Submodel - a question + a suggestion

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charlie
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:55 pm

Submodel - a question + a suggestion

Post by charlie »

Hi administrator

I packed a part of a net into a submodel node. Is there any way to unpack the nodes in the submodel back to the main net?

When a node gets packed into a submodel, its relations with child and parent nodes can no longer be seen in the submodel window. I found this very inconvenient, especially when there are numerous external relationships with multiple submodel nodes - it's getting difficult to study and edit the submodel in its window.

In a future version, I wonder whether it's possible to bring the immediate parent and child nodes into view in the submodel window, and allow users to edit the submodel together with its parent and child nodes in the submodel window. A less substantive alternative could be just to display (but not make editable) the immediate parent and child nodes in the submodel window to allow user to understand its relationship with the main model.

Thanks

Charlie
marek [BayesFusion]
Site Admin
Posts: 430
Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:24 pm

Re: Submodel - a question + a suggestion

Post by marek [BayesFusion] »

Hi Charlie.

This is a conceptual GUI problem that we have been aware of from the very beginning. GeNIe includes several operations that may help. First of all, you can view any node's parents and children outside of the current sub-model by right-clicking on the small triangles on the left (parents) and on the right (children) of the node and then selecting the parent/child in question. Alternatively, use the Locate Parent/Child in the right-click menu of the node.
This will find the node in question. You can visualize the structure of sub-models, along with their nodes in the tree view on the left-hand side.

Finally, you can easily restore the original structure by dragging and dropping nodes, either in the Graph View or the tree view. In the Graph View, it may help to exit the maximization of the current window so that you can see the source and the destination window.

We will discuss the idea of having a "shadow node" inside the sub-model at our next BayesFusion meeting, although I have to say that I don't yet see a strong case for it. Were you aware of the finding/dragging/dropping functionalities that I described above?

I hope this helps,

Marek
charlie
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:55 pm

Re: Submodel - a question + a suggestion

Post by charlie »

Hi Marek

Thanks for the advice - very helpful, except I had no success in dragging and dropping nodes in a submodel window to the main network's window. Here was how I did: vertically tiled the two windows, select all the elements in the submodel window, and move them across to the main window. The result: those relocated nodes just stay there in coexistence with the submodel node that previously represents them.

Re the "shadow node" idea, it will be highly informative. It's not vary convenient to check the information about child and parent nodes the way you mentioned. Particularly when you come back to a model you worked long while ago, or study a model created by others. The "shadow node" will instantly give a complete sight of the submodel and its context, with minimal cognitive blindspot.

Regards

Charlie
shooltz[BayesFusion]
Site Admin
Posts: 1417
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:51 pm

Re: Submodel - a question + a suggestion

Post by shooltz[BayesFusion] »

The result: those relocated nodes just stay there in coexistence with the submodel node that previously represents them.
Dragging nodes between submodels works for me. See the attached animated gif; are you referring to some other drag'n'drop action?
Attachments
drag-between-submodels.gif
drag-between-submodels.gif (963.72 KiB) Viewed 5678 times
charlie
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:55 pm

Re: Submodel - a question + a suggestion

Post by charlie »

Thanks. It's my ignorance. I thought once the nodes in the submodel window were dropped back to the main window the submodel node in the main window will automatically disappear. It's OK.
Charlie
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