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Posted to users@nifi.apache.org by Dmitry Goldenberg <dg...@hexastax.com> on 2016/03/29 19:27:37 UTC
Developing dataflows in the canvas editor
Hi,
These may be just 'noob' impressions from someone who hasn't learned enough
NiFi yet (I may be missing something obvious).
My first confusion is about dataflows vs. templates. I've developed a
couple of templates. Now I want to drop a template into the canvas and
treat that as a dataflow or an instance of a template. But I don't see a
way to save this instance into any persistent store, or any way to manage
its lifecycle (edit, delete etc). Is there something I'm missing or are
there features in progress related to this?
I mean, where does the dataflow go if I kill the browser? It seems to
persist... but what happens when I want to create a slightly different
rendition of the same flow? Is there a namespaced persistence for
dataflows with CRUD operations supported? I keep looking for a File ->
New, File -> Open, File -> Save type of metaphor.
My second item is the mouse roller. Yes, the mouse roller which at least on
the Mac causes the canvas to zoom in or zoom out. Having used other
products, the typical metaphor seems to be that rolling gets you a vertical
scrollbar and you can scroll up and down, with a separate UI gesture that
lets you zoom in/out. I can't seem to get used to this zooming behavior.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
- Dmitry
Re: Developing dataflows in the canvas editor
Posted by Dmitry Goldenberg <dg...@hexastax.com>.
Thanks, Chris and Joe!
The only other thing I'd add is that I kept looking for an Undo capability
with Ctrl-Z or some such but that doesn't seem to be supported.
- Dmitry
On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 10:58 PM, Joe Witt <jo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dmitry these are great questions and Chris that was in my opinion a
> pretty excellent response - 'noob' or not.
>
> The only thing I'd add Dmitry is that some of what you're saying
> regarding templates themselves is very true. We can do better and so
> much more than we are. We have a feature proposal/discussion framing
> here [1,2] and please by all means help us shape how this evolves.
>
> [1]
> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/NIFI/Configuration+Management+of+Flows
> [2] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/NIFI/Extension+Registry
>
> Thanks
> Joe
>
> On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 1:59 PM, McDermott, Chris Kevin (MSDU -
> STaTS/StorefrontRemote) <ch...@hpe.com> wrote:
> > Dimitri,
> >
> > From one noob to another, welcome.
> >
> > All modifications to the canvas are automatically saved. If you want to
> organize multiple flow instances look to process groups. Drag a process
> group onto the canvas. Double click the process group to open it. Then drag
> a template onto the canvas. Use the breadcrumbs to navigate back to the
> root process group (root of the canvas). Create a second process group.
> Wash and repeat. Process groups can be nested to your hearts content.
> Process groups themselves can be saved as templates. You can also copy
> then paste in process groups. And you can drag processors and process
> groups into other process groups, although I am not sure that you can do
> this with multi-select. They are great for creating a high-level
> abstraction for a complex flow.
> >
> > I find its best to use the zoom controls. For what its worth Google
> Maps uses the same paradigm for zooming. I’m not sure these web-apps can
> really understand “gestures”, its just that the browser translates the
> gesture into scroll events which NiFi uses for zooming.
> >
> > Good luck,
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > Date: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at 1:27 PM
> > To: "users@nifi.apache.org<ma...@nifi.apache.org>" <
> users@nifi.apache.org<ma...@nifi.apache.org>>
> > Subject: Developing dataflows in the canvas editor
> > From: Dmitry Goldenberg <dgoldenberg@hexastax.com<mailto:
> dgoldenberg@hexastax.com>>
> > Reply-To: "users@nifi.apache.org<ma...@nifi.apache.org>" <
> users@nifi.apache.org<ma...@nifi.apache.org>>
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > These may be just 'noob' impressions from someone who hasn't learned
> enough NiFi yet (I may be missing something obvious).
> > z
> > My first confusion is about dataflows vs. templates. I've developed a
> couple of templates. Now I want to drop a template into the canvas and
> treat that as a dataflow or an instance of a template. But I don't see a
> way to save this instance into any persistent store, or any way to manage
> its lifecycle (edit, delete etc). Is there something I'm missing or are
> there features in progress related to this?
> >
> > I mean, where does the dataflow go if I kill the browser? It seems to
> persist... but what happens when I want to create a slightly different
> rendition of the same flow? Is there a namespaced persistence for
> dataflows with CRUD operations supported? I keep looking for a File ->
> New, File -> Open, File -> Save type of metaphor.
> >
> > My second item is the mouse roller. Yes, the mouse roller which at least
> on the Mac causes the canvas to zoom in or zoom out. Having used other
> products, the typical metaphor seems to be that rolling gets you a vertical
> scrollbar and you can scroll up and down, with a separate UI gesture that
> lets you zoom in/out. I can't seem to get used to this zooming behavior.
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > - Dmitry
>
Re: Developing dataflows in the canvas editor
Posted by Joe Witt <jo...@gmail.com>.
Dmitry these are great questions and Chris that was in my opinion a
pretty excellent response - 'noob' or not.
