Hello - I am in finance and run reports on a monthly basis. I’ve pivoted my data on the dates so that each month represents a column (e.g., 202405, 202406) with the corresponding revenue.
I want to make it so that when running the knime workflow each month, the person running it only has to type in one area (I believe this is the purpose of flow variables) the month they are interested in running analysis on, then in all of the corresponding “Column Splitter” sections, it uses that flow variable to only select that column while removing the others.
I’ve watched a few videos on FLow Variables, and have even read multiple posts and I am still struggling to understand how to do what I am looking for.
Could anyone be so kind in helping me with step by step on what tools to use to a) create the variable, and b) use that variable in the column splitter to achieve what I am looking to do.
Thank you very much in advance for your help and patience with my ‘novice-ness’
This is one of those scenarios that depends on the data on what you want your users to be able to do, but for selection Widgets & Flow variables will be the best so you’re on the right track.
Flow variables are used to control the ‘flow’ of a workflow and here I’m taking the outputting selection of a number 1-12, manipulating it just so that it is always two digits (02 vs 2
and then using that to filter down the columns being displayed so that the columns must end in the selected number.
Since I am just starting with the use of variables, would you be so kind in listing out some steps I can use to achieve my desired results? For example:
Column selection: Use node XYZ and select column you would like to use
Variable use: In “Column Filter” tool, go to advanced settings > xxxxx
Etc.
I thought it may be helpful to show what my data looks like when I input it, after I pivot it, and my desired state. Please see the below.
Data imported into workflow (period_name is what I would like the user to change each month within a node, or be prompted to choose)
