Attaching Annotations

Annotations are useful for documenting the purpose of a feature type, link, or transformer, especially in a large or complex workspace.

  1. Select a feature type, link, or transformer, click the right mouse button and then choose Attach (or Add) Annotation from the command menu.

  2. The default annotation anchors to the selected node. Click twice on the annotation to edit the default text.

Annotations   

If you select exactly one node or link and exactly one annotation, right-click and choose Attach Annotation, the free-standing annotation will attach to the selected node or link.

Attaching Default Annotations to Multiple Nodes and Links

The default annotation includes the name of the node. For feature links, it will include both the source and destination node information.

Annotations will be added to all the nodes and links. Nodes will show the node name as default string, and links will show <source node name> to <destination node name> as the default string.

Tips:

  • Right-click on an annotation and select Follow Attached Node. If this option is deselected,  a comment leader line will stretch to follow a node, but the comment will remain in its original place.

  • By default, annotations appear in front of the display and can overlay other parts of the workspace. To move annotations to the back of the display, right-click on an annotation and select Send to Back. This also works for feature types and transformers.

You can also insert "floating" annotations in a workspace by selecting Annotation from the Insert menu, or by clicking . If you want to connect it later, simply select the annotation, click the right mouse button, and choose Attach to Feature Type or Attach to Transformer. You can also choose to detach any annotation from its source.

Summary Annotations

Select a feature type or transformer, right-click and choose Show Summary Annotation from the command menu. An annotation bubble displays detailed information.

Tip: This feature is useful when printing workspaces.

You can toggle the display by choosing Summary Annotations from the View menu.