.. index:: Instance Node

.. _Instance_Node: 

Instance Node
=============

An instance node of a network represents an instance of another network. In other words, an instance node represents a sub-network. A network containing one or more instance nodes is to be considered an :ref:`object-oriented network<object_oriented_network>`.  An instance node is created using the :ref:`Instance Tool<instance_tool>`.  In order for an instance node to be connected to other (basic) nodes, the network class of which it is an instance must contain :ref:`interface nodes<interface_node>` (i.e., :ref:`input nodes<input_node>` and/or :ref:`output nodes<output_node>`).

An instance node is displayed as a rounded rectangle containing the interface nodes of the instance that it represents.  See Figure 1 for an example.

.. figure:: images/instancenode.png

	Figure 1: This object-oriented network contains an instance node, named Person_1, representing an instance of the Person network.