Editor area and canvas

This topic describes the editor area and the canvas of the flow editor.

The following sections describe the functions of the editor area and canvas:

Editor area
Canvas
Appearance of Invoke screen operation nodes
Hovering over a terminal
Double-click options
Drag options

Editor area

The editor area is the viewport through which the flow editor's canvas can be seen. The Overview Mode of the Outline view shows a zoomed-out image of both viewport and canvas (see Outline view).

Canvas

The canvas is the surface on which the nodes and connections are displayed.

The Overview Mode of the Outline view is very useful for viewing the entire canvas when the canvas grows beyond the bounds of the editor area (see Outline view).

Marking rectangle

To mark a group of nodes, use the mouse to draw a rectangle around the nodes that you want to include in the group. When you have finished drawing the rectangle:

The marking rectangle disappears.
The nodes included within the rectangle are decorated to show that they belong to a group.
The Show Distribute Box icon on the toolbar is enabled. You can click this icon to display a bounding rectangle enclosing the group.

To end the grouping, click the mouse anywhere on the canvas.

You can perform the following operations on a group:

You can use the mouse to drag the group to a new location.
If the distribute box is displayed, you can resize the box to include or exclude nodes.
You can Align the nodes in the group within the bounding rectangle (see Align options).
You can Distribute the nodes in the group within the bounding rectangle (see Distribute options).

The Overview Mode of the Outline view is very useful for viewing the entire canvas when the canvas grows beyond the bounds of the editor area (see Outline view).

Appearance of Invoke screen operation nodes

This option, which is available only through the Toggle Terminal Thumbnails/Icons

icon on the flow editor's toolbar (see Toolbar) switches the appearance of Invoke screen operation nodes on the flow editor's canvas between two styles, as shown in the following table:

Table 1. Appearance of Invoke screen operation nodes
Style:	Appearance:
Normal style	The flow editor displays each Invoke screen operation node as an icon:
Embedded host screen style	The flow editor displays each Invoke screen operation node using a white-on-black thumbnail of the application screen associated with the input terminal of the node.

Remember:

These two styles affect only Invoke screen operation nodes.
In the embedded host screen style (the second style in the table above), the flow editor displays the thumbnail of the application screen associated with the input terminal of the node.

Note: In the embedded host screen style, the thumbnail of an application screen associated with the output node of an Invoke screen operation node and the input terminal of some other type of node (such as Output, Reply, Invoke flow, and so on) is not displayed instead of the other type of node (Output, Reply, Invoke flow, and so on). However, you can display a thumbnail of this application screen by hovering the mouse over the output terminal of the Invoke screen operation node (see Hovering over a terminal).

Hovering over an Invoke node

Hovering the mouse pointer over an Invoke nonterminal node, an Invoke outbound web service node, or an Invoke screen operation node causes the flow editor to display information about the Invoke node, as shown in the following table:

Table 2. Hovering over an Invoke node
Type of Invoke node:	Information displayed:
Plain Invoke node	Node name
Invoke nonterminal node	Node name Associated operation and WSDL file
Invoke web outbound service node	Node name Associated operation and WSDL file
Invoke screen operation node	Node name Associated screen operation and WSDL file

Hovering over a terminal

Hovering the mouse pointer over an input terminal or output terminal of a node (

) causes the flow editor to display information about the message associated with the terminal:

For a terminal associated with a regular message (that is, a message that is edited with the flow message editor), the flow editor opens a popup that displays:
- The name of the message file.
- The name of the message.
- The names of the message elements in the message.
For a terminal associated with a screen message (which is edited with the screen message editor), the flow editor displays a large thumbnail of the application screen associated with that terminal.

Double-clicking a terminal causes the flow editor to invoke the appropriate message editor to open the message associated with the terminal (see Double-click options).

Double-click options

Double-clicking a terminal or an Invoke node causes the flow editor to automatically open the appropriate window or an editor. The following table describes these double-click functions:

Table 3. Double-click options
Node or part of node:	Description:	The editor or window that is opened automatically:
	An input or output terminal, when the terminal has been associated with a message (either a nonterminal message or a screen message)	The appropriate message editor is opened: either the flow message editor or the screen message editor.
	An Invoke node	The Select Operation window is opened.
	An Invoke nonterminal node that has an associated operation	The operation editor is opened with the associated operation selected.
	An Invoke outbound web service node that has an associated operation	The operation editor is opened with the associated operation selected.
	An Invoke screen operation node that has an associated operation	The screen operations editor is opened with the associated operation selected.
	An Invoke flow node	The flow to be invoked is opened in another instance of the flow editor on a separate editor page.

Drag options

You can perform some actions much more quickly by dragging an icon from the EST Project Explorer either to the flow editor canvas or to a node on the flow editor canvas. These actions are also available on the Flow menu (see Flow menu) or the Pop-up menu (see Pop-up menu). The following table describes the drag options:

Table 4. Drag options
Action:	Icon to drag:	Destination:	Corresponding action on Flow menu or contextual menu:
Associating an operation with a flow (see Associating an operation with the flow)	An operation in an interface definition subproject	Flow editor canvas	Select Operation, Select Interface Operation
Creating one of the following from an existing operation: Invoke nonterminal node Invoke outbound web service node Invoke screen operation node (see Creating an Invoke node directly from an existing operation)	An operation in a nonterminal applications subproject An operation in an outbound web services subproject A screen operation in a terminal applications subproject	Flow editor canvas	Add Operation
Converting a plain Invoke node to one of the following: Invoke nonterminal node Invoke outbound web service node Invoke screen operation node (see Associating an operation with a plain Invoke node	An operation in a nonterminal applications subproject An operation in an outbound web services subproject A screen operation in a terminal applications subproject	Plain Invoke node	Select Operation
Creating an Invoke flow node from an existing flow (see Creating an Invoke flow node directly from an existing flow)	A flow in a Flows folder Restriction: The name cannot contain double-byte characters.	Flow editor canvas	Add Subflow
Converting a plain Invoke node to an Invoke flow node (see Associating a flow with a plain Invoke node)	A flow in a Flows folder	Plain Invoke node	Select Subflow