties....A Shape Properties dialog box is displayed, input a URL (eg: www.google.com). in the Link field to define the target of the Hypertext Link.* Hypertext Link: It is a word or sentence in blue color and underlined which means that it allows to open another document when it is clicked (the other document may be another ThinkGraph document or a web page or an email address). e.g: www.google.com.** Selection: small white squares are displayed around the entity to show that is is selected. Add a Bookmark Another way of adding an Hypertext Link to an entity uses the embedded Microsoft Internet Explorer navigator (to open the navigator, select the "House" or "Earth" icon of the horizontal toolbar under ThinkGraph menu, or activate an link previously added on an entity) to look for a web page (e.g: with a search engine like www.google.com), then record it by using Bookmarks menu and Save current Address.... This command displays a tree view of the document which allows to select the entity on which the current web page must be added as an Hypertext Link. Hypertext Link detection When mouse pointer is over en entity containing an Hypertext Link, The target address is displayed in the left part of the Status Bar (at the bottom of the ThinkGraph window). Opening an Hypertext Link Opening a Link in ThinkGraph: To open an Hypertext Link on an entity, you must Double click with Left mouse button. If the link is a web page, the Drawing Area is replaced by the embedded navigator to show the the target address of the Hypertext link (e.g: www.google.com).Opening a Link in a SVG Viewer (e.g: Adobe SVGViewer): You must Single click with Left mouse button. (when over an Entity with a Link the mouse pointer becomes a hand). Link Types Web page addressA web page address starts with http:// or www. (e.g: http://www.thinkgraph.com).Email addressAn email address starts with mailto: (e.g: mailto:webmaster@thinkgraph.com). When an email Link is opened, the mail application (e.g: Microsoft Outlook Express) is started in "new message" mode with the "To:" field automatically defined by the email address following the "mailto:" prefix (e.g: webmaster@thinkgraph.com).Topic Maps Creation of a Topic Map In ThinkGraph, a Topic Map is a Tree made of a Root entity and children entities which may themselves have children, etc...To create a Topic Map, use the TopicMap tool ("Horizontal Tree" icon, the last icon) in the vertical toolbar on the right of the ThinkGraph window. This creates the Tree Root entity (with "Topic Map" title) on which you can add children entities by using the [Insert] key (check that the entity is selected), you can also add chidren entities to children of the Root in the same way. Style There are 3 graphic styles for a Topic Map: Boxes, Lines and Branches.To change the style of a Topic Map, open the Edit menu then select Topicmap properties.... A Topicmap Properties dialog box is displayed, use the Style field to choose between Boxes, Lines or Branches. Layout There are 3 layouts for a Topic Map: Vertical, Horizontal and TopicMap.To change the layout of a Topic Map, open the Edit menu then select Topicmap properties.... A Topicmap Properties dialog box is displayed, use the Layout field to choose between Vertical, Horizontal and TopicMap.