Configuration nodes encapsulated in components can not be updated properly

[mojaie]

Hello,

I have similar problem to the following topic.

Date&Time Config Node Execution Time Does Not Update When Inside Component

Hello Fellow Knimers, This one has me stumped. And sorry for not having screenshots or workflows included, the issue is on my work machine and unable to share such things because of blocks. Anyway…I have a workflow. Inside that workflow is Date and Time Config Node. If I don’t put it inside a component then the execution time always updates when I execute and then look at flow variable output. But when I put it inside a component for some strange reason it does not update. It’s mind boggl…

I tried to load Excel file and select column to plot by Column Selection Configuration node. However when I tried to load different files and to reset Excel Reader node, column options were not updated properly. The dialog of the config node said “Value overwritten by dialog, current value: x” and the current value is still set to the previous Excel columns and can not be changed.

Column Selection node (QuickForm) seems to work well, but it would be soon deprecated.

Environment: KNIME Analytics Platform 4.3.0

Here is example workflow
Visualization - 1D distribution.knwf (138.0 KB)

Thank you very much for your help in advance.

[temesgen-dadi]

Hi @mojaie,

Welcome to the KNIME community forum.

The new columns from a new file should be available for selection as soon as you execute the Excel Reader node. This is expected behavior.

Hope this helps,
Temesgen

[mojaie]

Thank you for your response.
I’m sorry I didn’t get the point across.
I have tried to execute it again, but still the previous columns were set to the Column Selection Configuration dialog.

[temesgen-dadi]

May be I haven’t got your question right. I thought you were talking about the component configuration dialog.

Once you selected a column through the configuration dialog of the component that will be persisted until you chose something else using the same method. What you see on the Column Selection Configuration dialog, will change once you select a new value (via the component dialog). Until then, it is expected to see the old selection/column name.

Best,
Temesgen

[mojaie]

Here is an overview of the example workflow attached to the first post

• The data flow: Excel Reader -> component -> downstream nodes
• The component Inlet have downstream two or more Column Selection Configuration nodes and the component outlet. The selected columns are passed to the outlet as flow variables.
• Path of file X was set to Excel Reader node, and the node was executed. Then the columns of X became available in the component dialog as dropdown options.
• Next, file Y was set to Excel Reader node, and the node was reset and executed again.
• Then, one of the dropdown field in the component dialog had new column options from file Y, but other dropdown fields were still from file X.
• Current column selection fields on the component dialog were inconsistent to the upstream, so I tried to change the value from Column Selection Configuration nodes inside the component, but it could not be changed because “Value overwritten by dialog".

[temesgen-dadi]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I can reproduce the isue. I will bring this to the attention of the developers.

The problem seems related to the flow variable connection between the Column Selection Configuration nodes. This is somehow preventing the second configuration node from getting updated with new column list. For now, removing the flow variable connection between the Column Selection Configuration nodes and using a merge variables node to collect the selected values (see screenshot) should work for you.

Best,
Temesgen

[mojaie]

Your example worked well for me.
Thank you very much for your kind help!