Linking Nodes Between Pages

Akumen pages is a useful tool for separating logic of a driver model. Without a way of showing how a particular calculation gets it’s value, it is difficult to follow the driver model logic, especially on larger driver models.

The node reference provides this functionality.

By using a Node Reference instead of a Numeric node or using a repeat node means that if a change is made to the node being referenced the change is pulled through to the Node Reference.

So for example if you had a Driver Model that worked out the monthly income for a coffee shop on one page, and the monthly expenses for the same coffee shop on another page, you could use both results on in the main Driver Model by using Node References. The results of both calculations would be passed through to the main Driver Model through the Node References allowing them to be used in a calculation which works out the cash flow for the month (see Figure below)

To set up a Node Reference:

1. Drag a Node Reference Node onto the workspace.
2. Once on the workspace a new window will appear asking which node you would like to reference.
3. Select the node you want to connect to the Node Reference node.
4. The Node Reference node will then change to resemble the selected node.

To reconfigure a Node Reference, access the properties of the reference node. The property pane looks as follows:

Clicking on the name of the linked node will navigate to the page the node resides on, and highlights the node. Clicking on the Source Page navigates to the source page without selecting the node. Clicking the edit button pops up the node selecion dialog and allows you to point the reference node to a different node.

Note that this does not update any linked calculations, it only physically changes the links. Any calculations pointing to the reference node need updating.