This functional property is only set on objects such as buttons, knobs, or sliders that want to handle all events, in conjunction with ActionTool, pre-empting the normal tool mechanisms.

The ActionTool does not conduct any transaction, so if this property has a value, the function will not be called within a transaction.

This functional property is only set on objects such as buttons, knobs, or sliders that want to handle all events, in conjunction with ActionTool, pre-empting the normal tool mechanisms.

The ActionTool does not conduct any transaction, so if this property has a value, the function will not be called within a transaction.

This functional property is only set on objects such as buttons, knobs, or sliders that want to handle all events, in conjunction with ActionTool, pre-empting the normal tool mechanisms.

The ActionTool does not conduct any transaction, so if this property has a value, the function will not be called within a transaction.

This functional property is only set on objects such as buttons, knobs, or sliders that want to handle all events, in conjunction with ActionTool, pre-empting the normal tool mechanisms.

The ActionTool does not conduct any transaction, so if this property has a value, the function will not be called within a transaction. If you do provide a function that makes changes to the diagram or to its model, you should do so within a transaction -- call Diagram.startTransaction and Diagram.commitTransaction.

If the GraphObject is a Part, then the x and y values of the actualBounds are identical to that Part's position, and the width and height values of the actualBounds represent the rectangular space occupied by the Part in Diagram.documentBounds coordinates.

If the GraphObject is not a top-level object (not a Part), then the actualBounds x and y values represent that GraphObject's position within its Panel. In a Panel of type Panel.Position this is identical to the GraphObject's position, but in other cases it is dependent on the unique workings of each Panel type. The actualBounds width and height of a GraphObject are relative to the compounded transformations of its Panel.

It is possible for a GraphObject (be it an GraphObject or a Panel containing several more GraphObjects) to have no containing Part, in which case these GraphObjects cannot possibly be in a Diagram. These GraphObjects are unlikely to have real-number values for their actualBounds, as they may never have had the chance to be measured and arranged.

The default value is Spot.Default, which lets the Panel determine the Spot using Panel.defaultAlignment. If that property is also Spot.Default, then the alignment spot will be different depending on the Panel type.

The alignmentFocus is often used along with this property to specify where this object should be positioned in a Panel.

The default value is Spot.Default, which means that the Panel type can decide the effective alignment spot.

The alignment is often used along with this property to specify where this object should be positioned in a Panel.

For Panel.Graduated, the alignmentFocus spot determines the spot on a child element to be aligned with some point along the main element.

When you want a link label Node to be positioned by its location spot rather than by this alignmentFocus spot, you can set this property to Spot.None, only on Nodes.

The value may be either a Brush object or a string that is a CSS color. The default value is null -- no area background is drawn. More information about the syntax of CSS color strings is available at: CSS colors (mozilla.org).

The value may be either a Brush object or a string that is a CSS color. The default value is null -- no background is drawn. More information about the syntax of CSS color strings is available at: CSS colors (mozilla.org).

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent and this GraphObject. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object.

From the second argument, obj, you can get to the Node or Link via the part property. From there you can access the bound data via the Panel.data property. So from an event handler you can get the bound data by obj.part.data.

By default this property is null.

If you do provide a function that makes changes to the diagram or to its model, you should do so within a transaction -- call Diagram.startTransaction and Diagram.commitTransaction.

An example of a click event handler is shown in the Arrowheads sample.

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent and this GraphObject. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object.

From the second argument, obj, you can get to the Node or Link via the part property. From there you can access the bound data via the Panel.data property. So from an event handler you can get the bound data by obj.part.data.

By default this property is null.

If you do provide a function that makes changes to the diagram or to its model, you should do so within a transaction -- call Diagram.startTransaction and Diagram.commitTransaction.

Changing this value will not modify or remove any existing menu that is being shown for this object.

Context menus may also depend on having the same data binding as the adorned Part (i.e. the same value for Panel.data).

Context menus are not copied by copy, so that context menus may be shared by all instances of a template.

