Only render drawing canvas to the size of visible elements

Question

Including file with many elements (visible or hidden) grows canvas size.
Would be great for modelling if we only rendered the canvas to the size of visible elements. That way, we could have libraries of include files for different elements (models in effect), and be able include only needed elements onto the drawing canvas.

Current behaviour expands drawing canvas to the number of elements included - even when hidden.

Answer 1

Hi,

this looks similar to this request http://forum.plantuml.net/8574/how-to-draw-only-some-classes-of-an-included-plantuml-file.

IMHO, this is currently not possible the way you were thinking of. Once you define a class it will be visible. 

As a solution, wou would need to wrap your elements into macros, which you can put into single files. These files you include and call those defined macros to "initialize" the elements and connect them afterwards.

If you want a working example please send a PN with your email address. I will provide you a zip file with a component diagram that will help you to get the idea.

BR,
Michael

Answer 2

You can "hide" element, you can also "remove" element.

See the diff:

http://www.plantuml.com/plantuml/uml/SoWkIImgAStDuKhEIImkLaZBppT4C8qHJ2EkZCoKL8YWGsfU2b0B0000

http://www.plantuml.com/plantuml/uml/SoWkIImgAStDuKhEIImkLaZBppT4C8qHJ2EkejJS_B9KYB13QbuAK1C0

Does it help ?