Create Nassi-Shneiderman Diagram Symbols
Drag a Decision Symbol from the Library
To add a decision to your chart, drag a selection symbol from the Nassi-Shneiderman library to your page.
Drag a decision symbol from the Nassi-Shneiderman library
Create Your Own Decision Symbol
You can also create your own decision symbol using the FreeForm drawing tool (available in Professional and ProPlus). In order to have three separate text fields, draw three triangles instead of diagonal lines across a rectangle. (If you prefer using diagonal lines, you will have to add text as a separate object.)
To start drawing a triangle, make sure Enable FreeForm Draw is checked under the Arrange menu.
After selecting the FreeForm stepwise tool , begin drawing by clicking on the page at the point you want your shape to begin.
Stretch the first line segment by moving your mouse in the direction you want to the line to go. Think of this tool as string tied to a nail on the page. When you first click on the page you place a nail there and by moving the mouse you can stretch the string in any direction. By clicking again, you can add a second (third, fourth, etc) nail to the page and stretch the string again in a new direction.
Continute clicking and stretching to draw additional line segments. A line segment is automatically added to the line for each point that you click.
Draw three line segments with FreeForm draw to create a new triangle shape
Once your shape is complete, you can close it by clicking near the starting point. As you move your cursor near the starting point, your cursor will change to a pen with a circle at the end. This signals the shape is ready to be closed if you click down with the mouse.
If you flip your triangle to create its mirror image, the text entry properties will not work properly. Instead, create the triangle's mirror image from scratch as well.
Once the triangles are complete, position them on top of a rectangle and select Create Combination Object under the Arrange menu (Don't group your pieces together because then you won't be able to add or edit text.)
Create a combination object from the two triangles and the rectangle
Even after the shapes are combined, you can still adjust color and text alignment as you see fit. A good rule of thumb to follow is to set the rectangle's text alignment to center-top and to set the two triangle's to center-center.
Recommended alignment for the base rectangle
Recommended alignment for the two triangles
Once you have a decision symbol, stretch and shrink it to fit your table. For fine adjustments in size, hold down the SHIFT key while stretching the object with the arrow keys.
Stretch the symbol to fit your table
Once stretched, carefully nudge the symbol into place using the arrow keys.