KNIME Flow Control Guide

KNIME AG, Zurich, Switzerland

Version 4.3 (last updated on 2020-10-22)
Table of Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1  

Flow variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2  

Creating flow variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2  

Using flow variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5  

Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
 

Loop commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12  

Using flow variables in loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13  

Breakpoint node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14  

IF and CASE Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16  

IF Switch node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16  

Defining the active port via a flow variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17  

CASE Switch Data (Start) node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19  

Error handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21  
KNIME Flow Control Guide

Introduction
Not all workflows have a static input and only one branch. Often, data are updated regularly,
and some settings can be different from time to time. In other cases a workflow might have
branches and a rule that determines which branch to follow.

In this guide, the tools available in KNIME Analytics Platform to control the flow in the needed
direction are introduced.

In particular this guide explains how to:

• Parametrize settings using flow variables

• Repeat a part of the workflow for different inputs
• Define a rule to activate a branch
• Provide an error handling branch if node execution fails

The nodes that come in hand here are shipped automatically with the KNIME Analytics
Platform and do not require the installation of any extension. You can find these nodes in the
node repositoy under the Workflow Control category as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The Workflow Control nodes in the node repository

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Flow variables
Flow variables are parameters with string, integer, double, arrays, or Path values. These
parameters can be used to avoid manually changing settings within the nodes of a workflow
when a new execution with different settings is required. Flow variables are available only for
the downstream nodes in the workflow.

Creating flow variables

To create flow variables you have the following possibilities:

• Convert a table row into flow variables

• Export a node configuration as flow variable
• Use Configuration and Widget nodes
• Combine or modify existing flow variables

The first two options are introduced in this section. The Widgets and Configuration nodes are
explained in more details in the Components Guide. However, an example that makes use of
this type of nodes in the context of creating a flow variable is available on KNIME Hub. An
example of the last option is the Rule Engine Variable node, which is introduced in the IF and
CASE Switches section.

Converting a table row into flow variables

The Table Row to Variable node, converts each column of the first row of a data table into a
flow variable. In the example in Figure 2, which is available on KNIME Hub, the Table Row to
Variable node is connected to Group By and Sorter node which respectively group the original
data by country, counting how many times an entry in the data corresponds to a specific
country and sorts the data accordingly, as shown in Figure 3.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Figure 2. Converting first row of a data table to flow variables

Figure 3. Data grouped and sorted according to sales by country

The output of the Table Row to Variable node is shown in Figure 4. The column names in the
data table are now the names of the flow variables, while the values of the first row are the
corresponding values of the flow variables.

Figure 4. First row converted to flow variables

 In the video From Data to Variables this is explained in more detail.

Exporting a node configuration as flow variable

Another option to create a new flow variable is to export a node configuration. In this case

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

the flow variable acquires the same value used for the node configuration. The name for the
flow variable is defined in the node configuration dialog.

Some configuration options have a flow variable icon next to them, for example the string
pattern in the Row Filter node configuration dialog shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Flow variable button in a Row Filter node dialog

To export a node configuration that has a flow variable icon next to it, open the node
configuration dialog and follow these steps:

1. Define the node configuration value in the corresponding field

2. Click the icon and select Create Variable in the dialog that opens, shown in Figure 6
3. Write the flow variable name in the field that activates.

Figure 6. Variable Settings dialog

If there is no flow variable icon next to the setting to be exported, follow these steps:

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

1. Define the node configuration value in the corresponding field

2. Open the Flow Variables tab in the node configuration dialog
3. Write the flow variable name in the text field close to the drop-down menu in the row
corresponding to the node configuration to export, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Flow Variables tab in a node configuration dialog

Now, the Flow Variables tab in the output table view of the node, shows the exported flow
variable, as in Figure 8.

Figure 8. Flow Variables tab in a node output

Using flow variables

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Flow variable ports

The flow variable ports are red circles above each node. Each node has flow variable ports,
but for most nodes they are hidden by default. You can make them visible by right clicking a
node and selecting Show Flow Variable Ports in the context menu as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Showing flow variable ports

Overwriting node configurations with flow variables

In the previous section, we explained how to create flow variables. Here, we show how to use
a previously created flow variable to configure a node.

In case you want to use a flow variable you need to first connect the node where the flow
variable is created to the following one. If they are not connected already via any other port,
use the flow variable ports. You need to create the connection only once, then the transferred
flow variables are available for all subsequent nodes in the workflow.

