How to generate a documentation on Knime workflow (eg pictures + parameter list of nodes) in readable form?
Hi Peter,
I would claim that a workflow is its own best documentation since it contains all the needed information. If you want to add text (e.g. comments), you could use workflow annotations or modify the names of important nodes to describe what is going on conceptually.
It is possible to sava an image of your workflow, but everything else would have to be added manually.
Nils
List files and List folders nodes can list all the nodes in other workflows (i.e. not best done on the workflow you are actually in) and XPath can be used to extract settings if you want.
Steve
Hi Nils,
1. You are right supposing everybody uses Knime. But not. I wish to document my work for Knime strangers.
2. How to save the images? I hope not one-by-one with print screen.
Thanks, Peter
Thanks, but I am not familiar with the xml structure of Knime exports (by the way I did not find the List folder node). Any other idea, more user friendly?
Peter
If you install the SVG extension of KNIME, you will see the option "Export to SVG" in the "File" menu. This works only for a workflow that is open in the workbench.
I see your point - however, I am not sure how useful an image of a workflow (even together with parameter lists etc.) would be to someone who is not familiar with KNIME and therefore does not know about the semantics of the different nodes. So: if you make good experiences with this approach, it would be interesting to hear about it.
Nils
Peter,
Sorry - the List Folders node is part of the Vernalis community plugin - it works pretty much as for the list files node from Knime, but lists folders intead of files. I think you need to look at the settings.xml file for each node - try the xml reader and Xpath nodes to dig around in it.
Steve
Thanks both of you, best regards, Peter
Hey @Garami_Peter,
what was the solution of your journey? I’m facing the same challenge (write a documentation for operators and IT security) and would be more than happy if there is a support from KNIME on that.
Kind regards,
Patrick.
1 Like
Hi @Garami_Peter @Patrick1974
Anyone find a resolution to this documentation problem? I am looking to document workflows and the settings of the nodes for audit purposes. Right now we use Excel and there really is no audit trail functionality we could share with an auditor, so someone has to personally explain the process each time.
Thanks!
When I need to do this I capture the values of important workflow variables and use them in a BIRT report. BIRT is integrated with KNIME. See https://www.knime.com/reporting/birt (BIRT can be a bit complex, so alternatively you could instead just create a simpler, plain text report).
I usually create the BIRT report, the output files, and zip everything together in one archive file. The BIRT report also contains the name of the output files, of course, so everything is linked.
It helps know how to create new variables from user choices in Quickform nodes (go to the flow variables tab of the Quickform node configuration dialog and enter a variable name in the text field next to the field you want to capture).
Hope this helps
-Don
Anyone find a more uptodate solution for this. How do we document knime workflows for auditor usage and non-knime experts.
Try this:
2 Likes