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Search area constraints are set on the Search Constraints and Relations tabs in the Properties dialog box, and in the Advanced pre-search relations section. Before any constraints are applied, the search area coincides with the rectangle of the page. FlexiLayout Studio first applies the constraints set on the Search Constraints and Relations tabs, and then applies the additional constraints set in the Advanced pre-search relations section.

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Advanced pre-search relations constraint types

You can set the following types of constraint:
  • Rectangle, region, or array of rectangles – Limit the search area to a rectangle (Rect variable), to a region (that is, a continuous array of rectangles, Region variable), or to an array of rectangles that need not be continuous in the general case (RectArray variable). Set this constraint with the RestrictSearchArea function and a parameter of the corresponding type. Any expression that returns a value of the required type can be used as a parameter.
  • Half-plane – Limit the search area to a half-plane located to the left of, to the right of, above, or below a particular point. Set these constraints with the Leftof, Rightof, Above, and Below functions.
  • Element boundary – Constrain an individual boundary of an element, which narrows the range of possible hypotheses at the stage of calculating the search area. Set these constraints with the LeftBound, RightBound, topBound, and BottomBound functions and the > and < operators.
  • Exclusion – Exclude a rectangle, an array of rectangles, a hypothesis, and so on from the search area. Set these constraints with the Exclude, ExcludeRect, and ExcludeSet functions.
For element boundary constraints, you may know beforehand that the left boundary of an element is always located in the left-hand part of the image, whereas the right boundary may stretch indefinitely to the right. The LeftBound and RightBound functions access the left and right boundaries of the search area, and the topBound and BottomBound functions access the top and bottom boundaries respectively.

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How multiple constraints combine

You can specify any number of these constraints in the Advanced pre-search relations section. Each constraint creates a region on the image, and all the regions created by the constraints are intersected. Additionally, the calculated search area for the element is intersected with the search area for the Group element that contains this element.