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Introduction

FlowframTk^1.1 is a vector graphics application written in Java, with a graphical user interface (GUI). The main purpose of FlowframTk is to generate LaTeX packages or classes that use the flowfram package, and to generate pgf picture drawing code. As a side-effect, it can also be used to generate \parshape and \shapepar or \Shapepar specifications. In order to run the application you must have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed (at least version 1.8).

In FlowframTk, you can:

construct shapes using line, move and cubic Bézier segments;
edit paths by modifying the defining control points;
incorporate text and bitmap images (for annotating and background effects);
combine text and a path to form a text-along-path effect;
apply replicas to a shape to form patterns;
extract the parameters for TeX's \parshape command and for the \shapepar (or \Shapepar) command defined in the shapepar package;
construct frames for use with the flowfram package.

Pictures can be saved as or loaded from FlowframTk's native JDR (binary) or AJR (ascii) file formats. Additionally, images can be exported as:

a LaTeX file containing a pgfpicture environment for inclusion in a LaTeX document;
a single-paged complete LaTeX document containing the image (either just encapsulating the image or with the page set to the same size as the canvas);
a LaTeX package or class that loads the flowfram package;
a PNG file;
a PostScript file;
a PDF file;
A scalable vector graphics (SVG) file.

Note that the export to PS/PDF/SVG functions use external processes, such as latex and dvips. You can't import back from the files you can export to.

The low-level pgf basic layer commands are used during exports to LaTeX files. These commands aren't particularly easy to read but are faster to compile than the higher-level commands that require extra processing to parse the syntax and perform additional calculations. The primary purpose of FlowframTk is to provide a graphical interface that can generate complicated code that's hard to write manually.

FlowframTk was tested with version 3.0.0 of the pgf package, version 1.16 of the flowfram package and version 2.2 of the shapepar package. Files created by FlowframTk may not work with earlier versions of those packages. Note that some DVI viewers may not understand PGF specials. I strongly recommend that you read the user manuals for those packages.

Notation: a primary-click is a single click with the primary mouse button. This is typically the left button for a right-handed mouse, but may be the right button for a left-handed mouse. A menu-click is a click with the context-menu mouse button. This button depends on your configuration, but is typically the right button for a right-handed two-button mouse. If the button isn't mentioned, a click can be assumed to mean a primary-click.

Footnotes

...\FlowframTk ^1.1: This application is a replacement for the now-obsolete Jpgfdraw (Java pgf-code generating drawing application). In fact, it's actually just been renamed and the code refactored.

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