To use a flow variable follow these steps:

1. Open the configuration dialog of the node whose setting you want to overwrite via the
flow variable. The flow variable icon is not always present in the node configuration
dialog, but you can find it next to node configurations that are often overwritten by flow
variables.
a. If the chosen configuration setting has a flow variable icon next to it, click it and in
the Variable Settings dialog that opens select Use Variable. Then select the flow
variable from the drop-down menu, as shown in Figure 10.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Figure 10. Define a specific node configuration by a flow variable

b. If the flow variable icon is not present, go to the Flow Variables tab, navigate to
the chosen node configuration and select the flow variable from the drop-down
menu as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Overwriting node configurations in the flow variables tab

When you overwrite a node configuration with a flow variable, a warning message appears in
the lower part of the node configuration dialog pointing out which node configuration is
overwritten, as shown in Figure 12.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Figure 12. Warning message in lower part of configuration dialog

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Loops
Loops iterate over a certain part of the workflow. Each iteration, a repeated procedure, has
different input. What changes for each iteration can be a parameter value, dataset, subgroup
of the same dataset, single column, or single row as flow variables.

In the videos What is a Loop? and Counting Loop we explain the loop concept
 and build a simple example loop.

A loop in KNIME begins with a Loop Start node and ends with a Loop End node. The
operations that are performed for each iteration are executed in the loop body. Generally, the
Loop Start node is responsible for increasing the iteration counter and for sending the data to
the loop body, which is then responsible for executing sub-workflow steps. After those are
performed the Loop End node checks if the end condition is fulfilled, and if this is not the
case the Loop Start node increases the counter and performs the loop body operations
again. When the end condition is fulfilled, the Loop End node collects the data from the
different iterations and the next step in the workflow is performed.

The loop in Figure 13, which is available on KNIME Hub, is an example where the Chunk Loop
Start node is used to iterate over a table, which contains ten rows filled with the letter A,
created with the Table Creator node.
Table Creator Chunk Loop Start Value Counter Loop End

Creates a Always takes three rows Calculates Collects the results

single column. In each row of the input table how many 'A's of each loop iteration.
only the letter 'A' entered. and processes them. are in the first column.

Figure 13. An example of loop with Chunk Loop Start node

The Chunk Loop Start node takes three rows of the input table and sends a chunk of the data
to the loop body, which is made of a Value Counter node. Finally, a Loop End node collects
the results of each loop iteration and ends the loop when the condition of reaching the last
row of the input data is fulfilled.

KNIME Analytics Platform provides different loop start and loop end nodes for different types
of loops. The loop start and loop end nodes are collected into Table 1 and Table 2. You will
find these nodes in the node repository by navigating to Workflow Control → Loop Support.

Table 1. Loop start nodes

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Node Icon Loop Start Node Explanation

Counting Loop Start Triggers loop for a predefined

number of iterations

Chunk Loop Start Splits data into consecutive

chunks for each iteration. Either
the number of chunks or the
number of rows per chunk is
defined.

Column List Loop Start Iterates over a list of columns

Generic Loop Start Together with the Variable

Condition Loop End node it iterates
until a certain condition is met

Table Row To Variable Loop Start Converts every row in a table into
row variables and iterates over
them

Group Loop Start Iterates over groups of data that

are defined based on a condition

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Node Icon Loop Start Node Explanation

Interval Loop Start Increases a variable value for each

iteration within a given interval

Recursive Loop Start Iterates over the output data table

from the Recursive Loop End node

Recursive Loop Start (2 Ports) Iterates over the two output data
tables from the Recursive Loop
End (2 ports) node

Table 2. Loop end nodes

Node Icon Loop End Node Explanation

Loop End Concatenates the output tables

from the different iterations

Variable Condition Loop End Together with the Generic Loop

Start node it executes a loop until a
certain condition is met

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Node Icon Loop End Node Explanation

Loop End (2 ports) Concatenates the output tables

from each iteration into two
separate tables when each
iteration produces two output
tables

Loop End (Column Append) After each iteration the output

table is joined with the output table
from previous iteration

Recursive Loop End Passes the output table from an

iteration to a Recursive Loop Start
node until either the maximum
number of iterations, minimum
number of rows, or a certain
condition is met

Recursive Loop End (2 ports) Passes the output table from an

iteration to a Recursive Loop Start
(2 ports) node until the maximum
number of iterations, minimum
number of rows, or a certain
condition is met

Variable Loop End Collects flow variables from each

iteration. Can be used when the
calculations are finished inside the
loop and the output is not needed.

Loop commands
While executing a loop, you can follow the execution monitoring a selected node output using
the node monitor.

