KNIME and Spotfire® Integration

Introduction

KNIME Analytics Platform is a leading solution for data-driven innovation, designed for discovering the potential hidden in data, mining for fresh insights, or predicting new futures.

For more details, please have a look at the KNIME Analytics Platform webpage for details.

KNIME's headquarters are based in Zurich, with additional offices in Konstanz, Berlin, and Silicon Valley. We're open to innovation, so visit us at www.KNIME.com.

Combining KNIME and Spotfire®

KNIME Spotfire Nodes

Spotfire has released native KNIME Spotfire® nodes. They support reading and writing of Spotfire files and reading from Spotfire® Information Links.

To install:

1. From the Help menu, choose Install New Software
2. Add a new repository (depending on the version of KNIME you are using (note - these links will not open in a browser!):
   • http://update.knime.com/partner/3.5
   • http://update.knime.com/partner/4.0
   • http://update.knime.com/partner/4.6
   • http://update.knime.com/partner/4.7
   • http://update.knime.com/partner/5.1
   • http://update.knime.com/partner/5.2
3. Choose the Spotfire File Nodes extension
4. Keep choosing Next, until you complete the wizard, accepting the installation of unsigned software. Restart KNIME when the installation is complete
5. After restarting, you should see a separate TIBCO category in the node browser, from which you can pick the Spotfire nodes

The latest version of the nodes was released in November 2024, with updates for compatibility with KNIME 5.1 and above, and support for Spotfire 14.x.

Feature highlights:

The Spotfire file reader and file writer nodes read and write Spotfire native (SBDF/STDF - Spotfire Binary or Text Data Format) files. Spotfire reads and writes these files without the need for import or export since the files are strongly typed (unlike Excel or CSV) and highly efficient in their usage of storage (especially SBDF).

Of particular note is that the file reader and writer nodes can read and write data files to the Spotfire library. This is important as it allows users to use the Spotfire library as a repository for business data, without requiring warehouses to be created for every single different type of data. The data can also be updated by KNIME on a scheduled basis and loaded into Spotfire for use every time a user opens an analysis that uses the data.

Spotfire Connector for KNIME Server (Discngine)

The Discngine Spotfire connector for KNIME Server has been designed to improve integration and user experience when combining both tools. Based on the Spotfire Data Functions architecture, this Connector handles bi-directional data flows between the Spotfire client and the KNIME Server.

When KNIME, when TIBCO Spotfire?

Use KNIME Analytics Platform for:

• Data cleansing;
• Extracting, Transforming, and Loading data (ETL);
• TERR execution through KNIME R integration and coding environment;
• Creating PMML models.

Use Spotfire for:

• Visualization & reporting;
• Geo-analytics with TIBCO Geo-analytics Builder API;
• TERR-based analytics;
• Streambase real-time PMML scoring.

Use case KNIME Spotfire Integration: Product Propensity Analysis

This use case was presented at a Bay Area KNIME User Meetup on January 2016 and includes a few classical steps in data analytics.

In KNIME Analytics Platform:

1. Data Blending. Customer data from different sources are combined;
2. ETL. Data is cleaned, transformed, and pre-processed;
3. Model Training with TERR. KNIME R integration is used to write, test, and deploy a TERR script to build GBM models for product propensity;
4. Model Application with TERR. Again through KNIME R integration, we applied the developed model to test data;
5. Data Export. The resulting data were passed to the TIBCO Spotfire Writer node from the KNIME - Spotfire integration.;
6. Guided Analytics. The web-based wizard was built on KNIME WebPortal to access and control workflow parameters from a web browser.

In Spotfire:

1. Visualization. Visualization of final and intermediate results and geo-localization of customer and store.

In Spotfire Streaming:

1. Deployment. Deployment of GBM PMML models into Spotfire Data Streams for real-time scoring.

FAQ

• How can I use TERR from the KNIME R Integration?

Go to "File" -> "Preferences". In the "Preferences" window, open the "KNIME" tab and then the "R" tab. On the right, change the value in "Path to R Home" to point to your TERR installation.

• Using the KNIME/Spotfire nodes with a Spotfire server using https, I get an error when I try to upload or download data from the library, or when I try to use an information link. The most common errors are either:

 sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed:

or:

 exception:org.apache.cxf.service.factory.ServiceConstructionException: Failed to create service.

The most common cause of these errors is the use of a self-signed certificate with the Spotfire server. The best solution is to use a certificate from a root certificate authority (contact your Spotfire server administrator to resolve this). However, you can solve it yourself by following these steps (note, the instructions refer to Google Chrome, but you can use another browser - just adapt as appropriate):

1. Open the Spotfire library browser in Chrome and log in
2. Open the Chrome Developer Tools (ctr+shift+i) and select the Security tab
3. Click on the View Certificate Button
4. Select the Details tab
5. Click the Export button
6. Save the certificate to your local disk
7. Open an administrative command prompt (or the Mac equivalent) and navigate to the KNIME JRE folder. For example:

C:\Program Files\KNIME\plugins\org.knime.binary.jre.win32.x86_64_17.0.3.20220621\jre\bin 

8. Type:

 keytool -import -alias spotfirecert -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts -file c:\users\my_user\Downloads\spotfire-server-certificate.pem