In outline view, a new note is added after the selected note, or at the end of the outline if none is selected. In a map, a new note icon is added to the right of the currently selected item, to the right of the top-right-most map icon if no note is selected, or if making the note via a right click it is at the mouse cursor position. So far, so good. New items added in the map simply take the $OutlineOrder one higher than the last listed note for that container (all notes below that have their value bumped up one) so we know where it will appear.

However, notes added in Map view via a double-click on the map background are treated differently; Tinderbox will try and add the note in outline order one higher than the note to the left and/or above it on the map. This helps if adding notes into a sequence that are later overlapped or viewed as a group in a different view. (See more on adding notes to maps).

For a note added in outline, TB will try to place it to the right of the preceding ($OutlineOrder) item on the map or close to it if the new icon would overlap other existing map note/container icons.

The above may all seem rather complex but just go experiment and you'll see the 'rules' for order and placement are pretty simple once you've tried them out. Rules are less clear for map placement for items demoted/dropped into containers (via any view type window), but generally selection moved this way will retain their relative positions. Even if created in outline, a new note gets a $Xpos/$Ypos value pertinent to that container. If such a note is dropped into another container, it appears to ty to maintain those co-ordinates unless that conflicts with those of a note already occupying that location in the target container('s map); if such a clash occurs then TB uses its logic for new items placement to de-conflict the icon positions. Very occasionally, two items of the same height/width will overlap exactly; in such circumstances switching to an outline view can be useful in locating any inadvertently 'hidden' items.

If you start adding data in outline view, the map when first opened can look a bit messy. Conversely, you may find the outline's order looks a bit incoherent with differing topics intermingled. Remember the above $OutlineOrder vs.$Xpos/$Ypos description. Re-ordering the outline via drag drop will not move map icon but may affect stacking order if icons overlap. Re-ordering the map by moving around icons won't affect the outline view (unless you alter overlapping priorities).

Notes, promoting children and outline order. If the Note menu's Promote Children option is used, the promoted children are added to the current map as immediate siblings, i.e. in outline order immediately after their ex-parent. (Prior to v5.10.0, dragging a child note out of a container's viewport onto the map results in the note being set as sibling order #1 for the map thus first in outline order too; this was slightly counter-intuitive as has been fixed.)

Adornments and moving. Select an adornment and at top right it will show padlock and push-pin icons. Click these and the icons change. The change reflects the state of two Boolean attributes, $Lock and $Sticky (these can also be set via action code, rules, etc.). Normally, when an adornment is selected and moved, it moves independently of both the map background and any notes or other adornments. When an adornment's $Lock is true, it is locked to the map background. Selecting and moving a locked adornment simply scrolls the map; any items on the adornment move too but only because the whole map is moving. When an adornment's $Sticky is true, if moved it 'holds onto' any notes (or adornments) that are on top of it or partially overlap it. The adornment moves relative to the map background and any 'stuck' items move relative the the adornment. The latter makes it possible to easily move whole sections of a map around without complex selections. An adornment may be both locked and sticky in which case selecting and dragging the adornment scrolls the map whilst also bringing along any items stuck to it. Where adornments overlap, stickiness only applies to adornments (partially) on top of the sticky adornment, i.e. those with a lower $OutlineOrder value. It is worth noting that notes (and agents) have and can set $Lock and $Sticky attributes though doing so is generally not of great value compared to such use with adornments.

Next… Maps - stacking & overlapping

$OutlineOrder does have an indirect effect on your map, insofar as it sets the z-order (stacking order) that is applied when map icons overlap. When two container or note icons overlap, the item with the lowest $OutlineOrder is shown in front of the other icon. Thus, in the early stages of a map or outline, the$OutlineOrder tends to reflect the order in which the notes were added. In such a circumstance, in a map you can work on the principle that older notes will stack on top of newest notes (this can be slightly counter-intuitive at first encounter as we tend to think of putting the newest item on top of an older one). Tinderbox's Note menu has 'move to front/back' and 'move up/down' controls (and associated shortcuts) which change this stacking order but do be aware that such an action also affects outline view. How? The change the map z-order - the overlapping order - these commands change the selected note's $OutlineOrder. In turn, this moves the selected note(s) higher or lower in outline view. If there is more than one adornment on a map the same rules as above apply if adornments overlap, though this can be hard to see due to the opacity of adornments.

In the screen grab, map icons have been arranged with some overlapping to give visible proof of how $OutlineOrder affects this. Looking in the top right corner 'ee' sits over 'cc' but under 'bb'. Described in $OutlineOrder terms it is clearer: #6 sits over #7 but under #4; the lower the $OutlineOrder, the more siblings in front of which it will sit if overlapping of icons occurs. An interesting thing the screen grab reveals is that adornments in the outline order aren't simply always (re-)allotted an outline order lower than the highest note $OutlineOrder. Rather, they take an initial $OutlineOrder in sequence of creation within the current container. Witness the highest $OutlineOrder on our map is #18 but adornment 'pp' has an $OutlineOrder of #20.

