Improve Path Data Type Integration

nothing new here, unfortunately.
many implementations since the 5.0 version either lack basic functionality or are replacements with 10% of the predecessors functionality.

Its 2025 and

  • String Manipulation (Multi Col) still has no column selection by type
  • Math Operation (Multi Col) still has no column selection by type
  • String to Date&Time still has no column selection by type
  • The new Expression node does not support types Path or Date&Time, but Column Expression is already flagged as Legacy
  • The new Row Filter can’t wildcard filter Path
  • There is no easy way to combine a Date column and a Time column into a Datetime except for concatenating casted Strings
  • Lag column can only lag forward (1,2,3,…) but not backward (-1,-2,-3,…)
  • most of the new nodes (e.g. Value Lookup) cannot use the RowID. requiring you to cast it into the dataset before using those nodes
  • We had a Date&Time based Row Filter for ages but no Splitter - always requiring a subsequent Reference Row Splitter
  • There is no Number to Duration node. Column Expression now officially Legacy but Expression node not covering that either
  • No way to combine two columns of type Duration into one without casting
  • There is a Parallel Chunk Loop extension but no Concurrent Loop option
  • Parquet Files cannot be read from \Server\DriveLetter$ paths. Further, encrypted .parquet files cannot be read (or written).

as much as I appreciate the KNIME team looking into new and current (AI) topics, base functionalities should always get priority in my opinion.

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