Question:

Is it possible to pause computing blocks while working in nTop? If creating a workflow with several blocks, I may want to make changes to some workflow portions without rebuilding the entire Notebook.

Applies to:

• nTop 3.10
• Manual Run Mode

Answer:

Pausing the Notebook is usually unnecessary as nTop always attempts to allocate one thread to the UI and limit software lock-ups. However, there are two ways to prevent blocks from building immediately.

• Pause the entire Notebook by clicking Toggle Autobuild.

• Pausing individual blocks using the Manual Run Mode.

1. Right-click and select Manual Run Mode. This will activate the feature and a flag displaying a pause icon will appear on the exterior of the block. If you hover over the pause icon, a tooltip will appear reading “Manual Run Mode”. 

2. Make a change to a block upstream that is connected to the block you applied the Manual Run Mode to downstream. Once the upstream block has been changed, the block with the Manual Run Mode applied to it will change its icon to a play button.

Tip: If you have multiple blocks with Manual Run Mode applied to them and they are interconnected to one another in the notebook, you can either Run each block one at a time or you can choose to Run the most downstream block, which will trigger all upstream blocks to Run too.

More on this topic:

• Get to know the User Interface
• What is the Notebook and how do I use blocks?
• nTopology 3.10 - What's New?