A typical context menu is implemented as an Adornment with several buttons in it. For example, this context menu is defined in the Dynamic Port sample:

var nodeMenu =  // context menu for each Node
 $(go.Adornment, "Vertical",
    $("ContextMenuButton",
      $(go.TextBlock, "Add top port"),
      { click: function(e, obj) { addPort("top"); } }),
    $("ContextMenuButton",
      $(go.TextBlock, "Add left port"),
      { click: function(e, obj) { addPort("left"); } }),
    $("ContextMenuButton",
      $(go.TextBlock, "Add right port"),
      { click: function(e, obj) { addPort("right"); } }),
    $("ContextMenuButton",
      $(go.TextBlock, "Add bottom port"),
      { click: function(e, obj) { addPort("bottom"); } }));

myDiagram.nodeTemplate =
  $(go.Node, "Table",
    { . . .
      contextMenu: nodeMenu
    },
    . . .);

Context menus are normally positioned by ContextMenuTool.positionContextMenu. However, if there is a Placeholder in the context menu, the context menu (i.e. an Adornment) will be positioned so that the Placeholder is at the same position as this adorned GraphObject.

The Basic sample also shows how to make context menu items invisible when the command is disabled.

Replacing this value will not modify or remove any existing context menu that is being shown for this object.

Read more about context menus at Context Menus.

The default value is the empty string, which means the current mouse cursor is determined by the Diagram. Other strings should be valid CSS strings that specify a cursor. This provides some more information about cursor syntax: CSS cursors (mozilla.org).

Getting or setting width or height is equivalent to getting or setting the width or height of this property.

This property is not settable. Although you cannot add any plain GraphObject to a Diagram, you can call Diagram.add to add a Part to a Diagram.

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent and this GraphObject. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object.

From the second argument, obj, you can get to the Node or Link via the part property. From there you can access the bound data via the Panel.data property. So from an event handler you can get the bound data by obj.part.data.

By default this property is null.

If you do provide a function that makes changes to the diagram or to its model, you should do so within a transaction -- call Diagram.startTransaction and Diagram.commitTransaction.

The Class Hierarchy sample demonstrates the definition of a double-click event handler that opens up a web page with the documentation for that class:

diagram.nodeTemplate =
  $(go.Node, . . .,
    {
      doubleClick:  // here the second argument is this object, which is this Node
        function(e, node) { window.open("../api/symbols/" + node.data.key + ".html"); }
    },
    . . .
    );

If this property value is a function, it is called with two arguments, this GraphObject and the new value. By default this property is null -- no function is called.

The value of Link.fromEndSegmentLength, if not NaN, takes precedence over the value at this port when determining the route of the link.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Connection Points.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

The default value is null, which indicates that the real value is inherited from the parent Panel, or false if there is no containing panel.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node, or unless you are disabling the "linkability" of a particular GraphObject inside a Panel whose fromLinkable has been set or bound to true.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

The value must be non-negative. The default value is Infinity.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

This property is useful when you have a thick link and a pointy arrowhead. Normally the link Shape extends all the way to the end of the arrowhead. If the link Shape is wide, its edges will be seen behind the arrowhead. By setting this property to a small positive value, the link Shape can end within the body of the arrowhead, leaving only the point of the arrowhead visible at the end of the link.

A negative value for this property can also be useful when you want the link Shape to continue into the port, perhaps because a portion of the port is transparent and you want the link to appear to connect visually with a different point on the node.

The value of Link.fromShortLength, if not NaN, takes precedence over the value at this port when determining the route of the link.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Connection Points.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

The value of Link.fromSpot, if not Spot.Default, takes precedence over the value at this port when determining the route of the link.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Connection Points.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

This object does not get any mouse/touch events if it is not visible or if it is not pickable.

This property is infrequently used -- typically only when implementing objects that act as buttons or knobs or sliders. The default value is false.

Panels that use a "main" object will use the first object that has this property set to true, or else just the first object, if none have the property set.

This property is not settable. Normally one changes which Layer that a GraphObject is in by setting Part.layerName. Adding a Part to a Diagram will automatically add that Part to a Layer in that Diagram based on the layerName.