You have two ways of executing a loop.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

• Complete execution: Right click the Loop End node and choose Execute from the
context menu. Now a yellow loop sign is shown at the Loop End node while the loop
steps are executed. As soon as it turns to green the loop is completely and successfully
executed. To reset the loop you can reset any of the nodes that belong to the loop sub-
workflow, by right clicking a node and choosing Reset from the context menu.
• Step-wise execution: Right click the Loop End node and choose Step Loop Execution
from the context menu, to execute one iteration of the loop. At any time you can
execute the remaining steps by choosing Resume Loop Execution from the context
menu of the Loop End node. You can also pause the step-wise execution or cancel it,
choosing Pause Execution or Cancel from the context menu of the Loop End node. In
both cases this affects only the Loop End node, while the antecedent nodes will still be
in the executed state.

The videos Loop End Nodes and Loop Commands explain loop end nodes in
 more detail and show guided loop execution options.

Using flow variables in loops

In the Flow variables section we introduced flow variables and their function. They are often
used in loops and Table Row to Variable Loop Start and Variable Loop End nodes are two
specific loop nodes with input and output flow variable type ports.

An example for Table Row to Variable Loop Start is shown in Figure 14, and is also available
on KNIME Hub.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Table Row To
Table Creator Variable Loop Start

Creates a Loops over each

Constant
single column with row of the input
Value Column Loop End
some numbers. table and
exposes flow variables of
the entries.

Appends a cell to Collects the output data

the current table containing
Visual 2D Data the current value
Generator of the 'Table Row To Variable
Loop Start'.

Random
2D Points

Figure 14. An example of loop with Table Row to Variable Loop Start node

Similarly to the Table Row to Variable node, the Table Row to Variable Loop Start node
transforms the row of a table to a set of variables that have as name the column name and
as value the corresponding value in the current row. It loops over each row of the input table
and exposes the flow variables obtained to the loop body. In the example in Figure 14, one of
the flow variables obtained is used to overwrite the column value parameter setting of the
Constant Value Column node, which appends a cell containing the current value to the
current table.

Breakpoint node
In the node repository, under Workflow Control → Loop Support, Breakpoint node is also
available. You can use it to halt execution when certain conditions are met. Figure 15 and
Figure 16 show the use of this node to impair the execution of the loop when the input flow
variable corresponding to the value of the customer segment is equal to three. You can also
configure the Breakpoint node to halt execution when it receives as input an empty table, and
active or inactive branch. You can also set a Custom message to be shown if the Breakpoint
node condition is met. This workflow is also available on KNIME Hub.

Table Creator Counting Loop Start Value Counter Breakpoint Loop End

paused

Creates a Calculates Fails in Iteration 15 Never reached.

single column. In each row how many 'A's
only the letter 'A' entered. are in the first column.

Figure 15. A workflow with a Breakpoint node

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Figure 16. The Breakpoint node configuration dialog

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

IF and CASE Switches

In case you need to perform different operations on different groups of the data, you can use
a logic which is able to split the workflow into branches. The IF and CASE nodes available in
KNIME Analytics Platform have this function. The nodes for IF and CASE switches are
located in the node repository under Workflow Control → Switches.

Figure 17. Switch type nodes

IF Switch node
The IF Switch node creates two branches in the workflow which can be alternatively activated
or disactivated. This means, the nodes in the active branch or branches are executed and the
nodes in the inactive one are not. In the node configuration dialog you can define the active
branch either manually, or it can be dynamically controlled by a condition, through a flow
variable.

The example workflow in Figure 18, also available on KNIME Hub, loops over an IF Switch to
read in data row by row, to categorize the customers based on their call activity. When the
loop is finished, the rows are concatenated back into the same table.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Constant
String Input Value Column

IF Switch End IF
Bottom port selected Replace input column with
constant value 'bottom'

Depending on the Collects output. Either

Constant
'String Input', the 'IF Switch' a column with 'bottom' or 'top'!
Value Column
either activates the
bottom, the top or both
Table Creator branches of the workflow.

Replace input column with

constant value 'bottom'

Creates a
single column. In each row
only the letter 'A' entered.

Figure 18. An example using an IF Switch node

In the workflow in Figure 18, the IF Switch node has both data and flow variable input. The
flow variable, created with the String Input node, defines the active branch. The data are then
handled in the active branch.

Defining the active port via a flow variable

As shown in Figure 19, the Select active port option is located in the Options tab of the IF
Switch node configuration dialog. Here, you can manually select either both, bottom or top, to
define the active branch. However, in the same way as in the Overwriting settings with flow
variables section, you can also use a flow variable to overwrite the active port option.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Figure 19. Defining active branch by a flow variable

First, you need to create a suitable flow variable. Since you need to use it to overwrite the
Select active port option of the IF Switch node, you have to assign to it a string value equal to
either both, bottom or top.

In the example shown in Figure 18 this flow variable is created using a String Input node
which allows to manually set the output flow variable to one of the suitable string values.

