Groups
A Group is a frame you place on the canvas to hold other Nodes. Unlike the Nodes it contains, a Group is not part of the execution order — nothing connects to it, and the Flow does not "run" it. What it does is hold a set of Nodes together, either for clarity or so that a shared setting applies to all of them.
There are two of them:
- Reference — references every Cartesian Pose inside it to a Workspace, so the Movements follow that Workspace when it moves.
- Documentation — has no effect on the Flow; it labels and visually groups a part of it.
Sizing a Group
A Group is resizable. Select it and drag any edge or corner handle to make it as large as the part of the Flow it should cover. It also grows on its own when you drag a Node it contains past its edge, so a Group never cuts off the Nodes inside it.
Give a Group enough room before filling it — Nodes are added by dropping them inside, so the frame is what defines "inside".
Putting Nodes in a Group
Drag a Node onto the Group and drop it there. The Node becomes part of the Group, and its border thickens to show which Group it now belongs to. From then on:
- The Group's functionality applies to it. In a Reference Group the Node's Cartesian Poses are transformed with the Workspace; in a Documentation Group nothing changes about how it runs.
- It moves with the Group. Dragging the Group takes its Nodes along, and their positions stay relative to the frame.
- It can be moved on. Drag it into another Group to hand it over, or out onto the free canvas to detach it — the thick border disappears and the Node is on its own again.
A Reference Group only transforms Cartesian Poses. Drop a Joint Movement — or a Stack, Grid, Palletizing or Advanced Palletizing Node, whose Approach Movement is a Joint Movement — into one and RobFlow tells you as much: those Movements are unaffected by the Reference Group.