Negative values are permitted but may cause overlaps with adjacent objects in a Panel. Default margin is Margin(0,0,0,0).

The property setter accepts a number instead of a Margin object: providing a number N will result in using a Margin(N, N, N, N). The property getter will always return a Margin.

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent, this GraphObject, and any previous GraphObject. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object. By default this property is null.

This function is called with Diagram.skipsUndoManager temporarily set to true, so that any changes to GraphObjects are not recorded in the UndoManager. You do not need to start and commit any transaction in this function, because the DraggingTool will be conducting one already. After calling this function the diagram will be updated immediately.

For an example of a mouseDragEnter event handler, see the node template in the Org Chart Editor sample.

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent, this GraphObject, and any new GraphObject that the mouse is in. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object. By default this property is null.

This function is called with Diagram.skipsUndoManager temporarily set to true, so that any changes to GraphObjects are not recorded in the UndoManager. You do not need to start and commit any transaction in this function, because the DraggingTool will be conducting one already. After calling this function the diagram will be updated immediately.

For an example of a mouseDragLeave event handler, see the node template in the Org Chart Editor sample.

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent, this GraphObject. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object. The function is called within the transaction performed by the DraggingTool, so you do not need to conduct one. By default this property is null.

For an example of a mouseDrop event handler, see the node template in the Org Chart Editor sample.

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent, this GraphObject that the mouse is now in, and any previous GraphObject that the mouse was in. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object. By default this property is null.

This function is called with Diagram.skipsUndoManager temporarily set to true, so that any changes to GraphObjects are not recorded in the UndoManager. You do not need to start and commit any transaction in this function. After calling this function the diagram will be updated immediately.

For example, consider the situation where one wants to display buttons that the user can click whenever the user passes the mouse over a node, and the buttons automatically disappear when the mouse leaves the node. This can be implemented by showing an Adornment holding the buttons.

var nodeContextMenu =
  $(go.Adornment, "Spot",
    { background: "transparent" },  // to help detect when the mouse leaves the area
    $(go.Placeholder),
    $(go.Panel, "Vertical",
      { alignment: go.Spot.Right, alignmentFocus: go.Spot.Left },
      $("Button",
        $(go.TextBlock, "Command 1"),
        {
          click: function(e, obj) {
            var node = obj.part.adornedPart;
            alert("Command 1 on " + node.data.text);
            node.removeAdornment("ContextMenuOver");
          }
        }),
      $("Button",
        $(go.TextBlock, "Command 2"),
        {
          click: function(e, obj) {
            var node = obj.part.adornedPart;
            alert("Command 2 on " + node.data.text);
            node.removeAdornment("ContextMenuOver");
          }
        })
      ));

myDiagram.nodeTemplate =
  $(go.Node,
    . . .
    {
      mouseEnter: function(e, node) {
        nodeContextMenu.adornedObject = node;
        nodeContextMenu.mouseLeave = function(ev, cm) {
          node.removeAdornment("ContextMenuOver");
        };
        node.addAdornment("ContextMenuOver", nodeContextMenu);
      }
    });

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent. By default this property is null.

If you do provide a function that makes changes to the diagram or to its model, you should do so within a transaction -- call Diagram.startTransaction and Diagram.commitTransaction.

You can control how long the user must wait during a drag with a motionless mouse before a "mouse hold" event occurs, by setting ToolManager.holdDelay. For example:

myDiagram =
  $(go.Diagram, "myDiagramDiv",
    { "toolManager.holdDelay": 500 });  // 500 milliseconds

myDiagram.toolManager.holdDelay = 500;  // 500 milliseconds

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent. By default this property is null.

If you do provide a function that makes changes to the diagram or to its model, you should do so within a transaction -- call Diagram.startTransaction and Diagram.commitTransaction.

You can control how long the user must wait with a motionless mouse before a "mouse hover" event occurs, by setting ToolManager.hoverDelay. For example:

myDiagram =
  $(go.Diagram, "myDiagramDiv",
    { "toolManager.hoverDelay": 500 });  // 500 milliseconds

myDiagram.toolManager.hoverDelay = 500;  // 500 milliseconds

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent, this GraphObject that the mouse has left, and any next GraphObject that the mouse is now in. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object. By default this property is null.

