FSK-Lab is an extension to the open source data analytics platform KNIME (www.knime.org). To install the latest FSK-Lab version it is required to use at least KNIME version 4.0
Step 1: Install KNIME (if not available)
Step 2: Install the FSK-Lab extension
Introduction:
The FSK-Lab extension can be installed from a so-called “update-site”. FSK-Lab provides multiple update-sites for different FSK-Lab versions. The latest stable release will be available at: https://gitlab.bfr.berlin/silebat/repositories/raw/4.5/fsklab/.
Other update sites are listed here:
- For KNIME versions 4.0 – 4.3.2: https://gitlab.bfr.berlin/silebat/repositories/raw/master/fsklab/
- KNIME version 4.4.x: https://gitlab.bfr.berlin/silebat/repositories/raw/4.4/fsklab/
- KNIME version 4.5.x: https://gitlab.bfr.berlin/silebat/repositories/raw/4.5/fsklab/.
Step-by-Step guidance:
- Start KNIME
- Go and select the menu item “Help -> Install New Software”
- In the window that opens copy “https://gitlab.bfr.berlin/silebat/repositories/raw/4.5/fsklab/” (without “) into the input field next to “Work with” and press “Enter”
- In the area below with the two columns “Name | Version” a new entry “FSK-Lab” is shown. Clicking the check-box in front of it or pressing the button “Select All” will install FSK-Lab and some other useful KNIME extensions as well, like PMM-Lab and FPL-Lab. If you are only interested in FSK-Lab click on the triangle in front of the FSK-Lab entry and select from the tree view the checkbox before the FSK-Lab extension.
- Press “Next >”, approve the items to be installed on the next screen by clicking “Next >” again; Accept the license agreements on the next screen and press “Finish”.
- Now the FSK-Lab extension is downloaded and after a moment you will be asked to confirm that the FSK-Lab extension is downloaded from an “inofficial update-site” and after confirming this you need to restart KNIME
- If everything worked out fine you will find new folders in the KNIME Node Repository with all the selected extensions provided in the FSK-Lab extension (BfR Internal Utilities, FSK-Lab, GIS Nodes, PMM-Lab, Foodprocess)
Good-to-know:
FSK-Lab support the execution of models created in the R statistical computing language (https://www.r-project.org). For convenience some bundles with preconfigured R are included in the FSK-Lab update-site. You can pick either the 32 or 64 bit version depending of your operating system. If you already have R installed on your system and you prefere to use that version, do not check either of the options. The bundles are named:
- R 3.4.4 for 64-bit Windows
- R 3.4.4 for 32-bit Windows
Important: Using the packaged R bundle will create a new folder (“.fsk”) in the local user folder to save automatically installed R libraries. In case this causes conflicts with your local R installation, remove the .fsk folder and make sure, there is no reference to it in the .Rprofile file (found in documents).
Using an existing R installation in FSK-Lab
If you want to use your existing R installation together with FSK-Lab it is necessary to configure it, so it works well with FSK-Lab.
First three R packages need to be installed in your existing R installation. These can be easily installed in an R console with the command: install.packages(c('Rserve', 'miniCRAN','svglite'))
.
Second, The path to R needs to be set in the KNIME software. For that you go to “File -> Preferences -> KNIME -> FSK-Lab” and provide the path to the local R folder that holds a “bin” folder with the R.exe.