The flow designer opens in a separate window titled Flow followed by the name of the flow. The Administration remains usable, and several flows can be open at the same time.
| Area | Position | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| Ribbon | top | the commands, see below; above it, Undo and Redo for changes on the canvas |
| Nodes | left | the toolbox: all nodes available for this type of flow, in groups — see Nodes |
| Canvas | center | the flow; the status bar below it has a slider for zooming |
| Properties | right | the settings of the selected node; if none is selected, the flow properties |
| Error | bottom | the findings of the ongoing check, see Checking, saving, versions |
The ribbon
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
| Import | loads flow logic from a .flow file into this flow. Nodes, variables, functions and settings are replaced; name, description and mappings are kept. |
| Export | writes the flow logic to a file |
| New | discards the flow, see below |
| History | loads an earlier version, see Versions |
| Save | saves the flow; the window stays open |
| Generate Code | shows the C# code the flow produces, see Code in flows |
Inserting and connecting nodes
- Drag a node from the toolbox onto the canvas.
- Drag from an output — on the right of the node — to the input of the next node.
- An output leads to exactly one node; if you drag a new connection from the same output, it replaces the old one. An input accepts any number of connections.
- Start and the event nodes have no input; a path begins with them. Queue, Virtual queue, Terminate and Wait for termination have no output; a path ends with them.
- Press Delete to delete selected nodes and connections. When a node is deleted, the variables and timers it created disappear as well.
Naming nodes
The first property of every node is its Display Name: at most 50 characters consisting of letters, digits, underscores and spaces. A new node gets the name of its type, with “_1”, “_2” … added if the name already exists. Names must be unique within the flow.
The name has consequences: nodes such as DTMF Text or Database Read create a variable with their name, see Variables and attached data. If you rename such a node, the variable is created under the new name; you have to adjust places that use the old name yourself.
Outputs
Script code, Branch, DTMF Character, Word Recognition, Digit recognition and the event nodes State Change Event, Queue Exit Event and Timer Elapsed Event show the Outputs list in their properties. Each Output has:
- Display text — the label. It can only be changed for Script code and Word Recognition; there it determines when the flow takes this output.
- Visible — hides an unconnected output you do not need, for example the keys 0 and 5 to 9 of a menu with four options.
The output labels are created in the language of your Administration when the node is inserted and stay that way, even if someone using a different language opens the flow later.
Value or variable
Many fields have a small toggle on their right edge. With the pencil, you enter
a fixed value; with the keyboard, you select a variable of the flow. A selected
variable appears in the field as %Name%.
New
New asks for confirmation with Discard Flow. If you confirm with OK, the server deletes nodes, variables, settings and all earlier versions; name, description and mappings are kept, and the empty flow is saved immediately.
Closing
If you have changed something, the designer asks Save flow? when you close it. OK saves — if there is a critical error, the window stays open — and No discards the changes. Closing the designer ends the lock.