This function is called with Diagram.skipsUndoManager temporarily set to true, so that any changes to GraphObjects are not recorded in the UndoManager. You do not need to start and commit any transaction in this function. After calling this function the diagram will be updated immediately.

For example, the Flow Chart sample automatically shows and hides the ports as the mouse passes over a node. The node template includes the following settings:

myDiagram.nodeTemplate =
  $(go.Node,
    . . .
    {
      . . .
      // handle mouse enter/leave events to show/hide the ports
      mouseEnter: function(e, obj) { showPorts(obj.part, true); },
      mouseLeave: function(e, obj) { showPorts(obj.part, false); }
      . . .
    });

If this property value is a function, it is called with an InputEvent and this GraphObject. The InputEvent.targetObject provides the GraphObject that was found at the mouse point before looking up the visual tree of GraphObject.panels to get to this object. By default this property is null.

This function is called with Diagram.skipsUndoManager temporarily set to true, so that any changes to GraphObjects are not recorded in the UndoManager. You do not need to start and commit any transaction in this function. After calling this function the diagram will be updated immediately.

You must not modify the name of a GraphObject once it is in the visual tree of a Part.

This is frequently needed to identify a particular GraphObject in the visual tree of a Part, for example as the value of the Part.locationObjectName or Part.selectionObjectName properties.

Unlike visible, Opacity only affects drawing, it does not cause objects to be resized or remeasured. Opacity settings do not change the shape of the object or exclude it from object-picking (does not change whether any objects are found by the "find..." methods).

This value is multiplicative with any existing transparency, for instance from Layer.opacity or a GraphObject's opacity higher in the visual tree, or from a Brush or image transparency. The default value is 1.

Although Part inherits from this class, a Part will never belong to a Panel, so this property will always be null for every Node or Link.

This property is not settable. Instead, call Panel.add in order to put a GraphObject in a Panel.

It is common to refer to the containing Part of a GraphObject in order to refer to the Panel.data to which it is bound.

This property is not settable. If you want this GraphObject to belong to a Part, you will need to add it to a Part, or else add it to some visual tree structure that is added to a Part using Panel.add.

Note that for objects such as buttons that are in Adornments such as tooltips or context menus, this property will return that Adornment, not the Node or Link that is adorned.

If you want to find a Group that contains a Part, use the Part.containingGroup property: someObj.part.containingGroup

This object does not get any mouse/touch events if it is not visible or if it is not pickable.

The default value is true -- mouse events on this object will be noticed. If this value is false and this object is a Panel, not only is this Panel not "hittable", but all of the elements inside the Panel will be ignored.

A value that is the empty string is used by convention to mean the primary (and usually only) port of the node.

If a Node has no named ports, then the Node itself is the sole port.

Note: the only kind of model that can save port information, i.e. portIds that are not an empty string, for links is a GraphLinksModel whose GraphLinksModel.linkFromPortIdProperty and GraphLinksModel.linkToPortIdProperty have been set to name properties on the link data objects.

The value should be unique within the Node. You must not modify this property once this GraphObject is in the visual tree of a Node.

See the Introduction page on ports for usage information and examples.

For Parts, see also Part.location.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Labels.

If you do not set this property, the Link will choose a place that is approximately at the mid-point of the link's route.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Labels.

For labels that are near either end of a link, it may be convenient to set the segmentOffset to Point(NaN, NaN). This causes the offset to be half the width and half the height of the label object.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Labels.

When the value is Link.None, the angle of this object is unchanged as the link is routed. Setting this to a value of Link.OrientAlong will cause routing to set the angle to be the angle of the segment that this object is on. Other values compute the angle somewhat differently. If the value is changed back to Link.None, the angle of this object is set to zero.

Note that when this property is not Link.None, this property takes precedence over any setting or binding of the angle property. Changes to the angle caused by orientation might not result in Changed events, and any original value for the angle may be lost.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Labels.

