Build Your First Workflow

Build Your First Workflow

In this brief introduction to KNIME Analytics Platform, you build a simple workflow of data access, processing, and visualization. All the necessary nodes are provided for you. You connect them to form a workflow!

In this workflow, you will learn how to:

• Execute a node in a workflow

• Examine the outcome from node execution

• Connect multiple nodes

• Add and configure a node

Step 1: Accessing data

You read data from an Excel file with an Excel Reader node.

Do these:

• Hover mouse over the Excel Reader node and click on execute ▶️

• Click the Excel Reader node to highlight it

You see:

• The traffic light changes from configured 🟡 to executed 🟢

• In the node monitor panel below, an inventory of furniture items (items and quantities)

Step 2: Visualization

You visualize the furniture data with a Bar Chart node.

Do these:

• Drag & drop the output (▶) of the Excel Reader to the input (▶) of the Bar Chart node

• Hover over the Bar Chart node and click on the magnifying glass 🔍

You see:

• A bar chart showing the quantities of furniture items

Step 3: Accessing another data

You read another data from an Excel file with an Excel Reader node.

Do these:

• Hover mouse over the Excel Reader node and click on execute ▶️

• Click the Excel Reader node to highlight it

You see:

• Another inventory of furniture items (items, quantities, and comments)

Step 4 (optional): Adding a node

You add a Column Filter node and configure it.

Do these:

• Drag the output (▶) of the Excel Reader and drop in the empty space in this box

• Select the Column Filter from the panel

• Highlight the node.

• In the configuration (right panel)

  • Select Column in the Includes box

  • Click on < to move it to the Excludes box

• Execute ▶️

You see:

• In the output table, the column Comment is removed

Step 5: Combining data tables

You combine two data tables with a Concatenate node.

Do these:

• Connect the output data table from Step 1 to the top input port

• Connect the second inventory table (either from Step 3 or 4) to the bottom input port

• Execute ▶️

You see:

• A combined inventory data table

Do these:

• Connect the output from the Concatenate node to the input of the Row Aggregator node

• Execute ▶️

You see:

• Summary table of each furniture item and the total quantity

Step 6: Summarizing data

You count the number of each furniture item with a Row Aggregator node.

Step 7: Visualization

You visualize the combined furniture data with a Bar Chart node.

Do these:

• Connect the top output from the Row Aggregator node to the input port of the Bar Chart node

• Click on the magnifying glass 🔍

You see:

• A bar chart showing the quantities of furniture items in the combined data table

Additional Details

Additional details of the workflow can be found in the short course L0 - Buid Your First Workflow, available here. You can also earn a microcredential after completing the course

To Learn More

If you would like to learn more about KNIME Analytics Platform, you can:

• Explore example workflows from KNIME's template space

• Take a self-paced course on data proficiency by KNIME