Using Notes

To document your EventFlows, you can add Notes. Notes can attach to the EventFlow canvas, to individual components, to two or more components selected together, or to Groups. It is even possible to attach a Note to another Note.

The only purpose of Notes is to provide documentation directly in your EventFlow. A Note icon on your EventFlow canvas has no effect on your application's logic flow. It only provides information for the developer.

To add a Note:

  1. Select where you want the Note to attach. That is:

    1. Click anywhere in the EventFlow canvas to create a free-standing Note attached to the EventFlow itself.

    2. Select a single component.

    3. Select two or more components.

    4. Select a Group.

  2. Right-click and select Add Note from the context menu or use the keyboard shortcut, a single slash (/).

    • For component-associated Notes , the Note icon has an arc connection to the that component.

    • For free-standing Notes, the Note icon appears as an unconnected component.

  3. To add text to a Note, you can either:

    • Double-click the Note and edit its text directly on the canvas.

    • Select the Note, then open the Properties view. Edit the fields in the General tab:

      Name

      Enter a name for the Note. The name is shown when you hover the mouse over the Note on the canvas and hold down the Ctrl key.

      Names are automatically assigned to Notes if you don't provide one.

      Description

      Enter your text in the Description field. The field preserves line breaks, and can render the following HTML tags: b, p, and br.

On Windows, you can also drag text from another drag-enabled Windows application to the EventFlow canvas, which creates a Note containing that text.

To see the contents of a Note in the EventFlow canvas, hover your cursor over its icon. The Note text is displayed in a tooltip box.

The text you place in Notes is saved with the EventFlow application, but does not affect the logic of your application. Note text can be seen as one or more gui.note elements when you view your EventFlow application in source form.

When you delete a component that has an attached Note, the Note remains on the canvas and becomes a free-standing Note.

Change the default background color of all Notes using the Color and Fonts Preferences page. Invoke Window → Preferences, then General → Appearance → Colors and Fonts. Open the StreamBase folder, select Note Background, and click Edit.

To change the color of an individual Note, Click the Background Color button on the selected Note's General tab in its Properties view.