3776493 - Basic Shapes Appear In Front of Some BPMN Elements After Applying Fill Colour

Symptom

When using Basic Shapes (such as rectangles) in a BPMN diagram, the shape always appears in front of some BPMN elements (e.g. task) after a fill colour is applied.

Environment

Signavio Process Manager

BPMN 2.0 diagrams

Reproducing the Issue

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create or open a BPMN diagram.

2. Add one or more BPMN Tasks.

3. Insert a Basic Shape (for example, a Rectangle).

4. Position the shape so that the BPMN elements are inside the shape area.

5. Apply a fill colour to the Basic Shape.

Cause

This behaviour is not a product defect but a known limitation of the current BPMN notation implementation. Basic Shapes are intentionally inserted at the highest position in the diagram's z-order stack. As a result:

Basic Shapes are always placed at the top layer when inserted.
Unlike Navigation Map and Value Chain diagrams, BPMN diagrams do not offer Bring to Front or Send to Back functionality.

Because the layering behaviour is implemented by design, Basic Shapes will continue to appear above some BPMN elements in the BPMN notation.

Resolution

This behaviour is working as designed within the limitations of the current BPMN editor implementation.

Workaround: Use Basic Shapes without a fill colour (transparent background). By not applying a background colour, the underlying BPMN elements remain visible even though the Basic Shape stays on top of the z-order stack.

Customers requiring control over layering in BPMN diagrams should submit a Feature Request via a support ticket.

Keywords

BPMN, Basic Shapes, Rectangle, Layering, Z-Order, Send to Back, Bring to Front, Process Manager, Diagram Editor, Shape Order, Background Colour, BPMN 2.0, Navigation Map, Value Chain, soe

, KBA , BPI-SIG-PM-MOD-EDT , Graphical Editor for SAP Signavio Process Manager , Product Enhancement

Product

Signavio Process Manager all versions