The default is null, which means this GraphObject will obey the default shadow rules (see Part.isShadowed).

A value of true or false will ensure that this part is shadowed or not regardless of the default shadow rules, but this GraphObject's shadowed status will not affect other GraphObjects in the Part.

Typically this property does not need to be set, but you may need to set this value to false on GraphObjects inside a Part that you do not wish to be shadowed.

The only accepted values are listed as constant properties of GraphObject, such as GraphObject.None, GraphObject.Fill, GraphObject.Horizontal, or GraphObject.Vertical. The default value is GraphObject.Default, which allows the Panel to decide how to treat this object, depending on the type of Panel.

Objects with an angle that are stretched may look incorrect unless the angle is a multiple of 90.

The value of Link.toEndSegmentLength, if not NaN, takes precedence over the value at this port when determining the route of the link. This value also limits how short the Link.toShortLength may be drawn.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Connection Points.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

The default value is null, which indicates that the real value is inherited from the parent Panel, or false if there is no containing panel.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node, or unless you are disabling the "linkability" of a particular GraphObject inside a Panel whose toLinkable has been set or bound to true.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

The value must be non-negative. The default value is Infinity.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

A typical tooltip is defined in the following manner, as taken from the Kitten Monitor sample:

myDiagram.nodeTemplate =
  $(go.Node,
    . . .
    { // this tooltip shows the name and picture of the kitten
      toolTip:
        $(go.Adornment, "Auto",
          $(go.Shape, { fill: "lightyellow" }),
          $(go.Panel, "Vertical",
            $(go.Picture,
              new go.Binding("source", "src", function(s) { return "images/" + s + ".png"; })),
            $(go.TextBlock, { margin: 3 },
              new go.Binding("text", "key"))))
    });

Tooltips are not copied by copy, so that tooltips may be shared by all instances of a template.

Tooltips are shown after a timed delay given by the ToolManager.hoverDelay. You can change the delay time by:

myDiagram =
  $(go.Diagram, "myDiagramDiv",
    { "toolManager.hoverDelay": 500 });  // 500 milliseconds

myDiagram.toolManager.hoverDelay = 500;  // 500 milliseconds

Tooltips are normally positioned by ToolManager.positionToolTip. However, if there is a Placeholder in the tooltip, the tooltip (i.e. an Adornment) will be positioned so that the Placeholder is at the same position as this adorned GraphObject.

Replacing this value will not modify or remove any existing tooltip that is being shown for this object.

Read more about tooltips at ToolTips.

This property is useful when you have a thick link and a pointy arrowhead. Normally the link Shape extends all the way to the end of the arrowhead. If the link Shape is wide, its edges will be seen behind the arrowhead. By setting this property to a small positive value, the link Shape can end within the body of the arrowhead, leaving only the point of the arrowhead visible at the end of the link.

A negative value for this property can also be useful when you want the link Shape to continue into the port, perhaps because a portion of the port is transparent and you want the link to appear to connect visually with a different point on the node.

The value of Link.toShortLength, if not NaN, takes precedence over the value at this port when determining the route of the link.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Connection Points.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

The value of Link.toSpot, if not Spot.Default, takes precedence over the value at this port when determining the route of the link.

For examples of how to use this property, see Link Connection Points.

You must set this property on a GraphObject whose portId is non-null, unless the whole Node is acting as a single port, in which case this property should be set on the Node.

This object does not get any mouse/touch events if it is not visible or if it is not pickable.

One can have a visible Shape that is not drawn by setting its Shape.fill and Shape.stroke to null or to "transparent". Similarly, one can set TextBlock.stroke to null or to "transparent". It is also possible make a GraphObjects transparent by setting GraphObject.opacity to 0. Finally, one can make a whole Layer-full of Parts invisible by setting Layer.visible to false.

Use the isVisibleObject predicate to see if this GraphObject is visible and is inside a Panel that is isVisibleObject, and so forth up the chain of panels until reaching the Part.

For Parts, you can call the Part.isVisible predicate to determine if not only the Part is visible but also any containing Group or Link, and whether the Layer it is in is visible.