A small difference with default adornments is that they are slightly translucent so the background items border shows through. This is deliberate as it allows more creative use of adornments - for instance to create zones to place icons that are relevant to two or more different adornment-denoted ideas. Thus, something that was pertinent to both 'rrr' and 'ppp' might be placed on the darker blue rectangle where the two adornments overlap.

From v5.9.2, new adornments are placed on top of existing adornments, i.e. added as the first adornment in outline/sibling order. This is the reverse of past behaviour (and continuing behaviour for notes) but should be more intuitive for users as generally a new adornment would wish to lie atop an existing one. The effect is achieved by the new adornment being inserted in $OutlineOrder before all existing adornments in the map, as opposed to after them as in the past.

Next… Adding notes to an existing map

• Notes added via a double-click on the map. New map notes are added as younger siblings to the existing note to which they are closest; this should result in a more understandable outline view.
• If a note is already selected, the new note is added as as next younger sibling to the previously selected note. If there is room the new note is placed to the right of its previous sibling
• If a note is nove into a collapsed outline container or onto a map, it is added as the first sibling.
• If a note is added to a map via an expanded container it is inserted into the map at the sibling order appropriate for its new outline order position.
• For multiple sibling notes added (via drag drop), the first item in the selection conforms to either of the last two conditions above. The other items in the selection are inserted in existing their sibling or parent/child.
• A pasted note/selection is added as first sibling unless a note on the map is selected, in which case it becomes the first sibling on the map (first child of the container).
• A dropped/moved container acts as for a single note in positioning terms whilst retaining its descendants.

Note that subsequently moving notes around on the map, as previously, has no effect on outline order, only on X/Y co-ordinates.

The sibling order is effectively the the OutlineOrder but only (numbered) for the current container.

The lowest number is drawn at the front in a map. If notes with sibling orders #1 and #5 overlap, part of #5 will be behind the icon for #1.

The note menu command to move a note forward/backward or all the way to the back/front will alter both OutlineOrder and SiblingOrder for the affected note(s).

Separators and adornments are included in sibling order. Note that some early versions of tinderbox, adornments used not to be included in sibling order.

Regardless of $SiblingOrder values, in map view all adornments are drawn behind all notes/container/agents. It may be easier to think of the two sets of data as if being drawn on separate map overlays

Aliases do not inherit this property from their original but have their own value (from v5.6.0).

 $Name+"|"+$WordCount

Tinderbox will draw a two-column table containing the Name and WordCount of the first few children of the container. The "|" character (often called a vertical bar or pipe) separates the columns of the table.

Optional column headings can be specified via TableHeading.

The expression code may be conditional. This lists all children with $Name and $Sibling order data displayed:

if($Prototype != "Attributes"){$Name+"|"+$SiblingOrder} 

This conditional version ignores any children that are agents:

if(!$AgentQuery){$Name+"|"+$SiblingOrder} 

This version only lists items of prototype type "Event":

if($Prototype += "Event"){$Name+"|"+$SiblingOrder} 

Newer users often get confused trying to compare Outlines with Maps. This is not entirely surprising as Tinderbox always starts a new document with a blank Outline. Users wanting maps then make a new Map view. Now they've an Outline and a Map that sort of look the same (especially if there's no nesting of notes) but aren't. This article attempts to answer some of the functional side of the similarities/differences of the two view types. Note: words in this article with a $ before them indicate reference to a TB attribute, e.g. $Name is the title of a note. Now, consider the outline and map views above, of the same TBX content.

So, "What's the point?" you may ask. If you set up a simple TBX like this you can see the effect of:

• moving an item in the map: $Xpos and $Ypos change, but $OutlineOrder and & $SiblingOrder aren't affected.
• using bring forward or send back on a map item: $OutlineOrder & $SiblingOrder change (and the item moves in the outline) but $Xpos and $Ypos are unaffected.
• moving an item in the outline: $OutlineOrder & $SiblingOrder change but $Xpos and $Ypos are unaffected.

How the TBX illustrated above was created

On the left is the outline view, on the right the map view. The notes all have a short two-l or three-letter $Name like 'bb', 'ag' or 'rrr' and the rest of the title you see is a $DisplayExpression enabling you to see the $OutlineOrder on screen. Names where the two letters are the same are notes/containers (including separators); two different letters denote an agent; three similar letters denotes an adornment. In addition, in the map, the $Xpos and $Ypos X/Y location co-ordinates are shown; in notes/containers this is by displaying body text ($Text) and for adornments - which have no (visible) $Text - the $DisplayExpression has been further amended.

How was the mark-up done? Prototype note '*Display' (in /Prototypes) has the following Rule:

$Text = "Xpos: " + $Xpos + " / Ypos: " + $Ypos 

...and DisplayExpression:

$Name + " / OutlineOrder: " + $OutlineOrder 

As we can't display text in adornments, prototype adornment '*Adornment' (seen on the map of /Prototypes) uses a different $DisplayExpression - which has to be set via the adornment's Info view (General panel). Thus $DisplayExpression:

You'll notice you'll need to set icons a bit wider than the default and on notes/containers drag the title section down a bit to see all the captioning. Notice too that a map view container icon's viewport map shows $DisplayExpression but note text isn't drawn as in a normal icon - see the icon for container note 'ii' inside the viewport of container note 'jj' at left of the map.

Next…