Graphical User Interface › Infrastructure Editor › Editing Applications › Subordinate Instances

Subordinate Instances

You can create an instance of an appliance -- a subordinate within the assembly -- by simply dragging an appliance shape from a catalog palette onto the canvas. Once you create the instance, you can move its shape freely anywhere on the canvas.

The shape consists of the following visual elements:

• a main body (the rectangle in the middle)
• an instance name, shown in the center of the shape
• a class name, shown in the lower left side of the shape
• one or more terminals, shown as block arrows ( and ) on the left or right side of the shape

You can configure the instance settings of the new appliance by double-clicking on it: The editor opens the Instance Settings property sheet for the instance.

You can change the class name of a subordinate by SHIFT-dragging the new class form the catalog onto the existing subordinate. This is useful if you want to replace a WEB5 with WEB64, replace an IN gateway with INSSL, and so on.. However, the following limitations apply:

• The names and number of terminals must be the same between the two classes
• the subordinate that is to be replaced may not be a branched instance.

Note: If the existing subordinate is not connected to any other instance, the class name of the subordinate may be changed regardless of the number and names of its terminals.

You can also perform the following operations on it by opening a right-click menu on the shape:

• configure Instance Settings: Attributes, Resources, User Volumes and Properties
• Log into the appliance
• branch the appliance class to create a new class based on this instance (named a singleton class). See Branching Classes for more information.
• view or edit the appliance class (opens the Class Editor property sheet)
• view or edit the interior of an appliance, if it is itself an assembly (step into the assembly)
• View the class documentation