Message Flow editor

The Message Flow editor is the default editor provided by the Broker Application Development perspective for defining a graphical representation of a message flow in the workbench, and for setting properties for individual message flow nodes.

The editor is launched in the editor area of the workbench window when you open a message flow (.msgflow) file in the Resource Navigator view. The editor area is where you select built-in and user-defined nodes, and the connections between them, to define a message flow.

Start of changeFor information about changing the palette preferences in Message Brokers Toolkit Version 5.1, see Changing palette preferences.End of change

Message Flow editor views

The Message Flow editor has the following views:

Resource Navigator view
The navigator view shows all the resources in your workspace, that is all message set resources and all message flow resources.
Editor view
The editor view shows the contents of the resource that is currently open. It also shows tabs for each of the resource that you have open so that you can quickly switch between them.
Outline view
The Outline view enables you to navigate to a particular node in a message flow and edit its properties.
Overview view
The Overview tab provides a useful summary for large, complex message flows because it shows a small-scale version of the flow.
Start of changeIn Message Brokers Toolkit Version 5.1 click the Overview Mode button in the Outline view to switch between Outline and Overview view.
Start of changeShow overviewEnd of change
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Tasks view
The tasks view displays the warning and error messages that are generated by the editor's validation when you save the message flow file. If you double click an error, the editor indicates where it is located (for example, if you have not set a mandatory property in a node, it opens the properties dialog for that node on the right page).

Message Flow editor toolbar

The icons in the toolbar and their actions are shown in the table below.

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Icon Label Action

Show grid icon
Show grid Displays a grid of horizontal and vertical dotted lines in the background of the editor area.

Snap to grid icon
Snap to grid Snaps each node to the nearest grid line.

Grid properties icon
Grid properties Defines the horizontal and vertical spacing of the grid markers, and the gap between the borders of the editor area and the start of the grid markers.

Start of changeAlign leftEnd of change
Align left Lines up the left edge of the currently selected nodes. Enabled only when more than one node is selected.

Start of changeAlign centerEnd of change
Align center Lines up the horizontal center point (between left and right) of the currently selected nodes. Enabled only when more than one node is selected.

Start of changeAlign rightEnd of change
Align right Lines up the right edge of all the currently selected nodes. Enabled only when more than one node is selected.

Start of changeAlign topEnd of change
Align top Lines up the top edge of the currently selected nodes. Enabled only when more than one node is selected.

Start of changeAlign middleEnd of change
Align middle Lines up the vertical center point (between top and bottom) of the currently selected nodes. Enabled only when more than one node is selected.

Start of changeAlign bottomEnd of change
Align bottom Lines up the bottom edge of the currently selected nodes. Enabled only when more than one node is selected.

Show distribute box icon
Show distribute box Displays a rectangular box around the currently selected nodes.

Distribute horizontally icon
Distribute horizontally Aligns the currently selected nodes with the nearest right or left edge within the distribute box.

Distribute vertically icon
Distribute vertically Aligns the currently selected nodes with the nearest top or bottom edge within the distribute box.

Print icon
Print Prints the contents of the editor area.
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Related concepts
Message flows

Related tasks
Defining message flow content
Start of changeChanging palette preferencesEnd of change
Start of changeChanging the palette layoutEnd of change
Start of changeChanging the palette settingsEnd of change
Start of changeCustomizing the paletteEnd of change

Related reference
Broker Application Development perspective
Built-in nodes
User-defined nodes