Once you have made connections to and from beans on the free-form surface, you can modify them as follows:
You can show and hide connections by using the
Show connections and
Hide connections tools. They can be found on the tool bar
or as selections on the Tools pull-down menu. These tools
show or hide all connections that have the selected bean or beans as their end
points. If no beans are selected, these tools show and hide all
connections in the composite bean.
If you hide connections, the Visual Composition Editor is refreshed faster and is less cluttered, making it easier for you to work.
You can also show and hide connections from the pop-up menu by selecting the Browse Connections cascade menu. The choices in this menu affect only connections going to and from the bean whose pop-up menu you opened.
To delete a connection, do one of the following:
You select connections in the same way that you select beans. When
you select a connection, boxes called selection handles
appear on it to show that it is selected. When first drawn, a
connection contains three selection handles: one at each end and one in
the middle. You can use selection handles to change either of the
following:
To select multiple connections, do one of the following:
To deselect a connection without selecting another bean or connection, follow these steps:
If you make several connections from the same bean, they run in the order in which you made the connections. To ensure the correct flow of control when you generate the source code, you might need to reorder the connections. If so, do the following:
Note: | Parameter connections must always follow the connections they supply. |
You can change the name of a connection to make identification easier. To change the connection name:
The connection name changes in the Visual Composition Editor and, after you save the bean, in the source code.
You can change the end points of a connection without redrawing it, either by dragging the connection or by changing its properties.
You can change the source of any connection. In most cases, you can also change the target. However, you cannot change the target to a type that is not allowed. For example, you cannot change a target to an event because an event can only be the source of a connection.
If you change the target of a feature-to-method connection to a bean that does not support the target method, the connection menu appears, and you can select a new target feature.
The direction of property-to-property connections determines which end point is initialized first. The target property is initialized first based on the value of the source. Only property-to-property connections can be reversed. To do this, open properties for the connection and select the Reverse push button.
To help you distinguish among several connection lines that are close together, you can change the shape of connections. To do this, follow these steps:
You can change the connection back to its original shape by selecting Restore Shape from the pop-up window.
Connections
Selecting and Deselecting Beans
Connecting Beans
Editing Connection Properties
Displaying Bean Pop-Up Menus
Show Connections
Hide Connections
Reorder Connections From
Change Connection Name