Adding a bend point

When you are working with a message flow, and connecting your chosen nodes together to determine the flow of control, you might find that a connection that you have made crosses over an intervening node and makes the flow of control difficult to follow. To help you to display the message flow nodes and their connections in a clear way, you can add bend points to the connections that you have made to improve the organization of the display. The addition of bend points has no effect on the execution of the nodes or the operation of the message flow.

Before you begin

About this task

To add a bend point:

Procedure

  1. Switch to the Integration Development perspective.
  2. Open the message flow that you want to work with.
  3. Click Selection above the node palette.
  4. Select the connection to which you want to add a bend point.
    The editor appends a small black square to each end of the connection to highlight it.
    1. Check that this is the correct connection.
      The editor also adds a small point (a handle) in the connection halfway between the in and out terminals that are joined by this connection.
  5. Hold the mouse pointer over this point until the editor displays a black cross to indicate that you now have control of this bend point.
    1. Hold down the left mouse button and move your mouse to move the black cross and bend point across the editor view.
  6. As you drag your mouse, the connection is updated, retaining its start and end points with a bend point at the drag point.
    You can move the bend point anywhere in the editor view to improve the layout of your message flow.
  7. Release the mouse button when the connection is in the correct place.
    The editor now displays the bend point that you have created with a small square (such as those at the ends of the connection), and displays another two small points in the connection, one between your newly-created bend point and the out terminal, the other between the new bend point and the in terminal.

Results

If you want to add more than one bend point to the same connection, repeat these actions from step 4 using the additional small points inserted into the connection.

What to do next

Next: align and arrange the nodes.