Menus

Using the BPMN Modeler > Using the ILOG JViews BPMN Modeler > ILOG JViews BPMN Modeler GUI Description > Menus

Menus

The File Menu

Use this menu to create a new document, open, close, or save a document, define the printing parameters, and exit the application, see Figure 2.

Figure 2 The File Menu

The Edit Menu

This menu provides basic editing commands such as Copy, Paste, and Delete. There are also other commands, which are described in more detail in this section.

Figure 3 The Edit Menu

Group and Ungroup

The Group and Ungroup commands are useful for creating ad-hoc sub-processes from tasks and other elements in your diagram:

The Group command creates a sub-process and moves the selected objects into this sub-process.

Figure 4 Before Grouping

Figure 5 After Grouping

The Ungroup command extracts the elements of a sub-process. It places them in the parent of the sub-process, and deletes the sub-process.

Layout All Nodes

This command arranges the entire diagram to remove overlaps and to provide an easy-to-read diagram. The function is particularly useful in the following circumstances:

During prototyping, when it enables you to add new elements without needing to move nodes manually.
When complex processes are loaded from a business process management system. In this case, there is often no graphics information within the process, and they would appear visually disorganized without the Graph Layout.
When you are working with complex diagrams. Simple diagrams may give better results when arranged manually.

Note

Before performing a Layout All Nodes operation, you may sometimes need to set the Automatic Link Layout option to OFF, see The Document Toolbar.

Figure 6 and Figure 7 show a Layout All Nodes operation.

Figure 6 Before Automatic Layout

Figure 7 After Automatic Layout

Layout Selected Nodes

This command lets you arrange selected objects without moving unselected objects. This is useful when you have manually arranged a portion of the diagram, and you want the system to automatically arrange another portion.

Note

You have to keep the Automatic Link Layout option set to ON during this operation, see The Document Toolbar.

Figure 8 Layout Selected Nodes

Alignment

This menu gives access to a list of alignment commands that you can use to arrange nodes manually. They are complementary to the automatic layout commands, see Layout All Nodes and Layout Selected Nodes.

Figure 9 The Alignment Options

The View Menu

The view menu gives access to:

Commands for zooming in or out, and for resetting the initial zoom level.
Alternative views of the diagram information. They are described in more detail in this section.

Figure 10 The View Menu

Tree View

The Tree View displays the elements of the diagram as a tree. Objects selected in the Tree View are also selected in the Diagram View. Sub-processes are displayed as branches that can be expanded or collapsed.

Figure 11 The Tree View

Properties View

The Properties View displays the properties of the selected object.

Figure 12 The Properties View

You can use this view to:

Change property values, for example, to set the names of the activities.
Remove a property for a selected element of the diagram. Removing pre-defined properties should be done carefully as it may have an impact on the diagram meaning and representation.
Add new properties to the selected element of the diagram, see Figure 13. The property is saved in the XML document.

Figure 13 Adding a New Property

Overview

The overview window displays an entire diagram. A rectangle with resizing handles represents the area displayed in the Diagram View. When moving the rectangle or when resizing it, you can zoom-in, zoom-out, and pan in the Diagram View.

Figure 14 The Overview

Table View

The Table View displays the elements of the diagram and their properties in a table. The Table View provides a filter that allows you to display only those elements that match a certain type.

Figure 15 The Table View

The Options Menu

The Options menu contains action, editing, and display options.

Figure 16 The Options Menu

It allows you to define the following options:

Sticky Actions

When this option is ON, the last command remains active until a new command is triggered. This is useful when performing repetitive commands.

When this option is OFF, the modeler brings back the Select command after each action.

Auto-Edit Labels

When this option is ON, you are asked to enter object labels (for instance the name of a task) as they are added to the diagram.

When this option is OFF, the labels are edited either through the Properties View, see Properties View, or by selecting the Edit Label command, see The Document Toolbar.

Grid Spacing

This option allows you to change the grid spacing. The grid is set ON/OFF through the Grid option on the View menu, see The View Menu.

Allow Resizing

When this option is ON, the elements of the diagram can be resized manually. The selected objects are displayed in a selection rectangle with resizing handles.

When this option is OFF, the size of the elements of the diagram are automatically determined to ensure that the label text fits the elements. Sub-processes cannot be resized manually; their size depends on the size and position of their elements.

The Help Menu

The Help menu displays information about the BPMN modeler. If you use the online version of the modeler, the Help menu also gives access to this documentation, and to a series of web pages where you can obtain additional information.

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