Read more about Bindings at the Introduction page about Data Bindings.

The second argument must be a function that returns a newly created object, typically a GraphObject. It is commonplace for that object to be a Panel holding a newly created visual tree of GraphObjects. The function receives as its only argument an Array that is holds all of the arguments that are being passed to GraphObject.make, which it may modify in order to change the arguments that GraphObject.make receives.

Predefined builder names include: "Button", "TreeExpanderButton", "SubGraphExpanderButton", "PanelExpanderButton", and "ContextMenuButton". The implementation of these builders is provided by Buttons.js in the Extensions directory.

Basically this adds together all of the rotation declared by this angle and the angles of all of its containing Panels, including the Part.

For example, for an instance of a Node like this:

myDiagram.nodeTemplate =
  $(go.Node, "Auto",
    $(go.Shape, "RoundedRectangle",
      new go.Binding("fill", "color")),
    $(go.TextBlock,
      { name: "TB", margin: 3 },
      new go.Binding("text", "key")));

  node.findObject("TB").getDocumentPoint(go.Spot.Center)

Basically this multiplies together this scale with the scales of all of its containing Panels, including the Part.

For example, if you have a mouse event whose InputEvent.documentPoint is at 122, 213, and if you have a Node whose position is at 100, 200, node.getLocalPoint(e.documentPoint) could return a Point that is at 22, 13. For a GraphObject within the Node named "TB",

  node.findObject("TB").getLocalPoint(e.documentPoint)

For example, if this GraphObject is inside a Part but is not itself the Part, obj.isContainedBy(obj.part) should be true.

For Parts, you can call the Part.isVisible predicate to determine if not only the Part is visible but also any containing Group or Link.

The first argument must be the class type or the name of a class or the name of a predefined kind of Panel. This function will construct a new instance of that type and use the rest of the arguments to initialize the object. The first argument cannot be a regular Object (such as a GraphObject) that you are trying to initialize; for that you can call setProperties or Diagram.setProperties, although that would be less efficient than setting properties directly.

If an initializer argument is an enumerated value, this tries to set the property that seems most appropriate.

If an initializer argument is a string, this sets a particular property depending on the type of object being built.

• If the object is a TextBlock, it sets TextBlock.text.
• If the object is a Shape, it sets Shape.figure.
• If the object is a Picture, it sets Picture.source.
• If the object is a Panel (including Part, Node, or Group), it sets Panel.type.

If an initializer argument is a particular kind of object, this can add that object to the object being built.

• GraphObjects and RowColumnDefinitions can only be added as elements of Panels.
• Bindings can only be applied to GraphObjects and RowColumnDefinitions.
• PathFigures can only be added to Geometry objects.
• PathSegments can only be added to PathFigure objects.
• Regular JavaScript Arrays provide a sequence of initializer arguments.
• Regular JavaScript objects provide property/value pairs that are set on the object being built.

For Panels, the substring before the period is used as the name passed to Panel.findObject to get the actual object on which to set the property, which is the substring after the period. This is normally useful only on the predefined Panels:

• a "Button" has a Shape named "ButtonBorder" surrounding the content of the Panel.
• a "TreeExpanderButton" has a "ButtonBorder" Shape and a "ButtonIcon" Shape that is the plus-or-minus sign.
• a "SubGraphExpanderButton" has a "ButtonBorder" Shape and a "ButtonIcon" Shape that is the plus-or-minus sign.
• a "ContextMenuButton" has a Shape named "ButtonBorder" surrounding the content of the Panel.

For Diagrams, the substring before the period is used as the name of a property on the Diagram itself to get the actual object on which to set the property. As a special case, if such a property value does not exist on the Diagram, it looks on the Diagram.toolManager. See some examples below.

Also for Diagrams, and only for Diagrams, if the property name is the name of a DiagramEvent, the property value must be a DiagramEvent listener function, and Diagram.addDiagramListener is called using that DiagramEvent name and that function. Note that all DiagramEvent names are capitalized and do not contain any periods, so there cannot be any name conflicts with any properties on Diagram or ToolManager. Although you can register multiple listeners for the same DiagramEvent names, due to JavaScript limitations those need to be declared using separate JavaScript objects, because JavaScript does not permit duplicate property names in an Object literal.

