Flowcharts

Lesson 6 / Lesson 8

To create a flowchart:

Choose the Dia program. This will open the box. Open the Flowchart options by clicking the arrow next to Network .

When the options open choose Other Sheets --- Flowchart which will provide flowchart icons.

Now choose New. Once the diagram opens choose New and Page Setup. Make sure the page is letter size and the orientation is correct.
The margins can be altered here as well.

Choose Apply and now open up a new diagram by choosing File --- New. If letter size sheet was chosen, be sure the diagram does not go outside of the margins or it will end up printing on several sheets!!!

In the example below , the sheet line is visible and going outside that line the user will be printing extra pages. This is one of the most typical problems users have with Dia when printing.

When printing a letter size page change the scaling to reduce the print size on the letter size sheet. Here the scale is 100 but can be reduced.

Begin a Flowchart

When beginning the flowchart there are several choices for icons. The icons in the upper section will create a box an ellipse, polygon or beziergon that can be resized with the mouse. No text is added when using these icons. However, when using the icons in the lower section will give the user the ability to add text.. So with these in one stroke the user may create the icon and enter the proper descriptive text.

Drag the first icon in the Flowchart section (the lower icons) to the canvas and it will look similar to the listing below. Notice the line in the middle which will allow the user to begin typing text.

As the user types the box gets larger. That was a practice. Highlight the icon and on the canvas choose Edit and Delete.

Now drag a ellipse onto the canvas and type the word “Concept” in the center. Once this is done, double click inside the new icon and the properties box will open. Choose ellipse properties and click OK.

Now drag the rectangle box to the canvas to create a flowchart that looks like this example, including text.

Once the Boxes with text are in place create the arrows. At the bottom of the diagram editor, is a series of lines that users may choose from to create the direction arrows.

Choose the largest width per the example. Then click on the location of the --> to create an arrow shape. When clicking on the location a series of arrow designs will be visible that are choices to use.

Make the choice and it is reflected in the box. The right side is for arrows pointing down and the left side is for arrows point up.