Carefully_connect_nodes_and_links_at_the_correct_locations
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GunnShow uses Visio’s built-in Connectors tool to connect links and nodes. Node and link shapes have special places where you must attach the connector lines in order for GunnShow to register the connection. You can’t just connect the lines anywhere on the shapes. Visio will let you make an attachment at points other than where GunnShow recognizes, so you have to be careful.
Here are some guidelines to follow – stick to these rules and you won’t have any problems.
Link shapes ALWAYS shaow where their valid connection points are, either by a little solid circle, or at the tip of an arrowhead. For example, here are some typical 2-port links showing both circle and arrow connection locations (highlighted in yellow):
And here are some examples of bad connections. Note that in all of these cases, Visio implied this was a good connection by snapping to the location and highlighting the connector end with a little red box (indicates a connection is made). This is why you have to be careful that you’re actually connecting to a location that GunnShow recognizes and can assign to a specific port # in the link:
Nodes are ALWAYS connected to on the edge of their circle, and can never be connected to at any other location. Here we illustrate valid connections:
And invalid connections:
The Ground node shape only has one valid place where you can connect to it. It’s at the end of the straight line, highlighted here:
These are bad connections. Like the link shapes, Visio will let you make a connection other other locations, so be careful to make the right one:
There are several ways to verify your connections. You can graphically check your connections by clicking on them and looking for little red boxes at each end at the valid link & node connection points, circled in blue here:
If a connection is missing, it’ll be missing the little red box. Here is a botched connection at the node:
GunnShow also has a tool for automatically checking your connections for you. There is a “Show Disconnected Links” button in the GunnShow tab. Clicking this will generate a pop-up indicating how many connections are missing and guide you to them, like so:
