I got a method working using the bounding box of the element. It is not perfect, since my elements are not perfectly rectangular, but it looks OK.
Basically I find the bounding box of the element in Canvas coordinates by:
private static Rect GetBounds(FrameworkElement element, UIElement visual)
{
return new Rect(
element.TranslatePoint(new Point(0, 0), visual),
element.TranslatePoint(new Point(element.ActualWidth, element.ActualHeight), visual));
}
Then I find the intersection of the centre-to-centre line against each of the four sides of the bounding box, and use that intersection point to connect the two elements by a Line shape.
I found the intersection code at Third Party Ninjas:
http://thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2008/10/07/line-segment-intersection/
private void ProcessIntersection()
{
float ua = (point4.X - point3.X) * (point1.Y - point3.Y) - (point4.Y - point3.Y) * (point1.X - point3.X);
float ub = (point2.X - point1.X) * (point1.Y - point3.Y) - (point2.Y - point1.Y) * (point1.X - point3.X);
float denominator = (point4.Y - point3.Y) * (point2.X - point1.X) - (point4.X - point3.X) * (point2.Y - point1.Y);
intersection = coincident = false;
if (Math.Abs(denominator) <= 0.00001f)
{
if (Math.Abs(ua) <= 0.00001f && Math.Abs(ub) <= 0.00001f)
{
intersection = coincident = true;
intersectionPoint = (point1 + point2) / 2;
}
}
else
{
ua /= denominator;
ub /= denominator;
if (ua >= 0 && ua <= 1 && ub >= 0 && ub <= 1)
{
intersection = true;
intersectionPoint.X = point1.X + ua * (point2.X - point1.X);
intersectionPoint.Y = point1.Y + ua * (point2.Y - point1.Y);
}
}
}
And voilá! The lines are now drawn as if they go from the centre of each node to the other, but stops approximately at the node s edge so the arrow end is visible.
An improvement of this method would be to test against the actual edge of the node itself, such as for elliptical nodes, but I have yet to find a WPF method that provides me with a Geometry or Path that I can test against.