To open a library node for editing:
- From the Directory, select the library node.
- Click Open.
- When you have finished editing the library node, click Save.
- When you are working with a data flow or another library node which uses the node that you have edited, ensure that the latest updates are reflected by selecting Update Library Nodes from the toolbar menu.
You cannot execute a library node or view any data in the data viewer because a library node is intended to be a reusable component and therefore does not contain any data. To test a library node and see how it operates on data, use it in a data flow. To switch quickly between a data flow and a library node, you can work on multiple documents simultaneously by opening the Directory in multiple browser tabs. For example, in Internet Explorer you can right-click on a browser tab when in the Directory and choose Duplicate tab to open up a second instance of the Directory. From one tab you can open your data flow and then from the second tab you can open your library node.
Define search keywords on custom library nodes
You can define search keywords on a custom library node so that when these search words are used in the Nodes panel, the node is included in the search results.
- From the Directory, select the library node.
- Click Open.
- In the Properties panel, select the Define tab.
- Define a new text property called
SearchKeywords. To define a new property, type the new property name and press Enter, then select the property type. - Click the menu button to the right of the new property and select Edit Details.
- In the Edit Property Definition dialog, enter the following Run Time Property Name:
ls.brain.graphElement.searchKeywords - Click Done to close the Edit Property Definition dialog.
- It is recommended that you hide the property so that it is not visible to users of the node. To do this, click the menu button to the right of the property and select Hide.
- Switch back to the Configure tab of the Properties panel.
- In the new SearchKeywords property, enter a list of search terms, one per line.
When a user searches for one of these terms in the Nodes panel, your library node will be included in the search results, see Searching for nodes.
Edit instances of composite library nodes
A library node is a node that is available to select from the Nodes panel. A composite node is a grouping of nodes for ease of reuse.
Editing a library node will affect all instances of the node, across all data flows where it is used. If, however, you want to change the contents of a single instance of the library node, in a particular data flow, you can do this by editing the node within the data flow itself.
For example, you have a composite library node which performs several actions on input data, including a number of filters. In one particular instance of the node you want to disable one of those filters. If you were to open the library node and disable the filter node there, that change would affect all data flows which use that library node. This could cause an error in a number of other data flows. Instead, you can edit the single instance of the node, as follows:
- Open the data flow that contains the instance of the library node that you want to edit.
- Double-click to open the composite node.
When you open an instance of a composite library node, contained nodes are shown with an inherited badge, indicating that you did not place the node inside the data flow yourself, but that it has been inherited from the library node:
Connections are inherited in the same way as nodes. Connections defined in the library node are shown as dotted lines.
- Select the node and use the Properties panel to edit the node as required. This is a local edit, which only affects this single instance of the node in the current data flow.
After editing the node, a pencil icon indicates that the node has been changed:
You can create new connections inside a composite library node. After editing a connection, the line changes from dotted to solid. If you add a new connection from an inherited node output pin, any inherited connections will be replaced.
You can also augment an instance of a library node by adding new nodes to it from the Nodes panel.
Note: You cannot delete an inherited node. If you want to prevent an inherited node from running, you must disable it.