Furthermore for Diagrams, if the property name is "Changed" or "ModelChanged", the property value must be a ChangedEvent listener function, which is called with a ChangedEvent argument. When the property name is "Changed", it calls Diagram.addChangedListener, notifying about changes to the Diagram or its Layers or GraphObjects. When the property name is "ModelChanged", it calls Model.addChangedListener on the Diagram.model, resulting in notifications about changes to the Model or its data. This is handy because the Diagram.model property setter will automatically call Model.removeChangedListener on the old model, thereby avoiding any overhead if there are any more changes to the old model and also avoiding a reference to the listener which might cause garbage collection retention. It also will call Model.addChangedListener on the new model, helping implement the same behavior with the new model.

If the property name is a number and if the object being constructed is a Brush, the number and value are added to the Brush by calling Brush.addColorStop.

Otherwise the property name is used as a regular property name on the object being built. This tries to do some property name and value checking: when a property is not defined on the object being built, it will signal an error. Many typos can be found this way that would be ignored by JavaScript code.

If the property name begins with an underscore, this will not complain about the property being undefined. Not only is that underscore property set on the object being built, but calls to copy will also copy the values of such named properties to the new objects.

In the samples and in the intro pages this function is called using the alias $. You can use a different short name if you would like to preserve the use of $ for another JavaScript library.

 var $ = go.GraphObject.make;

 var diagram =
   $(go.Diagram, "myDiagramDiv",
     {
       initialContentAlignment: go.Spot.Center,
        // don't initialize some properties until after a new model has been loaded
        "InitialLayoutCompleted": loadDiagramProperties,
       allowZoom: false,  // don't allow the user to change the diagram's scale
       "grid.visible": true,  // display a background grid for the whole diagram
       "grid.gridCellSize": new go.Size(20, 20),
       // allow double-click in background to create a new node
       "clickCreatingTool.archetypeNodeData": { text: "Node" },
       // allow Ctrl-G to call the groupSelection command
       "commandHandler.archetypeGroupData":
           { text: "Group", isGroup: true, color: "blue" },
       "toolManager.hoverDelay": 100,  // how quickly tooltips are shown
       // mouse wheel zooms instead of scrolls
       "toolManager.mouseWheelBehavior": go.ToolManager.WheelZoom,
       "commandHandler.copiesTree": true,  // for the copy command
       "commandHandler.deletesTree": true, // for the delete command
       "draggingTool.dragsTree": true,  // dragging for both move and copy
       "draggingTool.isGridSnapEnabled": true,
       layout: $(go.TreeLayout,
                 { angle: 90, sorting: go.TreeLayout.SortingAscending })
     });

 diagram.nodeTemplate =
   $(go.Node, "Auto",  // or go.Panel.Auto
     new go.Binding("location", "loc", go.Point.parse).makeTwoWay(go.Point.stringify),
     $(go.Shape, "RoundedRectangle",
       {
         fill: $(go.Brush, "Linear", { 0: "#FEC901", 1: "#FEA200" }),
         stroke: "gray",
         strokeWidth: 2,
         strokeDashArray: [3, 3]
       }),
     $(go.TextBlock,
       { margin: 5, font: "bold 12pt sans-serif" },
       new go.Binding("text", "key"))
   );

See the Introduction page on building objects for usage information and examples of GraphObject.make.

If this is a Panel, you can set properties on named elements within the panel by using a name.property syntax for the property name. For example, if a Node has a Picture that is named "ICON" (because its name property has been set to "ICON") and a TextBlock whose name is "TB", one could set properties on the Node and on each of those named elements by:

aNode.setProperties({
    background: "red",
    "ICON.source": "https://www.example.com/images/alert.jpg",
    "TB.font": "bold 12pt sans-serif"
});

At the current time only a single dot is permitted in the property "name". Note that the use of all-upper-case object names is simply a convention.

Calling this method is much less efficient than setting properties directly.