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Version: 2.13.X

Navigating the Application

Identifying the User Interface

Cogynt Authoring's primary user interface consists of the following features.

Application Header

The toolbar at the top of the screen displays authoring navigation paths, starting with the system view. Navigating from one view to another adds more paths to the displayed path links. Clicking a path link navigates to the corresponding view.

note

The main screen displays a maximum of three levels of views:

  • System
  • Event Pattern
  • Outcome Computations

Action Panel

The toolbar beneath the application header is the "action panel." It houses command buttons. The left side of the action panel houses the system panel () icon. The command buttons on the toolbar's right side are specific to the active view. Some commands (such as Search and Print) are common across all environments.

Diagramming Area

The largest area of the application screen, indicated by a gridded background, is reserved for diagramming. This space is where model artifacts are created and their relationships visualized.

The toolbar at the bottom of the diagramming area holds buttons for common diagram controls, such as zooming, scrolling, and centering.

The left side of the diagramming area holds the tool palette.

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The tools available in the tool palette vary depending on the active view.

As diagrams grow in size and complexity, they may occupy more space than is available on the screen.

To move to a different part of a diagram, do any of the following:

  • Press the corresponding arrow key on the keyboard to move up, down, left, or right on the diagram.
  • Click and drag the cursor on an open area of the diagram to pan the diagram.
  • Use the scroll wheel of the mouse to pan in the direction of the scroll.

Organizing Diagrams

If the diagramming area becomes cluttered, or its nodes too difficult to locate, Cogynt Authoring can rearrange them for easier navigation.

In the action panel, click Auto-Layout to sort all system nodes in the diagramming area.

Details Panel

On the right side of the screen, the details panel displays detailed information about the currently selected (or "active") item in an authored diagram.

When nothing is selected, the panel displays information about the container of the current diagram. The following table indicates the container for each diagram depending on the view:

ViewContainer
SystemProject
Event PatternEvent Pattern
Outcome ComputationsOutcome

System Panel

Clicking the system panel () icon in the action panel opens or closes the system panel. The system panel is divided into three sections.

Recent

This section lists up to three most recently accessed projects. Clicking the corresponding Launch icon opens the project.

Project Tasks

This section lists tasks specific to the active project:

  • New creates a new project and makes it active in the view.
  • Open opens an existing project.
  • Deploy sends the currently active project to the Apache Flink cluster for execution.
  • Export saves the entire contents or selected contents of the active project as a file on your local machine.
  • Explore opens the Project Explorer to browse the model artifacts of the active project. For more information, see Exploring Projects.
  • Unload closes the currently active project.

Other Tasks

This section provides access to other tasks that may be necessary when developing a model:

  • Import loads an exported file back into the system. For more information, see Exporting and Importing Authoring Files.
  • Projects opens the Project Manager interface, which lists all projects available in the system and can execute various actions for them.
  • User Data Schemas opens the User Data Schema Management utility. For more information, see Data Authoring.
  • Event Types opens the Event Type Management utility. For more information, see Managing Event Types.
  • Deployments opens the Deployment Management utility. For more information, see Deploying Models.
  • Tags opens the Tag Management utility. For more information, see Managing Tags.
  • Lexicons opens the Lexicon Management utility. For more information, see Lexicon Authoring.
  • Schema Discovery opens a user interface for making connections and discovering existing topics on an Apache Kafka server. These topics can then be used to create user data schemas for models. For more information, see Performing Schema Discovery.

Cogynt Authoring provides several ways to perform lateral navigation among the various views.

In the main interface of the application, where users typically work from one of three principal views (system, event pattern, and outcome computations), navigating from a higher view to a lower one is achieved by double-clicking (or "drilling down" on) the selected visual element.

tip

Double-clicking an event pattern node in a system diagram switches to the event pattern view and loads the diagram for that node.

The most common way to go from one event pattern diagram to another is by using Project Explorer.

Project Explorer is a useful tool for browsing the top-level model artifacts of the active project. It shows a list of those objects either by categories or tags. You can quickly review an object's summary and perform some common actions, such as exporting, duplicating, or deleting.

Since all the names in the list are hyperlinks, clicking any of them either opens its editor (displaying complete information about the object), or in the case of an event pattern, opens its diagram in the event pattern view.

Opening Event Pattern Diagrams

To open the diagram of any event pattern in Project Explorer:

  1. Click the system panel () icon.
  2. Under Project Tasks, click Explore.
  3. Click System Nodes to expand the list.
  4. Click the name of the desired event pattern.

Editing Model Artifacts

To open the editor for any model artifact in Project Explorer:

  1. Click the system panel () icon.
  2. Under Project Tasks, click Explore.
  3. Click the section corresponding to the type of entity you want to edit to expand the list.
  4. Click the name of the desired entity.

Another way of navigating between event patterns in a project (or between outcome computations diagrams in an event pattern) is to use the mini view. Located at the bottom of the details panel, the mini view displays a read-only copy of the parent diagram:

  • In the event pattern view, the mini view shows the system diagram.
  • In the outcome computations view, the mini view shows the event pattern diagram.

Zooming

The mini view has three different methods of zooming.

To zoom using the zoom slider:

  1. Locate the blue zoom slider on the left side of the mini view diagram.
  2. Click and drag the blue circle up the slider track to zoom in.
  3. Click and drag the blue circle down the slider track to zoom out.

To zoom by clicking within the current diagram:

  1. Double-click any open space within the mini view diagram to zoom in.
  2. Hold a meta key (such as SHIFT or CTRL on Windows, or COMMAND on Mac) and double-click to zoom out.

To zoom using a mouse wheel or trackpad:

  1. Hold a meta key (such as SHIFT or CTRL on Windows, or COMMAND on Mac).
  2. Use the mouse wheel or trackpad to adjust the zoom level.

If you are already in the event pattern view, double-click another event pattern node in the mini view to open the event pattern.

The Event Pattern Editor displays information about an event pattern, including its downstream and upstream event patterns (if there are any). These are listed under the From Nodes and To Nodes sections of the editor.

By default, when in the event pattern view, the Event Pattern Editor is shown in the details panel when nothing is selected. To de-select a selected diagramming element and show the Event Pattern Editor, click an empty space on the diagram.

To navigate to an upstream event pattern within the Event Pattern Editor:

  1. Click the To Nodes section to expand it.
  2. Click the Launch button beside the appropriate pattern.

To navigate to a downstream event pattern within the Event Pattern Editor:

  1. Click the From Nodes section to expand it.
  2. Click the Launch button beside the appropriate pattern.