## Adding routes to the routing context

### Overview

The `camelContext` element within an xml context file creates a routing context. The `camelContext` element can contain one or more routes, but the route editor's canvas can display only one of the routes at a time. Therefore the canvas is each route's delineator, and each route displayed on the canvas maps to a `route` element in the generated `camelContext` element.

When you create a new Fuse Project, the developer tools create a `camelContext.xml` file that contains an empty `route` element within a `camelContext` element. You can view and edit the contents of the `camelContext.xml` file in the route editor's Source view. In Design view, the route editor presents an empty canvas, which represents the empty `route` element. You can drag patterns from the Palette and drop them onto the canvas to create a route. The design time tooling updates the empty `route` element with xml generated from the patterns you drop onto the canvas.

The developer tools provide three methods for adding a new route:

- From the menu bar, by opening the Routes menu, and then selecting Add Route

- In Design view, by right-clicking the canvas or a node to access the context menu, and then selecting Add > Route

- In Source view, by adding a `<route/>` element to the existing list within the `camelContext` element

### Procedure

To add another route to the camelContext:

1. Select one of the methods for adding a route.

   In Design view, a route icon appears in Outline view, and the Properties editor displays the list of the new route's properties for you to edit.

2. In the Properties editor, enter an ID (for example, Route2) for the new route in the route's ID field.

   In Outline view, the new ID displays next to the new route icon.

3. In the Properties editor, enter a description of the route in the Description field.

4. On the menu bar, select File > Save to save the changes you made to the routing context file.

| Note
To switch between multiple routes, select the route you want to display on the canvas by clicking it in Outline view or by selecting it from the Routes menu on the menu bar.