Remote Workflow Editor Limitations

I love the performance the Remote Workflow Editor gives me when editing Workflows located on KNIME Server. But I’m running into a lot of frustrating limitations. I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong?

Limitation #1: Cannot Add Components

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My KNIME Server has a lot of pre-packaged components I’d like to add to my workflow via Remote Workflow Editor. But it seems I am not allowed to drag-and-drop these components into my workflow. I can copy-and-paste them if they are already in my workflow. But I cannot add new components. Is there a fix for this?

Limitation #2: Cannot Configure Components

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If I double-click on a component within Remote Workflow Editor I cannot configure the component. Instead just get this error message (below). How should I be configuring these components remotely?

Limitation #3: Cannot Rename my Remote Nodes

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I cannot edit the tags on my remote nodes and must be happy with the default. Is this expected?

Thanks!

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Hello @Edlueze,

Thank you for reaching out to us.
We like the fact that you interact with the Remote Workflow Editor (RWE) a lot. However, we are sorry to hear that it does not cover all the functionality you need. Currently, the RWE covers most of the edit functionality that you would expect from editing a workflow locally. Unfortunately, that implies you cannot make use of every editing feature you are familiar with from the local workflow editor. However, non-covered functionality is subject to development.
Please also refer to our KNIME Server User Guide (Remote Workflow Editor).

Best regards,
Kevin

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Hi @kevin_sturm,

Is it planned that the remote workflow will improve? The mentioned limitations impede (in my opinion strongly) proper development and usability. Are there any suggestions for best practice development?

With small data sets, I actually queried the data in remote workflow and then saved the workflow with loaded data as local workflow. Then I was able to continue developing with all KNIME features.

Now I am confronting large datasets (7mio rows, 100 columns) and this strategy does not work anymore. I have to rely on the remote workflow and I have the following problems:

  • I cannot add/create components (can’t build a webfrontends)

  • Some nodes don’t work such as DB GroupBy

  • It feels like I have to execute every node single-handedly

  • Variable handling becomes increasingly difficult, e.g., I somewhat cannot use newly created variables in basic scenarios, such as row filtering

  • In some occasions there seems to be a lag in the nodes, e.g., I filtered columns and the successor nodes did not recognize the changes.

Will this change with the new and upcoming UI? Can we expect upgrades for the remote workflow till then? Any other suggestions how to make one’s life easier? I was thinking about pulling data extracts as .csv or .parquet and then continue development on the local workspace. Not sure if this is the best way though…

Thanks for your ear!
Best regards,
Stiefel

Hi @Residentstiefel,

Thank you for sharing your insights from your workflow use case. We are sorry that you face limitations for your flow of work with the Remote Workflow Editor (RWE). As mentioned, we are aware that the RWE just covers most of the functionality of the local Workflow Editor and not all.
With KNIME Analytics Platform 4.6 we introduced a first glimpse and access to our new UI. Hence, we are working on a solely browser-based editor, which holds all the functionality of the Analytics Platform and would enable editing workflows/jobs from the KNIME Server.

Best regards,
Kevin

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