Design and Inspect Mode

Learn more about the two modes available in Canvas to help you design and inspect flows.

Canvas has two different modes: Design and Inspect. By default, it opens in Design Mode, where you create and edit on your flow. When you execute the flow, Inspect Mode is activated to help you trace the path of execution and see more information about each connector.

Design Mode

Design Mode is where you do your work. In this mode you configure the connectors and create the flow. While you are creating your flow and before you run the first execution, only the Design Mode is active.

Inspect Mode

To activate the Inspect Mode, you must open the Execution panel in Design Mode and run the flow. The Inspect Mode is activated when messages are present in the execution. A notification is displayed on the page to let you know that an execution is ready for inspection.

Inspect Mode is not available if:

• The flow is not executed.

• No message was generated during execution or the number of messages is insufficient.

• The limit of 5000 messages has been reached. In this case, you can limit the number of loops or reduce the size of the pipeline.

Once the flow has been executed, you must click the Inspect button at the top of the Canvas to enter Inspect Mode, as shown in the figure below.

Button to access the Inspect Mode.

In Inspect Mode, a green line highlights the execution path. Dashed lines and grayed-out connectors indicate the parts of the flow that were not executed, while red connectors indicate a failed execution.

See an illustration of these visual elements:

Visual execution path of the flow.

This mode is read-only, so you can’t edit the flow while you are in it. To edit the flow, you must switch back to Design Mode by clicking the Design button.

Changes in Design Mode won’t be visible in Inspect Mode until you execute the flow again. This makes comparison easier, since you can visualize the old flow while editing the current flow.

Connectors in Inspect Mode

When you click on some of the executed connectors, you can see the following information on the right side of the Canvas:

• Execution status: The status of the execution of the connector, which can be either "Success" or "Failed".

• Start time: The time when the execution of the connector started, in YYYY/MM/DD HH:mm:ss.sss.

• End time: The time when the execution of the connector ended, in YYYY/MM/DD HH:mm:ss.SSS.

• Elapsed: The time that elapsed during the execution of the connector, in milliseconds.

• Input: The input that the connector received.

• Output: The output that the connector sends.

• Errors (only for failed connectors): The error that occurred when the connector failed.

Besides this information, you can also click the gear icon to see the configuration of the connector in read-only mode.

Messages in Inspect Mode

In the Execution panel, you can go to the Messages tab and double-click on any message to see it in Inspect Mode at the moment the message was generated during execution.

Loops in Inspect Mode

Some connectors used in the flow can create loops. These connectors are:

• Do While

• For Each

• Stream Excel

• Stream File Reader

• Stream File Reader Pattern

• Stream JSON File Reader

• Stream XML File Reader

• Stream DB V3

When a loop is created, you can navigate through the index loops in the navigation menu at the bottom of the Canvas. The three ways to navigate are:

• Using the arrows.

• Clicking the three dots to open the index you want.

• Entering the index loop in the Go to field.

Navigation menu in components with loops.

The current loop index is displayed in two places: in the navigation menu at the lower center of the Canvas and in the breadcrumb at the upper left corner, enclosed in brackets. For example, “For Each 1 (onProcess) [27]” indicates that the current loop index is 27.

Loop within a loop

A flow can contain loops within loops. If you are in an OnProcess and want to enter another OnProcess in Inspect Mode, two different scenarios can occur:

Scenario 1: Accessing the OnProcess of a connector that has been executed

Suppose you are in the OnProcess of a For Each connector (referred to as For Each A) and viewing loop number 2. At this point, the flow is:

root > For Each A (onProcess) [2]

Within loop 2 of this OnProcess, there is another For Each connector (For Each B) that has been executed. When you access the OnProcess of For Each B, the subflow displayed will continue from the execution path of the previous level.

The flow now appears as:

root > For Each A (onProcess) [2] > For Each B (onProcess) [0]

Scenario 2: Accessing the OnProcess of a connector that was not executed

Now, let’s assume you are back in the OnProcess of For Each A, but this time in loop number 5. At this point, the flow is:

root > For Each A (onProcess) [5]

In loop 5, For Each B was not executed, but you can still access its OnProcess. Inspect Mode automatically aligns the subflow to the last executed path of For Each B.

Since For Each B was executed in loop 2, the breadcrumb updates to:

root > For Each A (onProcess) [2] > For Each B (onProcess) [0]

If you return to the For Each A level, the breadcrumb will display loop 2 instead of loop 5.

Import execution in Inspect Mode

When you import an execution into the Canvas, the Inspect Mode is activated and you can analyze the execution in read-only mode.

The imported execution is opened in Inspect Mode only if the execution was exported after the release of Design and Inspect Mode.

Canvas navigation in Design and Inspect Mode

The Canvas navigation — consisting of the Flow tree, the search, and the Linter alerts — is always mode-specific.

For example, if you add a new connector in Design Mode, it will appear in the Flow tree, can be found using the search function, and may generate Linter alerts. In Inspect Mode, however, the connector is only visible if the flow has been executed. Without execution, it is neither displayed in the Flow tree nor in the search results and doesn't trigger any Linter alerts.