# Summary of Flow View Icons

You can use the page flow's Palette icons and the Flow View to create a graphical representation of a page flow class. The drawing can depict the following:

- The relationship between many components that make up the page flow
- The action methods defined in the page flow
- The actions that are raised in forms on the JavaServer Pages (JSPs)
- The JSP and JPF page flows that are invoked when action methods execute

Drag icons from the Palette, and drop them on the Flow View. To draw a connecting arrow from an Action icon to a JSP Page icon, hover your cursor near the edge of the first icon. When the connecting square boxes appear, move the cursor to the target icon. When the arrow appears, the drawing is similar to the following example:

An arrow from an Action to another entity such as a JSP page, another JPF page flow, or another action method indicates that the result of the source action will load the target.

An arrow from a JSP page icon to an action icon indicates that the action is raised on the JSP page.

If the attempted arrow-drawing operation is invalid, the Flow View editor displays a small circle with a line drawn through it. For example, it does not make sense to connect a "return to action" icon to a JSP file.

Note: An external JSP file is one that resides in a directory outside of the current page flow's directory. On the Flow View canvas, an external JSP file can only be the target of an action forward; that is, the arrow is pointing from the action method's icon to the external JSP file's icon. The external JSP does not actively participate in the current page flow, as a local JSP does. An external JSP does not raise actions outside of its local controller.

For more information about each Flow View icon, see the Related Topics section.

## Print and Zoom Options

With the Flow View open, you can use the File > Print... menu options to print a copy of the diagram. You can use the percentage-based Zoom option in the lower-right corner of the Flow View to adjust what size the items in the diagram appear in the window, and in the printed output.

## Adding and Removing JSPs from the Flow View Canvas

When you drag a JSP icon from the page flow's Palette to its Flow View canvas, a new JSP file is created in the page flow's directory. If you delete that JSP icon from the Flow View, the JSP file on the file system is deleted. (In the WebLogic Workshop IDE, you are first prompted to confirm the deletion.) Similarly, if you create JSP files in the page flow's directory outside the IDE, those JSP files will show up automatically when you open the page flow in the IDE.

Think of the page flow canvas as a representation of the page flow directory. This notion enforces the concept that the page flow is the combination of the single *.jpf Java controller class file and all the JSP files that reside in the same directory. In the IDE Flow View, you can add, modify, and delete the files that comprise the page flow in its directory.

## Ghost Icons and Subsequent Steps

In some cases, a page flow's Flow View canvas will display a "ghost" version of an icon, where the icon is shown in lighter colors. For example:

The purpose of a ghost icon is to show you visually that some entity (such as an action, or a page) is referenced in a JPF or JSP file, but either has not been created yet, or has subsequently been deleted in one of the files.

For example, a done() return action that is now referenced on an external nested page flow is not yet implemented in the current page flow. Flow View shows the icon for the external nested page flow, and the ghosted icon for the return action that it now expects to find in the current page flow:

In the example above, to create the expected newpageflow2Done action in the current page flow you can right-mouse click on the ghost icon and select Create.

Here is another example of a scenario that would result in a ghost action icon. An action was raised at one point by a JSP page, and in the page flow controller class you subsequently deleted the action method in the JPF source. The action is represented graphically by a ghost icon on the Flow View because it is still being raised by a JSP page. Note that you cannot delete the ghost icon from the Flow View canvas because, in this case, the JSP page is the source of record on what it is trying to raise. In effect, the ghost icon is a visual reminder that you have an obsolete reference that requires corrective action on your part. In order to delete the ghost action from the Flow View, you would need to go to the JSP page source and delete the NetUI tag that raises this action.

Related Topics

Action Icon

Begin Action Icon

Exit Icon

Page Flow Icon

Page Icon

Return To Action Icon

Return To Page Icon

Guide to Building Page Flows