2023.1:Node Tree (UI Element)

WIP	This article is a work-in-progress or created as a placeholder for testing purposes. This article is subject to change and/or expansion. It may be incomplete, inaccurate, or stop abruptly. This tag will be removed upon draft completion.

This article is about an older version of Grooper. Information may be out of date and UI elements may have changed.
2025	2023.1

The Node Tree is the hierarchical list of Grooper Nodes (folders and other Grooper objects) found in the left panel in the "Design" page. It is the basis for navigation and creation in Design.

Resources are created in Grooper by adding new "nodes" to the Node Tree. The Node Tree is called a "tree", because it "branches." Each new node added under another creates a new "branch", or a new level down from the node it is created. What object types can be added under a branch are determined by the node(s) above it.

Grooper Nodes

Any single item in the Node Tree is a Grooper Node. Also simply referred to as a "node". Each new node creates a new branch under an existing one, creating the hierarchical structure of the tree.

FYI	In Grooper, nodes and their properties are stored in the database connected to a Grooper Repository.

How do nodes create hierarchy in the Node Tree?

Example of a Node Tree with branching hierarchy

There are six main nodes in the Node Tree. These nodes serve the purpose of organizing Grooper objects to assist Node Tree navigation.

• Batches
• Projects
• Processes
• Queues
• File Stores
• Machines

Every Grooper Repository will contain these nodes and their contents, or "child" nodes.

• For example Project nodes are added as children in the Projects folder at the root of the node tree.
• Content Model nodes are added as children of an individual Project node.
• Batches are nodes created and stored in either the Batches > Production or Batches > Test folder nodes.

When you create a new node, it is added as a "child" of another node. The node containing a child node is called its "parent"

• As nodes get added to other nodes, the node tree branches off into different levels.
• These different branches create the Node Tree's hierarchical structure.

What's the difference between a node and an object?

A "node" is something you add to the Node Tree. An "object" is the type of thing that node is.

For example, here there are three nodes named "Name" "DOB" and "SSN".

• These are individual nodes in the Node Tree.
• However they share the same object type. They are all Data Fields.

BE AWARE: The terms "node" and "object" are so similar many people use the terms interchangeably. You will probably even find occurrences in the Grooper Wiki where we refer to a "node" as an "object".

What is inheritance?

Parent and children nodes pass information to and from each other through "inheritance".

The parent node's object type dictates inheritance. It controls the object types for child nodes that can be created underneath it in the tree hierarchy. It also determines what information is passed to and from the parent and child nodes.

• The parent node will always determine what object types (if any) can be created as children.
  • For example, a Data Model can only have Data Fields, Data Sections or Data Tables as its immediate children.
  • However, Data Tables themselves can only have Data Columns as children.
• The parent node may simply be a folder organizing child nodes.
  • For example, a Content Model's Local Resources folder.
• The parent node may have a more complex inheritance relationship.
  • For example, a Data Type's children Value Readers will pass all results they return to the parent Data Type. Those results will then be collated according to the Data Type's configuration

The Grooper Root

The Grooper Root is the top level (or "root node") of the Grooper Node Tree.  It contains all Grooper nodes as its children. It also stores several settings that apply to the connected Grooper Repository, including:

• The Active File Store location.
  • Visit the Install and Setup article for more information on Grooper Repositories and File Stores.
• The License Serial# or URL configuration.
  • Visit the License Activation article for more information about how to license your Grooper install.
• Any security settings stored in the the Permission Sets.

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"Root node" is a common term in computer science. Be careful about commonly interchanged words. Informally, "root node" and "Grooper Root" (and sometimes just "root") are often used interchangeably. However, "root node" is a more general term. You may, for example hear a Batch's root folder be called a "root node" as well. Or any node with a complex child node hierarchy may be referred to as the "root node" relative to one of its children (like the "root node of a Content Model).