Operations with nodes

Create a node

To create a node:

Hover the mouse pointer above the blank node placeholder. “+ New node” title will appear.
Click on this title. Pop-up menu with node details will appear.
Type in the node name. The counter at the right end of the line shows how many symbols out of allowed 128 symbols are already used.
Select the node type by clicking on one of three pictograms:
- Hard drive pictogram (purple color) corresponds to Data node.
- f(x) pictogram (gray color) corresponds to Formula node.
- Python sign pictogram (blue color) corresponds to Python node.
Click anywhere outside of the node.

AIMES does not allow any two nodes to have the same names. If your project contains several hundreds of nodes please be creative giving nodes their names. As well as Project and Sheet names are limited to 128 symbols Node name could also be no longer than 128 symbols.

Select/unselect nodes

To select one node left click on it. Selected node will get a blue frame. To un-select one node left click outside of it. The blue frame will disappear.

To select several nodes press and hold Ctrl key and press left mouse button and hover the mouse pointer over several nodes. All selected nodes will get blue frames. Then release the left mouse button and Ctrl key. Selected nodes will still have blue frames. To select several nodes you can also hold the Ctrl key and left-click on several nodes. To un-select several nodes left-click anywhere outside of the selected nodes. The blue frame will disappear.

Move node / nodes

Move one node.

There are two ways you can move nodes.

Drag-and-drop node using the left mouse button.
Right click on a node and select “Move node” option from the pop-up menu. Then hover the mouse pointer over any other node placeholder and click the left mouse button to drop the node.

While using the latter method you can also place the node in a row or column between other nodes. When placing the node in a row all nodes located to the right from the place of insertion will be shifted to the right. When placing node between other nodes in a column all nodes below the place of insertion will be shifted down.

Move a group of nodes.

To move a group of nodes to a new location where there are enough blank node placeholders for the whole group, select a group of nodes and use drag-and-drop method exactly the same way as by moving one node.

To move a group of nodes to a new location where this group could not be placed with the same relative positioning use the following procedure.

Select several nodes. Right click on any of the selected nodes and then choose the “Move nodes” menu item. Hover the mouse pointer to a new location. While hovering you will notice a card deck pictogram near the mouse pointer. Each card is a pictogram of one of the selected nodes with node name on it. After you click on a new place for this node it will stick to its new place and the name of the next one of the selected nodes will appear at the card deck. Click on the new blank node placeholder and another selected node will land there. Repeat for all nodes remaining in the card deck.

Edit node

To edit node either:

Double click on the node or
Right-click on the node and then click on Details in the summoned menu

Delete node

To delete a node right click on it and select the Delete node pop-up menu item.
Another way to delete a node is to select it and then to press the “Delete” key. The same method could be used to delete a group of nodes.
If the nodes you are going to delete are new nodes where you have not changed anything, they will be deleted without prompting you for confirmation. If any of the nodes you're going to delete has any changes made by you, you will be asked to confirm the deletion.

Group nodes

To group several nodes (either with or without connections between them):

Select several nodes: press and hold Ctrl or Shift key and left click on desired nodes. It does not matter if these nodes have connections between them or not.
Right-click on any of the selected nodes and choose “Group nodes” menu item.
The nodes will disappear and a “New group” pictogram will appear near the mouse pointer. Hover the mouse pointer to the desired place and left click.
A new group of nodes will appear. On its pictogram there will be color coding of what type of nodes are in the group and pictograms with numbers of those nodes.
If there were connections between grouped nodes these connections would be preserved.
If there were connections between nodes in the group and nodes which are not a part of the group they will be shown as connections between group and nodes.
To give a new group a suitable name, right-click on the group and fill in the name in the group name field in the newly opened pop-up menu. Click anywhere outside of the pop-up menu.
To open the new group either double click on it or right-click on it and then choose the “Details” menu item.
To return from the view of the group content either:
- Click the “Back” button of your web browser.
- Click on the sheet name on the page bar.
- Click on the sheet name in the left panel.
If your new group has external connections they will be shown to the left and right of the nodes field. You can navigate from inside of the group straight to the externally connected nodes by double clicking on them.

Ungroup nodes

To ungroup a group:

Right-click on the group. Select “Ungroup” item in the pop-up menu.
The group will disappear and a cards deck pictogram will appear near the mouse pointer. Each card is a pictogram of one of the nodes from the group. There will be the name of one of the nodes from the group shown on the pictogram. Hover the mouse pointer over the place where you want to drop this node and left click.
Repeat the process of “dealing cards” with other nodes which names will be appearing near the mouse pointer. Connections between nodes will be preserved.
If needed, manually move nodes to make connections look less knotty.