Dependencies can be created between nodes by using triggers, limits, date and time attributes.
These dependencies can all be shown in the tree and table views as attributes.
A more advanced way to see dependencies is to use the Triggers tab in the Info Panel. This provides detailed information about the dependencies related to the currently-selected node.
The Triggers tab consists of five sub-panels. These are as follows:
- At the top the trigger expression of the node (if available) is displayed. It can be hidden/shown with the Expression button.
- Just below the trigger expression the currently-selected node is visible.
- The area below the currently-selected node is divided into two lists showing
- the triggers of the selected node (on the left)
- the nodes triggered by the selected node (on the right)
- When we click on an item in either lists the details about the dependencies will be displayed in textual format at the bottom of the interface. This part can be shown/hidden with the
button in top-right corner of the Triggers tab.
The triggers of and triggers by lists form the core of the Triggers panel so we will explain their usage in detail.
Updated states and interaction
The graphical representation of the nodes and attributes appearing in the trigger lists are the same as in the tree view. The states of these items are continuously updated and they come with a large set of actions in their context menu.
Broadcast selection
Double click on a node/attribute in trigger list or run action 'Lookup in tree' from the context menu to broadcast this selection to the other views, e.g. to make it selected in the tree view.
The dependency details list contains textual information with hyperlinks: when you click on a path the selection will be broadcast to the other views.
Triggers of the selected node
The list on the left shows the triggers of the currently-selected node.
A direct trigger can be
- a node or attribute that appears in the selected node's trigger expression
- a limit that the currently-selected node consumes
- a date or time attribute of the currently-selected node
Direct triggers are displayed with white background. For example, in our snapshot the first four items (the generated variables /eda/main:YMD and /eda/lag:YMD, and the nodes an and fc) are direct triggers because they all appear in the selected node's trigger expression, which reads as:
(/eda/main:YMD gt /eda/lag:YMD) or (/eda/main:YMD eq /eda/lag:YMD and /eda/main/12/an==complete and /eda/main/12/fc==complete)
When the dependencies are enabled (using the Dependencies button at the top-right corner of this panel) an additional set of triggers will be shown with grey background. A node or attribute is regarded as a trigger through dependency when it
- directly triggers a parent of the currently-selected node
- directly triggers a child of the currently-selected node and it is not the ancestor of it
To find out more about a trigger through dependency we need to click on it and check its dependency details list. For example if we click on limit /eda/limits:mars we get these dependency details:
Here e.g. the first line tells us that /eda/limits:mars triggers the node /eda/lag/12/archive/ansfc, which is the child of the currently selected node (/eda/lag/12/archive).
Nodes triggered by the selected node
The list on the right shows the nodes that are triggered by the currently-selected node.
A node is directly triggered when the currently-selected node appears in its trigger expression. Directly triggered nodes are displayed with white background. For example, in our snapshot the first item (node /eda/lag/12/clean) is directly triggered by the currently-selected node (/eda/lag/12/archive) because the former node's trigger expression reads as:
fb == complete and archive == complete
When the dependencies are enabled an additional set of triggered nodes will be shown with grey background. A node is regarded as a triggered through dependency when either a parent or a child of the currently-selected node triggers it.
To find out more about a node triggered through dependency node we need to click on it and check its dependency details list. For example, if we click on node /eda/lag/logfiles these dependency details will be listed:
This tells us that /eda/lag/12, which is the parent of the currently selected node (/eda/lag/12/archive), directly triggers /eda/lag/logfiles. The trigger expression of /eda/lag/logfiles verifies this fact:
./00 == complete and ./12 == complete and /eda/main:YMD gt /eda/lag:YMD