Resolving inter-page nodes and connectors in process diagrams

1. A computer implemented method of resolving inter-page nodes in flow diagrams, the computer implemented method comprising:

responsive to identifying an inter-page node in a multiple page flow diagram, requesting a bid for each page in a set of candidate pages from each policy in a set of page break policies, wherein the inter-page node is a node laid out on a page break;

selecting a page from the set of candidate pages based on bids received from the set of page break policies to form a selected page, wherein a value of each bid indicates a level of suitability of each page in the set of candidate pages; and

moving the inter-page node located on the page break to a new location on the selected page, wherein the new location on the selected page is located off or all page breaks for the flow diagram;

responsive to receiving a selection to print the flow diagram in a report format, splitting each connection in a set of connections crossing a page break to form a split connection and a split anchor pair associated with the split connection, wherein a first split anchor in the split anchor pair is generated on a first page where the split connection begins and a second split anchor in the split anchor pair is generated on a second page where the split connection ends, and wherein each split anchor pair is annotated with a unique identifier; and

generating report format navigational aids in a set of margins on each page of the flow diagram, wherein the report format navigational aids comprises arrows and a page number identifying a subsequent page on which a next sequential portion of the flow diagram is found.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the set of page break policies comprises at least one geometric policy.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the geometric policy identifies the new location for the inter-page node on the selected page.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the set of page break policies comprises a connection policy and further comprising:

identifying a connection distance associated with each connection of the inter-page node for each page in the set of candidate pages, by the connection policy, wherein the connection distance indicates a distance between a target page and a source page.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a node dispersion value associated with the inter-page node for each page in the set of candidate pages, wherein the node dispersion value is computed from a set of connection distances for all input and output connections for the inter-page node; and

generating a bid for each page in the set of candidate pages based on the node dispersion value for each page.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the set of page break policies comprises an empty page policy, and further comprising:

responsive to the empty page policy determining that the page contains at least one node, submitting a bid indicating a high suitability for the page; and

responsive to the empty page policy determining that the page is an empty page, submitting a bid indicating a low suitability of the page, wherein an empty page does not contain any nodes on the page.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the inter-page node located on the page break is a first inter-page node in a set of nodes located on page breaks and further comprising:

identifying a next inter-page node in the set of nodes located on page breaks;

requesting a bid for each page in a next set of candidate pages from the set of page break policies;

selecting a page from the next set of candidate pages based on bids received from the set of page break policies to form a next selected page;

moving the next inter-page node to a location on the next selected page, wherein the location on the next selected page is located off of all page breaks for the flow diagram.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection to print the flow diagram in a poster format, generating poster format navigational aids in a set of margins on each page of the flow diagram, wherein the poster format navigational aids comprises annotations with instructions for recreating the flow diagram as a poster.

9. A non-transitory computer usable medium for resolving inter-page nodes in flow diagrams, the non-transitory computer usable medium comprising:

computer usable program code embodied on the non-transitory computer usable medium, the computer usable program code comprising:

computer usable program code configured to request a bid for each page in a set of candidate pages from each policy in a set of page break policies in response to identifying an inter-page node in a flow diagram, wherein the inter-page node is a node laid out on a page break;

computer usable program code configured to select a page from the set of candidate pages based on bids received from the set of page break policies to form a selected page, wherein a value of each bid indicates a level of suitability of the each page in the set of candidate pages; and

computer usable program code configured to move the inter-page node located on the page break to a new location on the selected page, wherein the new location on the selected page is located off of all page breaks for the flow diagram;

computer useable program code configured to receive a selection to print the flow diagram in a report format;

computer useable program code configured to split, in response to receiving a selection to print the flow diagram in a report format, each connection in a set of connections crossing a page break to form a split connection and a split anchor pair associated with the split connection, wherein a first split anchor in the split anchor pair is generated on a first page where the split connection begins and a second split anchor in the split anchor pair is generated on a second page where the split connection ends, and wherein each split anchor pair is annotated with a unique identifier; and

computer usable program code configured to generate report format navigational aids in a set of margins on each page of the flow diagram, wherein the report format navigational aids comprises arrows and a page number identifying a subsequent page on which a next sequential portion of the flow diagram is found.

10. The non-transitory computer usable medium of claim 9 , wherein the set of page break policies comprises at least one geometric policy.

11. The non-transitory computer usable medium of claim 10 , wherein the geometric policy identifies the new location for the inter-page node on the selected page.

12. The non-transitory computer usable medium of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to identify a node dispersion value associated with the inter-page node for each page in the set of candidate pages, wherein the node dispersion value is computed from a set of connection distances for all input and output connections for the inter-page node; and

computer usable program code configured to generate a bid for each page in the set of candidate pages based on the node dispersion value for each page.

13. The non-transitory computer usable medium of claim 9 , wherein the set of page break policies comprises a connection policy and further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to identify a connection distance associated with each connection of the inter-page node for each page in the set of candidate pages, by the connection policy, wherein the connection distance indicates a distance between a target page and a source page.

14. The non-transitory computer usable medium of claim 9 , wherein the set of page break policies comprises an empty page policy, and further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to submit a bid indicating a high suitability for the page in response to the empty page policy determining that the page contains at least one node; and

computer usable program code configured to submit a bid indicating a low suitability of the page in response to the empty page policy determining that the page is an empty page, wherein an empty page does not contain any nodes on the page.

15. The non-transitory computer usable medium of claim 9 , wherein the inter-page node located on the page break is a first inter-page node in a set of nodes located on page breaks and further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to identify a next inter-page node in the set of nodes located on page breaks;

computer usable program code configured to request a bid for each page in a next set of candidate pages from the set of page break policies;

computer usable program code configured to select a page from the next set of candidate pages based on bids received from the set of page break policies to form a next selected page;

computer usable program code configured to move the next inter-page node to a location on the next selected page, wherein the location on the next selected page is located off of all page breaks for the flow diagram.

16. The non-transitory computer usable medium of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to generate poster format navigational aids in a set of margins on each page of the flow diagram in response to receiving a selection to print the flow diagram in a poster format, wherein the poster format navigational aids comprises annotations with instructions for recreating the flow diagram as a poster.