Another possibility is to automatically activate a branch according to some set condition,

within a loop. In the example shown in Figure 20 and available on KNIME Hub, a loop is
performed row by row over some data. Each row is then transformed in flow variables and,
depending on the value of a specific column the IF Switch ports are activated.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Table Row Rule Engine

to Variable Variable

Constant
Value Column
Transforms Sets a condition
the current row where some value
into flow variables activates a port
'A' -> top End IF Loop End
Table Creator Chunk Loop Start 'B' ->bottom IF Switch Replace input column with
constant value 'top'

Collects output. Either Loop end

Constant
Creates a Starts a loop Depending on the a column with 'bottom' or 'top'! and concatenate
Value Column
single column. In each row where Chunk = 1 row 'String Input' from data
letter 'A' or 'B' is iterating through data row by row Rule Engine Variable node,
alternatively entered . the 'IF Switch'
either activates the
bottom, the top or both Replace input column with
branches of the workflow. constant value 'bottom'

Figure 20. IF Switch combined with loop

The Rule Engine Variable node configuration dialog is shown in Figure 21. Here the
antecedents are defined using the flow variables and functions available while the
consequent of a true condition is assigned with the => sign. The default outcome, i.e. the
value assigned to all cases for which none of the rules is true, is defined using the syntax
TRUE => "default outcome".

Figure 21. Defining flow variable values by condition

CASE Switch Data (Start) node

With the CASE Switch Data (Start) node you can activate one of three branches in a workflow.
Similar to the IF Switch node, this can be either done manually or by using a condition.

Once the execution has finished, the tables resulting from the branches can be concatenated
by using an End IF node or CASE Switch Data (End) node.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

An example, similar to the one of IF Switch Data node, is shown in Figure 22 and available on
KNIME Hub.

String Input Row Filter

Port 2 is activated. Only keep first row

Change default value
to 0, 1 or 2 for different
behaviour CASE Switch CASE Switch
Table Creator Data (Start) Row Filter Data (End)

Creates a Switch depending Only keep second row Collect results

single column. In each row on 'String Input'
only the letter 'A' entered
Row Filter

Only keep third row

Figure 22. An example using a Case Switch node

Note that when using the CASE Switch, the possible values for the active output
 port are 0 for the top, 1 for the middle, and 2 for the bottom output port. That
said, the functionality is similar, but the flow variable values are different.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

Error handling
Different type of errors, such as a failing connection to a remote service, the invocation of a
not accessible database, and so on, can occur when executing a workflow. To handle them
you can use the Try-Catch enclosures. The Try part executes some node(s). If the execution
fails, the Catch branch with error handling is activated. Otherwise the Default branch is
executed. At the end of the Try-Catch enclosure, the results from either the successful or
failed execution are collected. An example of a Try-Catch enclosure is shown in Figure 23,
which is available on KNIME Hub.

Table Creator Counting Loop Start Try (Data Ports) Breakpoint Catch Errors Loop End
(Data Ports)

Creates a Start Counting Start the try block Fails in Iteration 15 Collects the results
single column. In each row Catches errors of each loop iteration, without
only the letter 'A' entered. 'A' for iteration 15.

Active Branch
Inverter
Empty Table Creator

Node 11
Creates empty input
if break-point triggers a fail

Figure 23. Error handling with a Try-Catch enclosure

In the workflow in Figure 23, the Try (Data Ports) node begins the enclosure, followed by the
Breakpoint node. The Breakpoint node is set to fail at the fifteenth iteration. Here, if execution
of the Try part fails the Catch branch is executed.

The Active Branch Converter node begins the Catch branch for error handling. This node
makes an inactive branch active and active branch inactive:

• It activates a branch in the event that execution fails

• It deactivates a branch if execution is successful

The Catch Errors (Data Ports) node closes the Try-Catch enclosure:

• If execution is successful, the output of the node is the output from the Default branch.
Therefore, the Default branch must be connected to the top input port of the Catch
Errors (Data Ports) node.
• If execution fails, the output of the enclosure comes from the Catch branch, which must
be connected to the bottom input port of the Catch Errors (Data Ports) node. The
reasons for the failure are then reported in the flow variable output of the Catch Errors
(Data Ports) node.

Besides data tables, the Try part can also be started with a flow variable, using the Try
(Variable Ports) node instead.

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KNIME Flow Control Guide

One of the following four alternatives is available to end the Try-Catch loop:

• Catch Errors (Data Ports) shown in Figure 23

• Catch Errors (Var Ports) if the outputs of the Catch and Default branches are flow
variables
• Catch Errors (Generic Ports) for models
• Catch Errors (DB Ports) for database queries.

You will find the nodes for a Try-Catch enclosure in the node repository by navigating to
Workflow Control → Error Handling.

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