Getting information about nodes

Nodes fall into a number of different categories such as data import and export nodes, model building nodes, and other types of nodes. Every node provides a number of methods that can be used to find out information about the node.

The methods that can be used to obtain the ID, name, and label of a node are summarized in the following table.

Table 1. Methods to obtain the ID, name, and label of a node
Method	Return type	Description
`n.getLabel()`	string	Returns the display label of the specified node. The label is the value of the property `custom_name` only if that property is a non-empty string and the `use_custom_name` property is not set; otherwise, the label is the value of `getName()`.
`n.setLabel(label)`	Not applicable	Sets the display label of the specified node. If the new label is a non-empty string it is assigned to the property `custom_name`, and `False` is assigned to the property `use_custom_name` so that the specified label takes precedence; otherwise, an empty string is assigned to the property `custom_name` and `True` is assigned to the property `use_custom_name`.
`n.getName()`	string	Returns the name of the specified node.
`n.getID()`	string	Returns the ID of the specified node. A new ID is created each time a new node is created. The ID is persisted with the node when it's saved as part of a flow so that when the flow is opened, the node IDs are preserved. However, if a saved node is inserted into a flow, the inserted node is considered to be a new object and will be allocated a new ID.

Methods that can be used to obtain other information about a node are summarized in the following table.

Table 2. Methods for obtaining information about a node
Method	Return type	Description
`n.getTypeName()`	string	Returns the scripting name of this node. This is the same name that could be used to create a new instance of this node.
`n.isInitial()`	Boolean	Returns `True` if this is an initial node (one that occurs at the start of a flow).
`n.isInline()`	Boolean	Returns `True` if this is an in-line node (one that occurs mid-flow).
`n.isTerminal()`	Boolean	Returns `True` if this is a terminal node (one that occurs at the end of a flow).
`n.getXPosition()`	int	Returns the x position offset of the node in the flow.
`n.getYPosition()`	int	Returns the y position offset of the node in the flow.
`n.setXYPosition(x, y)`	Not applicable	Sets the position of the node in the flow.
`n.setPositionBetween(source, target)`	Not applicable	Sets the position of the node in the flow so that it's positioned between the supplied nodes.
`n.isCacheEnabled()`	Boolean	Returns `True` if the cache is enabled; returns `False` otherwise.
`n.setCacheEnabled(val)`	Not applicable	Enables or disables the cache for this object. If the cache is full and the caching becomes disabled, the cache is flushed.
`n.isCacheFull()`	Boolean	Returns `True` if the cache is full; returns `False` otherwise.
`n.flushCache()`	Not applicable	Flushes the cache of this node. Has no affect if the cache is not enabled or is not full.