FlowGate is a custom node for Node-RED that allows you to control the flow of messages through your automation workflows. It acts as an intelligent gate: when active, it lets messages pass; when inactive, it blocks messages from continuing through. This makes it easy to dynamically enable or disable parts of your Node-RED flows without requiring a deploy.

• Two-State Toggle Button: Control whether messages pass through or are blocked with a simple on/off button.
• Runtime Control: Change the state of FlowGate during runtime without redeploying your flows.
• Intuitive UI Integration: Visual representation of the node's state (active or inactive) directly within the Node-RED editor.
• Bypass Output: Enable a second output that allows messages to pass through even when the node is inactive.
• Dynamic Activation: Control the active state of the node using msg.flowgate. States may include values such as true, 1, "1", "ON", etc. to activate the node or their opposites to deactivate it.

To install FlowGate in your Node-RED environment, use the following command:

npm install node-red-contrib-flowgate-node

Alternatively, you can install it directly from the Node-RED palette manager by searching for "FlowGate".

1. Drag and drop the FlowGate node from the function category into your flow.

2. Configure the node as required:

   • Name: Set a name for the FlowGate instance to help identify it in your flows.
   • Bypass: If enabled, adds a second output for messages when the node is inactive.

3. Connect it to other nodes to control which messages should continue through based on its state.

The state of the node can be toggled during runtime without the need to redeploy the flow, making it flexible and easy to adjust.

• Conditional Message Flow: Use FlowGate to enable or disable parts of your workflow for develpment, testing or debugging purposes.
• Debugging Helper: Isolate portions of a flow by disabling FlowGate to focus on troubleshooting other parts.

Here is a simple example to demonstrate how to use FlowGate in a flow:

1. Add an Inject node to initiate a message.
2. Connect the Inject node to the FlowGate node.
3. Connect the FlowGate node to a Debug node to see the output.

When the FlowGate node is active, messages injected by the Inject node will pass through to the Debug node, allowing you to see the output. When the FlowGate node is inactive, the messages will be blocked, and nothing will reach the Debug node.

Below is the JSON representation of an example flow using FlowGate:

[{"crontab": "", "id": "4f397f3a1bdaef61", "name": "", "once": false, "onceDelay": 0.1, "payload": "", "payloadType": "date", "props": [{"p": "payload"}], "repeat": "", "topic": "", "type": "inject", "wires": [["7cadca75dab0b34a"]], "x": 600, "y": 160, "z": "84c82b718b328987"}, {"active": true, "complete": "payload", "console": false, "id": "ee24781f808d8f1c", "name": "active", "statusType": "auto", "statusVal": "", "targetType": "msg", "tosidebar": true, "tostatus": false, "type": "debug", "wires": [], "x": 970, "y": 160, "z": "84c82b718b328987"}, {"active": true, "bypass": false, "id": "7cadca75dab0b34a", "name": "", "outputs": 1, "type": "flowgate", "wires": [["ee24781f808d8f1c"]], "x": 800, "y": 160, "z": "84c82b718b328987"}]

It is not recommended to use this node in production environments as this breaks the Node-RED recommendation about buttons

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Feel free to fork the repository and submit pull requests. Contributions are always welcome to enhance the functionality and usability of FlowGate.

FlowGate was inspired by the need to control Node-RED message flows easily during runtime. Special thanks to the Node-RED community for the tools and support.

For more information and documentation, visit the Node-RED website.