Section 9:

How to test and use your Node

In order to test our new node implementation we need to start a new "runtime workbench" (which is basically an eclipse instance started from our running eclipse). To do so, go to "Run" menu and select "Run ...". In the dialog, select "Eclipse Application" on the left and click the "New launch configuration" button as shown in the following screenshot:

screenshot of the launch configuration dialog

You may want to give the new configuration a meaningful name and/or change the runtime parameters of the configuration such as enabling assertions or giving the newly spawned Java process more memory (e.g. in the arguments tab under "VM arguments" you have to enter "-ea -Xmx512M" in order to use assertions(-ea) and increase the available heap space to 512MB.

Launch the configuration using the "Run button". In the opened runtime workbench open the KNIME perspective (i.e. "Window" - "Open Perspective" - "KNIME Analytics Platform"). You will notice that it also contains your newly defined node in the node repository. Please note that you do all these steps only once, the run configuration is saved and available in the run history, i.e. you restart the workbench by clicking the run button.

Export and deploy your Node as a plugin

Once you have tested your new plugin, using the runtime workbench, it is time to deploy your Node as a plugin. This is done by using the "Export deployable plug-ins and fragments" wizard. Just right-click your plugin and choose "Export...". In the window that appears select the "Plug-in Development" folder and within this, the "Deployable plug-ins and fragments" wizard. After pressing the "Next" button the wizard displays a list with all available plugins in your workspace and the one you right-clicked is selected. Thus, you just have to select a directory to deploy your plugin to or an archive file. In case you select a directory the plugin is exported to this destination within a directory called "plugin". This directory then contains the plugin as a .jar file. In case you select an archive file, the "plugin" folder containing the .jar file is zipped to the specified archive.

Once, the plugin is exported it can be installed in any KNIME installation or any Eclipse installation that contains the basic KNIME plugins by copying the content of the "plugin" folder to the plugin folder of the KNIME / Eclipse installation. Note that you have to restart your installation in case it is currently running.