The Palette contains components to be placed into Graph Editor and tools to work with them. The Palette enables you to select a component and paste it into the Graph Editor. Beside above mentioned components the Palette contains tools for placing notes and edges and for selection of components.

To find the component in Palette use the Filter. The filter is placed at the top of the Palette. Start typing the component name into the input field of the filter and the component list is being filtered on the fly.

The Palette is either opened after CloverETL Designer has been started or you can open it by clicking the arrow which is located above the Palette label or by holding the cursor on the Palette label.

You can hide the Palette again by clicking the same arrow or even by simple moving the cursor outside the Palette tool.

You can even change the shape of the Palette by shifting its border in the Graph Editor and/or moving it to the left side of the Graph Editor by clicking the label and moving it to this location.

To paste the component, you only need to click the component label, move the cursor to the Graph Editor, and click again. After that, the component appears in the Graph Editor. Repeat it until you place all components needed for your graph.

Another way to place a component into a graph editor pane is to drag the component from the Palette and drop it on a place you want.

All components of the graph can be viewed in the Outline pane.

Once you have selected and pasted more components to the Graph Editor, you need to connect them by the edges.

CloverETL Designer provides all components in the Palette of Components. However, you can choose which should be included in the Palette and which not. If you want to choose only some components, select Window → Preferences... from the main menu.

Figure 20.2. Selecting Components

Expand the CloverETL item and choose Components in Palette.

Figure 20.3. Components in Palette

In the window, you will see the categories of components. Expand the category you want and uncheck the checkboxes of the components you want to remove from the palette.

Figure 20.4. Removing Components from the Palette

Then you only need to close and open the graph and the components will be removed from the Palette.

To connect two components by an edge choose the edge label in the Palette, click the output port of first component and click on the input port of second component. This way the two components will be connected. Once you have terminated your work with edges, click the Select item in the Palette window.

After creating or modifying a graph, you should save it. Save the graph by selecting the Save item from the context menu or by using the Save button in the File menu or by Ctrl+S.

Figure 20.5. Graph Editor with an Opened Palette of Components

If you want to close any of the graphs that are opened in the Graph Editor, you can click the cross at the right side of the tab. If you want to close more tabs at once, right-click any of the tabs and select a corresponding item from the context menu. There you have the items: Close, Close other, Close All, and some other ones. See below:

Figure 20.6. Closing the Graphs

Rulers serve to align the components.

Rulers can be switched on from the main menu. Select the CloverETL item (but only when the Graph Editor is highlighted) and turn on the Rulers option from the menu items.

To align the components using rulers, click anywhere in the horizontal or vertical rulers. Vertical or horizontal lines will appear. Then, you can push any component to some of the lines and once the component is pushed to it by any of its sides, you can move the component by moving the line.

When you click any line in the ruler, it can be moved throughout the Graph Editor pane.

Figure 20.7. Rulers in the Graph Editor

Grid helps you to align the components.

The grid is switched on or off from the main menu. To switch on the Grid select the CloverETL item (but only when the Graph Editor is highlighted) and click on the Grid item in the menu.

After that, you can use the grid to align the components as well. As you move them, the components are pushed to the lines of the grid by their upper and left sides.

Figure 20.8. Grid in the Graph Editor

By clicking the Graph auto-layout item, you can change the layout of the graph. You can see how it changes when you select the Graph auto-layout item in case you have opened the graphAggregateUnsorted.grf. Before selecting this item, the graph looks like this:

Figure 20.9. A Graph before Selecting Auto-Layout.

Once you have selected the mentioned item, graph will look like this:

Figure 20.10. A Graph after Selecting Auto-Layout.

When you push and hold down the left mouse button somewhere inside the Graph Editor, drag the mouse throughout the pane, a rectangle is created. When you create this rectangle in such a way so as to surround some of the graph components and finally release the mouse button, you can see that these components have become highlighted. (All components in the graph below.)

If at least two components are selected, six buttons (Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Align Top, Align Middle, and Align Bottom) appear highlighted in the tool bar above the Graph Editor or Navigator panes. (With their help, you can change the position of the selected components.) See below:

Figure 20.11. Six New Buttons in the Tool Bar Appear Highlighted (Align Middle is shown)

You can do the same by right-clicking inside the Graph Editor and selecting the Alignments item from the context menu. Then, a submenu appears with the same items as mentioned above.

Figure 20.12. Alignments from the Context Menu

Remember that you can copy any highlighted part of any graph by pressing Ctrl+C and subsequently Ctrl+V after opening some other graph.

The Source tab contains the source of the graph. You do not need to edit this.

The name of the user that has created the graph and the name of its last modifier are saved to the Source tab automatically.