Nodes in Detail

Nodes are the building blocks that help build up the structure of a Rule and Action. Components are placed in nodes to add logic to a Rule or Action.

The root node and the empty node that follows it are the only static nodes. Other nodes are created based on what components are added and what is required by those components. Some empty nodes are optional and some components allow more nodes to be created.

Optional Nodes

There are optional nodes, ones that are optional as part of a component and ones that can be added in addition to the existing required nodes for some components.

The If…Then… node in the image above requires the If and Then nodes, while the Else node is optional. The white background and dotted border denote when something is optional.

In the image above, the AND has 2 required child nodes. On the AND node itself is an Add icon which allows you to add additional nodes. However, you'll have to add the components for those nodes as you create them, since you can't create optional blank nodes.

When there are more than the minimum required nodes, deleting any of those nodes will make them disappear. When you delete a node that would bring it below the minimum required nodes, it will leave a node placeholder instead.

Expanding and Collapsing Nodes

Nodes can be expanded and collapsed using the arrow in the top left of a node.

When expanded, the Child nodes are visible. If collapsed, a summary is displayed to the right of the Parent node.

You can also use the right-click context menu to Collapse Children or Expand Children.

Collapse Children Recursively and Expand Children Recursively will do the same but for every child node of the that parent.