Inside the Workspace Editor: The Workspace Tree

June 15th, 2021

Have you ever used the Workspace tree?

The Workspace tree is a hierarchical tool inside the Workspace editor that lets you see the nested structure of your workflow and search for operations by text generally, or specifically by label, global name, UUID or operation type.

The Workspace editor showing a charting workflow and the Workflow tree dock widget which gives a hierarchical view of the workflow

A Workspace workflow and its Workflow tree

Where is the workspace tree anyway?

If you cannot see the Workspace tree, you may need to select it from the View->Docks… menu

Demonstrates how to open up the Workspace tree dock widget if it isn't visible

View of the Workspace editor showing how ensure the Workspace tree widget is visible

Ensure that the Workspace tree dock is visible

Looking for a particular operation

By default, the Workspace tree will display one row per operation; each branch represents a nested workflow with the operations inside it represented as its children. The top figure shows a workflow where the root workflow has two nested workflows, the “Write chart image” branch has been expanded.
To search for a particular operation, enter part of its label inside the line editor and press Enter. The tree will expand to ensure any rows with matching items are visible while any non-matching operations are hidden.

Demonstrates how you can use the line editor to find elements containing the text "chart"

Demonstrates how to look for any elements with text containing "chart"

Looking for any elements with text containing ‘chart’

Showing (or hiding) inputs and outputs

You can expand this tree to show inputs and outputs using the filter menu, to the right of the line editor. For example, you can use the Show Inputs and Show Outputs checkboxes to toggle between showing/hiding inputs and outputs. Similarly, the Show Operations checkbox toggles between showing or hiding operations that are not nested workflows. The tree will always display nested workflows if they or any of their visible children are matches.

Demonstrates how you can use the filter to show different workspace elements (eg inputs, operations etc)

The workflow tree always shows any nested workflows. You can use the filter to show/hide other operations, dependencies and other inputs and outputs

Expanding the workflow tree to show inputs and outputs

Global names, UUIDs, types and external file paths

In the same way, you can also expand the workspace tree to show more information columns. Try setting the Show global names or Show UUID checkboxes. Similarly, you can display operation types and external file paths. As you can see in the figure below, you can sort, swap, expand or contract columns to get the display you find most helpful.

Demonstrates how you can use the filter to show a range of information about each element: its label, uuid, global name and/or source path as applicable

You can use the filter to show/hide columns with an element's label, uuid, global name and/or source path as applicable

Showing operation types, UUIDs, operation types and external file paths

Restricting what shows up

Generally, the search function will find items that match the line editor text in their global name, UUID, type or file path as well as their labels. However, you can restrict this if you are looking for something specific by changing the match filter type. Look at the figure below to see how you can change the match filter to hide operations if their types don’t contain “chart”.

Demonstrates how you can use the line editor to find operations with type containing "chart"

Demonstrates how to look for any operations with operation types containing the text "chart"

Looking for any operations with type containing “chart”

Workspace

For more information about the Workflow Editor see Workspace Editor Tips and Tricks or the broader workspace documentation at Workspace User Documentation

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