7.5. Rearranging patterns on the canvas
As your route grows and changes, you'll likely need to change how it is laid out on the canvas. Changing the layout does not change the underlying DSL, but it does make it easier to visualize the route.
The tooling provides two ways to rearrange the patterns on the canvas:
7.5.1. Rearranging patterns by dragging them
Overview
You can select one or more nodes on the canvas and drag them to a new location. Each node's connections are retained and move along with it. However, the layout of the route will continue to change as it grows in scope and complexity.
Procedure
To drag a node to a new location on the canvas:
- Determine which node or nodes you want to move.
- Select one node, or select a group of nodes by dragging a box around them.
- Drag the node or nodes to their new location, then release the mouse button.
Note
You can also rearrange the connectors between nodes to accommodate increasing numbers of patterns on the canvas. Clicking a connector joining two nodes on the canvas reveals a line segmented by a bendpoint. You can drag the bendpoint to another location on the canvas while leaving the two nodes in place. Dragging a bendpoint creates two new bendpoints on either side of it, further segmenting the connector. This feature makes it easy to organize the nodes in a complex route for visual clarity.
7.5.2. Automatically aligning patterns
Overview
The command on the canvas' context menu automatically aligns all nodes on the canvas relative to the route's start point. By default, the route editor arranges the nodes in a route from left to right across the canvas, according to the order in which they are connected to each other. It moves the start point to the left edge of the canvas, then aligns the processing nodes and endpoints accordingly.
Note
You can change the default layout direction (). To do so, on the menu bar select
You can continue adding more patterns to your route after you execute the command.
Procedure
To direct the tooling to automatically align all nodes on the canvas:
- Right-click the canvas to open the context menu.
- Select .
