Exclude some nodes when using "AvoidsNodes" routing

GoJS
1

We have a node type which is kinda like a colored post-it note on the canvas. These notes do not connect to anything and are just colored rectangles appearing behind all other nodes.

They are already in the Background layer:

return new go.Node(go.Panel.Auto, {
  // ...
  layerName: 'Background',
  // ...
}

But I have noticed that if there is a note in the background of the other nodes the linking might go through a node rather than avoiding it. So is there anyway that I can exclude the notes from AvoidsNodes’s consideration completely?

Screenshot 2025-01-13 at 10.23.03 AM
Screenshot 2025-01-13 at 10.23.03 AM1386×638 73.5 KB

2

Either don’t implement those notes as Nodes (i.e. replace go.Node with go.Part) because there won’t be any Links connecting with them, or else just set Node.avoidable to false.

3

Thanks Walter. You’re the best.

4

Which solution did you use? If it were me, I would probably use simple Parts instead of Nodes for those “notes”. An advantage of using Parts instead of Nodes is that those “notes” won’t show up any more in the Diagram.nodes collection, nor will they be laid out by Layouts that just care about Nodes and Links.

5

Thanks for the extra info. For now avoidable flag is a quick solution but I’ll try to refactor using only parts instead. Having them not being in the nodes collection is actually good.