Flows window
The Flows window is used in a number of flows scenarios. The data is queried from the code graph and the result view shows contextualized nodes, both syntax nodes and dispatch nodes (see below) that satisfy the criteria.
The window is used in many flow scenarios, see Immediate insights and Default declaration context menu.
Shortest path may be invoked the the flows window itself.
We use the following types of flow nodes:
- Flow nodes:
- Syntax nodes: Elements from AL's syntax trees, such as statements, expressions, identifiers, and operators.
- Dispatch nodes:
These are nodes that are not represented in AL's syntax, but still
play a role in execution of AL code:
- Runtime:
Special nodes that represent a state in program execution, such as
RunCodeunit, which represents the state that a codeunit must be run. In that way, runtime nodes provide the "glue" between calls toCodeunit.Run()and the Codeunit'sOnRuntrigger. - User:
Represents the state where a user has interacted with Business Central. For example,
an
Actionnode represents a state when a user has clicked a button and aPageFieldValidationnode represents a state where a user has entered data and left a field causing validation.
- Runtime:
Special nodes that represent a state in program execution, such as
- Context nodes: Context nodes show the syntactic context of flow nodes all the way to the module level. Some nodes are both context nodes and flow nodes, such as procedures. We use the flow node symbol for these.
The level of detail in general depends on whether the graph was loaded as a full graph or as a procedure-level graph. However, for Reachable committing procedures and triggers and Reachable RIMD invocation sites, detailed syntax is never displayed.
OnValidate trigger.
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Query | Specifies the scenarios and which query was executed to fetch data for this window. |
| 2 | Results | Total result with number of results currently displayed. |
| 3 | Large result set message | This message signals that the result set is large and refresh is slow as configured in the Settings page. When this message occurs, window refresh has been changed to manual, and you need to click the refresh button after doing changes to filters and when changing the search field. |
| 4 | Contextualized flow nodes | The flow nodes of the search result in their syntactic context, so in a tree structure all the way up to the owning AL module. Syntax nodes within a code context (procedures and triggers) are ordered by the natural order of the source code, which corresponds to a downward flow within each code context. The ordering of context, e.g. modules, objects, object members does not have any semantic significance with regards to flow. Click on any item to navigate. Use the context menu to invoke Find Shortest Path or pin a node. |
| 5 | Filters | Toggles the left-hand filter panel. |
| 6 | Collapse all nodes | Collapses all nodes to the module level. |
| 7 | Collapse/expand to object level | Expands modules and collapses everything else. Shows modules and objects. |
| 8 | Collapse/expand to object member level | Expands modules and objects and collapses everything else. Shows modules, objects and object members (top-level declarations). |
| 9 | Expand down to pinned nodes | Expands the paths down to pinned nodes. |
| 10 | Expand all nodes | Expands the whole tree. |
| 11 | Export to Excel | Exports the currently view to an Excel file. |
| 12 | Search | Filters the result using the Substring search syntax. |
| 13 | Refresh view button | Click to refresh the view following changes to filters and/or search string. This is only required for large result sets. |
| 14 | Find shortest path | Use this menu to gain insight into the execution path between the declaration and this node. See below. |
| 15 | Pin/Unpin node | Toggles whether this node is pinned or not. |
| 16 | Unpinned | Uncheck this to view only pinned nodes and their ancestors. |
| 17 | Flow child nodes | When unchecked, only the top-most flow nodes are shown. So if a procedure contains flow nodes, only the trigger will show. Nodes in the trigger body are filtered away. |
| 18 | Leading siblings | When unchecked, the leading siblings are filtered away and what remains is the nesting structure, which is useful if you want to focus on under which circumstances (conditions of branching and repetitive statements) a flow may happen. |
| 19 | Main filter (dropdown) |
The main filter offers the following values:
|
| 20 | Settings | Opens the Settings page. Flow related settings are found in the Find flows and Graph Database Serversections. |
Shortest path
The result of selecting Find shortest path in the context menu of a flow node is that a new flow window is opened in a mode where:
- Only nodes on a shortest path between the two flow nodes are displayed.
- The ordering of the flow nodes is step-by-step in the order given by the path.
- Flow nodes are numbered.
- The same context may appear more than once (e.g.
when
codeunit Acalls something incodeunit B, then something incodeunit C, then something incodeunit Bagain.)
OnAfterModifySalesHeader.
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shortest Path | Indicates that the window displays the shortest path from a selected node to the declaration node in the case of inbound flow, and the shortest path from the declaration node to a selected node in the case of outbound flow. Flow nodes are numbered with steps starting from 1 at the source of the path. |
| 2 | Source/target nodes | The path's source node is marked with step number 1 and the target node is the last numbered item when reading from top to bottom. |
| 3 | Step number | Flow nodes are numbered with steps starting from 1 at the source of the path. |