Problem using Joiner (Labs) node - No join column passed

[szawadski]

Hello!

I have been an early adopter of the new Joiner (labs) node. It used to work perfectly, but from some time, I just discovered I cannot open the configuration screen of those nodes anymore. Both in exsiting workflow and new workflows.
Instead, I only get the following error message:
WARN Joiner (Labs) 3:1 No join columns passed.

In existing workflows, they keep working if they used to work. But I cannot change or just check their configuration. I need to replace them by the old Joiner node - and then just guess what were the join columns?

Has anyone having this issues?

Regards,

Sébastien

[ipazin]

Hello @szawadski,

what version are you running on? This started happening after update or unrelated to it? When I first connect Joiner I get same warning message “No join columns passed.” but I’m able to open configuration dialog and configure it after which I’m able to execute it normally. Can you check if there are any messages in your log file when you double click on Joiner? (Put log level to DEBUG to get maximum information.)

Br,
Ivan

[szawadski]

2021-04-19 11:10:41,251 : DEBUG : main :  : CreateConnectionCommand :  :  : adding connection from 5:2614 1 to 5:3104 2
2021-04-19 11:10:41,251 : WARN  : main :  : Node : Joiner (Labs) : 5:3104 : No join columns passed.
2021-04-19 11:10:41,252 : DEBUG : main :  : WorkflowManager :  :  : Added new connection from node 5:2614(1) to node 5:3104(2)
2021-04-19 11:10:41,252 : DEBUG : KNIME-Workflow-Notifier :  : WorkflowEditor :  :  : Workflow event triggered: WorkflowEvent [type=CONNECTION_ADDED;node=null;old=null;new=STD[5:2614(1) -> 5:3104( 2)];timestamp=19-avr.-2021 11:10:41]
2021-04-19 11:10:41,275 : DEBUG : main :  : ConnectionContainerEditPart :  :  : refreshing visuals for: STD[5:2614(1) -> 5:3104( 2)]
2021-04-19 11:10:41,275 : DEBUG : main :  : ConnectionContainerEditPart :  :  : modelling info: bendpoints: 
2021-04-19 11:10:41,276 : DEBUG : main :  : ConnectionContainerEditPart :  :  : refreshing visuals for: STD[5:2614(1) -> 5:3104( 2)]
2021-04-19 11:10:41,277 : DEBUG : main :  : ConnectionContainerEditPart :  :  : modelling info: bendpoints: 

Here is what I get. When I double click on the node, nothing happens.
I am running Knime AP 4.3.2.

Wondering whether I should reinstall from scratch? Or reinstall the part related to that component. I do not observe a similar behaviour with other nodes.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,

Sébastien

[ipazin]

Hello @szawadski,

seems nothing in log…

I would try these actions in following order:

• start KNIME with -clean parameter (see here)
• change workspace
• then reinstall if none of above two points don’t change this behavior

You can not reinstall extension related to this node as it is part of KNIME Base nodes extension.

Br,
Ivan

[CarlWitt]

You could inspect the settings.xml file of the Joiner (Labs) node to find the original join columns. The file is located in your workflow directory, for instance, path/to/your/workflow/“Joiner Labs (#292)”/settings.xml.
Look for the leftTableJoinPredicate and rightTableJoinPredicate entries, they list the names of the columns to join on.

Meanwhile, we’re looking into the dialog opening problem.

Best,
Carl

[CarlWitt]

Cold you share a workflow that has this problem?

Best,
Carl

[CarlWitt]

Hi @szawadski, any updates on an example workflow to reproduce this problem? This would be immensely helpful for reproducing the problem.

Thanks!
Carl

[szawadski]

Hello @CarlWitt and @ipazin !

Thanks for your support. I have tried the following:

• restarted Knime with the -clean parameter as proposed by @ipazin : no effect
• created a simple workflow (2 table creators + 1 joiner (labs): same problem
  
  settings.xml (7.4 KB)
  It seems nothing is linked in the settings.xml:

    <config key="leftTableJoinPredicate_Internals">
    <entry key="SettingsModelID" type="xstring" value="SMID_stringarray"/>
    <entry key="EnabledStatus" type="xboolean" value="true"/>
    </config>
    <config key="leftTableJoinPredicate">
    <entry key="array-size" type="xint" value="0"/>
    </config>
    <config key="rightTableJoinPredicate_Internals">
    <entry key="SettingsModelID" type="xstring" value="SMID_stringarray"/>
    <entry key="EnabledStatus" type="xboolean" value="true"/>
    </config>
    <config key="rightTableJoinPredicate">
    <entry key="array-size" type="xint" value="0"/>
    </config>

• I tried the second proposal of @ipazin (new workspace): does not solve the issue
• I tried to run on another machine where the same version of Knime AP is installed: it works

So I would need to try now the third option proposed par @ipazin : reinstall Knime on my main machine. As I already had some upgrades deployed since the problem occured, I suppose I need to install in a new directory. Are there any precautions I need to take to be able to move my data/config smoothly to the new install?

As always, @ipazin’s replies are totally relevant. Thanks for that!

Regards,

Sébastien

[ipazin]

Hello @szawadski,

can you share that simple workflow you created? Just in case .xml is not enough.

Before reinstalling KNIME I would do two things:

• export existing preferences (from within KNIME go File --> Export Preferences...) and then importing them (File --> Import Preferences...) to avoid manual work (and not to forget anything of course!)
• get list of all installed extensions as you’ll have to install them again (here you can’t avoid manual work but at least you’ll have list of extensions and then it will be easier to install them all). See here how to do that.

Br,
Ivan

[szawadski]

Example workflow with faulty joiner (labs).knwf (14.3 KB)
Here is the example file in case it helps for the resolution.