The only thing I'd add Dmitry is that some of what you're saying
regarding templates themselves is very true. We can do better and so
much more than we are. We have a feature proposal/discussion framing
here [1,2] and please by all means help us shape how this evolves.
[1] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/NIFI/Configuration+Management+of+Flows
[2] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/NIFI/Extension+Registry
Thanks
Joe
On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 1:59 PM, McDermott, Chris Kevin (MSDU -
STaTS/StorefrontRemote) <ch...@hpe.com> wrote:
> Dimitri,
>
> From one noob to another, welcome.
>
> All modifications to the canvas are automatically saved. If you want to organize multiple flow instances look to process groups. Drag a process group onto the canvas. Double click the process group to open it. Then drag a template onto the canvas. Use the breadcrumbs to navigate back to the root process group (root of the canvas). Create a second process group. Wash and repeat. Process groups can be nested to your hearts content. Process groups themselves can be saved as templates. You can also copy then paste in process groups. And you can drag processors and process groups into other process groups, although I am not sure that you can do this with multi-select. They are great for creating a high-level abstraction for a complex flow.
>
> I find its best to use the zoom controls. For what its worth Google Maps uses the same paradigm for zooming. I’m not sure these web-apps can really understand “gestures”, its just that the browser translates the gesture into scroll events which NiFi uses for zooming.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Chris
>
> Date: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at 1:27 PM
> To: "users@nifi.apache.org<ma...@nifi.apache.org>" <us...@nifi.apache.org>>
> Subject: Developing dataflows in the canvas editor
> From: Dmitry Goldenberg <dg...@hexastax.com>>
> Reply-To: "users@nifi.apache.org<ma...@nifi.apache.org>" <us...@nifi.apache.org>>
>
> Hi,
>
> These may be just 'noob' impressions from someone who hasn't learned enough NiFi yet (I may be missing something obvious).
> z
> My first confusion is about dataflows vs. templates. I've developed a couple of templates. Now I want to drop a template into the canvas and treat that as a dataflow or an instance of a template. But I don't see a way to save this instance into any persistent store, or any way to manage its lifecycle (edit, delete etc). Is there something I'm missing or are there features in progress related to this?
>
> I mean, where does the dataflow go if I kill the browser? It seems to persist... but what happens when I want to create a slightly different rendition of the same flow? Is there a namespaced persistence for dataflows with CRUD operations supported? I keep looking for a File -> New, File -> Open, File -> Save type of metaphor.
>
> My second item is the mouse roller. Yes, the mouse roller which at least on the Mac causes the canvas to zoom in or zoom out. Having used other products, the typical metaphor seems to be that rolling gets you a vertical scrollbar and you can scroll up and down, with a separate UI gesture that lets you zoom in/out. I can't seem to get used to this zooming behavior.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Thanks,
> - Dmitry
Re: Developing dataflows in the canvas editor
Posted by "McDermott, Chris Kevin (MSDU - STaTS/StorefrontRemote)" <ch...@hpe.com>.
Dimitri,
From one noob to another, welcome.
All modifications to the canvas are automatically saved. If you want to organize multiple flow instances look to process groups. Drag a process group onto the canvas. Double click the process group to open it. Then drag a template onto the canvas. Use the breadcrumbs to navigate back to the root process group (root of the canvas). Create a second process group. Wash and repeat. Process groups can be nested to your hearts content. Process groups themselves can be saved as templates. You can also copy then paste in process groups. And you can drag processors and process groups into other process groups, although I am not sure that you can do this with multi-select. They are great for creating a high-level abstraction for a complex flow.
I find its best to use the zoom controls. For what its worth Google Maps uses the same paradigm for zooming. I’m not sure these web-apps can really understand “gestures”, its just that the browser translates the gesture into scroll events which NiFi uses for zooming.
Good luck,
Chris
Date: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at 1:27 PM
To: "users@nifi.apache.org<ma...@nifi.apache.org>" <us...@nifi.apache.org>>
Subject: Developing dataflows in the canvas editor
From: Dmitry Goldenberg <dg...@hexastax.com>>
Reply-To: "users@nifi.apache.org<ma...@nifi.apache.org>" <us...@nifi.apache.org>>
Hi,
These may be just 'noob' impressions from someone who hasn't learned enough NiFi yet (I may be missing something obvious).
z
My first confusion is about dataflows vs. templates. I've developed a couple of templates. Now I want to drop a template into the canvas and treat that as a dataflow or an instance of a template. But I don't see a way to save this instance into any persistent store, or any way to manage its lifecycle (edit, delete etc). Is there something I'm missing or are there features in progress related to this?
I mean, where does the dataflow go if I kill the browser? It seems to persist... but what happens when I want to create a slightly different rendition of the same flow? Is there a namespaced persistence for dataflows with CRUD operations supported? I keep looking for a File -> New, File -> Open, File -> Save type of metaphor.
My second item is the mouse roller. Yes, the mouse roller which at least on the Mac causes the canvas to zoom in or zoom out. Having used other products, the typical metaphor seems to be that rolling gets you a vertical scrollbar and you can scroll up and down, with a separate UI gesture that lets you zoom in/out. I can't seem to get used to this zooming behavior.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
- Dmitry