Process Editor

The Process editor is used to design and edit the different process kinds (mostly business and User Dialog logic processes). The Process editor consists of two parts:

the Editor Area where the process logic is constructed element for element and
the Palette where the elements that are to be placed inside the process are selected

Accessibility

Axon.ivy Project Tree > double click on a process node inside the project tree ()

Palette

The palette shows the process elements that are available for a specific process kind. The set of available process elements may vary for different process kinds.

Tip

The purpose and configuration of all available process elements are described in detail in the Process Elements Reference.

Editor Area

Processes are designed, drawn and modified in the process editor area. Select an element from the palette, then click in the process editor area to place it. Click and drag elements to replace them.

Arrows are drawn between two elements by clicking on the first element, then holding the left mouse button down until releasing on the second element.

You have four context menus available in the Process editor: the editor menu, the element menu, the arrow menu and the selection menu.

Editor Menu

To open the editor menu right click anywhere on the editors area canvas (i.e. background). The following actions are available:

Leave Subprocess: Will jump out of an embedded subprocess to the process that contains the Embedded Sub element.
Select All: Selects all process elements.
Copy (as Image): Copies the whole process (as image only) to clipboard.
Insert template: Inserts an existing process template. Opens a selection dialog to choose the template to be inserted, then inserts the selected template at the current mouse position. All of currently defined process templates are also available from the Process Template View.
Paste: Pastes a previously copied or cut element into the process at the current mouse position.
Undo: Undo the last drawing command. The process editor keeps up to 100 commands in the history buffer that can be undone.
Zoom In: Zoom in to get a close-up view of the process model. The view is enlarged by a factor of 20%. With a wheel mouse, you can also zoom in with the wheel together with the Ctrl key.
Zoom Out: Zoom out to see more of the process model at a reduced size. The view is reduced by a factor of 20%. With a wheel mouse, you can also zoom out with the wheel together with the Ctrl key.
Zoom 100%: Reset the zoom factor to the default size.
Change orientation of swimlanes: Changes the orientation of pools and lanes from horizontal to vertical or vice versa.
Add pool: Adds another pool before the swimlane at the current mouse position.
Add lane: Adds another lane before the lane or inside the pool at the current mouse position.
Edit pool/lane: Opens the configuration of the pool or lane at the current mouse position
Remove pool/lane: Removes the pool or lane at the current mouse position
Inscribe Process: Opens the configuration editor of the process.

Element Menu

To open the element menu right click on an process element. The following actions are available:

Copy: See Selection Menu.
Cut: See Selection Menu.
Inscribe: Opens the configuration editor of the process element.
Wrap Text: Places the name of the element inside the element’s icon. The icon size is stretched accordingly.
Move Text: Replaces the element’s text with a box that can be moved around. You can also achieve this by simply clicking and dragging an element’s associated text.
Style: See Selection Menu.
Open Document Reference: Opens document URLs which are configured in the elements ‘Name’ inscription tab.
Attach boundary event: Attaches an additional boundary event to the currently selected activity.
Breakpoint: Add a regular or conditional breakpoint to the element or remove all breakpoints from the element.
Connect: Creates an arrow that starts at this element. Click on another element to create a connection between the two elements. You can also create an arrow by clicking on the process element where the arrow should start and then move the mouse while you keep the mouse button pressed to the process element where the arrow should end.
Disconnect: Disconnects this element from another element. Click on another element to remove the connection between the two elements.
Move: See Selection Menu.
Extended Functions: Select from extended layout functions for the element. You can reset the default size of an accidentally resized element. If elements are placed on top of each other you may send an element to the back or bring it to the front of the element stack.
Delete Element: Deletes the element.

The visibility of the following menu entries are depending on the type of the process element:

Start Process: Starts the process that begins at the process element.
Send Signal: Opens a dialog to send a signal. The dialog uses the signal code configured on the process element as default value.
Enter Subprocess: Enters the embedded subprocess and shows the encapsulated process.
Toggle Transparency: Changes the transparency state of the embedded subprocess. This either hides the process that is encapsulated by the embedded sub element or makes it visible.
Unwrap Subprocess: The elements encapsulated by the embedded subprocess are placed into the current process.
Change type: Converts the Embedded Sub into another subprocess type (e.g. from BPMN User Activity to BPMN Send Activity). The inner fields will be kept, but its field ids will change. This makes the Process Model incompatible when elements are wrapped for the first time. See Embedded Subprocess.
Search callers of this process: Displays all callers of a Start in the Search view.
Search callers of this exception element: Displays all process elements that call an Exception Start when an exception occurred.
Jump to connected element: Will jump out of an embedded subprocess to the process that contains the Embedded Sub element and selects the process element that is connected with the Embedded Start or End Event.
Jump to referenced process: Opens the process that is referenced by the process element.
Jump to User Dialog Process: Opens the process of the User Dialog that is referenced by the process element.
Edit Page: Opens the web page configured on the process element. If no page is configured then the Create New Page dialog is opened.
Edit Java Class: Opens the Java editor with the Java class configured on the process element. If no Java class is configured the New Bean Class Wizard is opened.
Edit User Dialog: Opens the view editor (e.g. JSF Editor) for the selected User Dialog.

Arrow Menu

To open the arrow menu right click on a an arrow. The following actions are available:

Inscribe: Opens the configuration editor of the arrow that the mouse is placed over.
Move Text: Replaces the arrow’s text with a box that can be moved around. You can also achieve this by simply clicking and dragging the arrow’s associated text.
Bend: Relayouts the arrow’s path on the editor’s grid (use only rectangular angles).
Straighten: Relayouts the arrow’s path into a direct line without any angles.
Color: Changes the color of the arrow.
Bring to front: If elements and arrows are placed on top of each other then this action brings the one with the cursor over it to the front of the element stack.
Send to back: If elements and arrows are placed on top of each other then this action sends the one with the cursor over it to the back of the element stack.
Reconnect: Detaches the selected arrow’s head from the element it is connected to and let’s you reconnect the arrow to another element.
Delete connector: Deletes the selected arrow.

Selection Menu

To open the selection menu right click on a selected element or a group of selected elements (i.e. selection frame is visible). The following actions are available:

Copy: Copies the selection to the clipboard.
Cut: Copies the selection to the clipboard and deletes all contained elements from the process.
Style: Sets the style of the selected elements to a style in the predefined list of styles.
Auto Align: Aligns the selected elements horizontally and vertically.
Same Width: Assigns the same width to all of the selected elements. The resulting width is determined by the widest element in the selection.
Same Height: Assigns the same height to all of the selected elements. The resulting height is determined by the highest element in the selection.
Same Width and Height: Combination of the menus Same Width and Same Height.
Set to default size: Resets the size of the selected elements to their default sizes.
Wrap into Subprocess: Creates an embedded subprocess from the selected elements.
Create template: Creates a new process template from the selected elements. After prompting for a name for the selection, the new template will be available from the Process Template View.
Delete selection: Deletes all of the selected elements from the process.

Shortcut Keys

Some of the entries in the context menus are available with shortcut keys. To use them, place the mouse over a process element and press the according key.