# Cleaning up flow connections?

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [1 February 2022 11:43 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589 "2022-02-01T11:43:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WBr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@WBr](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/WBr)\
**Post date:** [1 February 2022 11:43 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/1 "2022-02-01T11:43:55Z")

</div>

I am looking for a node or method to clean up the wiring between nodes

I have a huge flow wich contains multiple sensors and functions. There are wires between nodes that obstructs the visual simplicity of following the flows in node red.

I isolated the situation and simplified it a bit to show what I am looking for. There are many more wires in the real flow and many, many more nodes but this would make the example vague if i would share the real flow.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/3/2/3203d1d2e946443a1d987b695f5c339e26c9a938.png)

This image had the comment "area full of nodes" the wires are annoying me and changing the node layout would not change the situation

My idea is this:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/2/2/2294b3cbe0a08b2ea135728c5c3c04c80f282258.png)

The question is,

Is there a node for the "hypothetical splitter" in picture 2? it does not need to have a function but to let the wires between nodes split.

edit: the area next to sensor 1 and above sensor 1 are full of nodes. If i were to drag that node more down would create the same visual obstruction as shown in picture 1.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dceejay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dceejay/32/38_2.png) [@dceejay](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dceejay)\
**Post date:** [1 February 2022 11:47 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/2 "2022-02-01T11:47:26Z")

</div>

Looks pretty clean to me :-). But look at the link nodes. Or you can use an empty function node to gather wires

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WBr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@WBr](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/WBr)\
**Post date:** [1 February 2022 11:52 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/3 "2022-02-01T11:52:05Z")

</div>

it only looks clean because i isolated the problem, there are about 60 nodes in the real flow 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![E1cid](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/e1cid/32/77971_2.png) [@E1cid](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/E1cid)\
**Post date:** [1 February 2022 12:43 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/4 "2022-02-01T12:43:42Z")

</div>

You could add a change node with no rules,

 ![Screenshot_20220201-124059](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/e/7/e7f03438f190eb5fb942d6582dc06a9462defb97.png)

Or as you seem to have lots of repeated nodes look at combining them into one flow.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WBr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@WBr](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/WBr)\
**Post date:** [1 February 2022 12:45 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/5 "2022-02-01T12:45:48Z")

</div>

Interesting. Does the change node work when two inputs in the change node have different info?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![E1cid](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/e1cid/32/77971_2.png) [@E1cid](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/E1cid)\
**Post date:** [1 February 2022 12:47 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/6 "2022-02-01T12:47:05Z")

</div>

The change node will pass what ever is inputted.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [1 February 2022 13:55 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/7 "2022-02-01T13:55:44Z")

</div>

I find the wires visually too dominant in a complex flow so I make them thinner with CSS.  
This is

```auto
.red-ui-flow-link-line {
        stroke-width: 1;
        stroke: #87ceeb; 
}

```

![Untitled 7](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/0/4/0459bfa03940c2dc2f4b5cdc58d94ec1547b9dbe.jpeg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WBr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@WBr](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/WBr)\
**Post date:** [1 February 2022 14:05 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/8 "2022-02-01T14:05:25Z")

</div>

That is very usefull, Thank you.

But my mind needs to follow the wires to understand what i am doing. So a mess of wires with thinner lines might not contribute to the reduction of my headaches 😉

Might use this later!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [2 April 2022 14:05 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cleaning-up-flow-connections/57589/9 "2022-04-02T14:05:41Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.