Enable node comments

[cdutoit]

The only way to understand what a node is doing when glancing at it in the flow designer, is by using very descriptive names.

This is a challenge for two reasons:

1. The name does not accept spaces so you have to create cryptic node names like "filter_out_free_email_addresses_and_strip_the_domain_from_the_email".

2. Dataiku, unlike Knime or Altyerx has a very powerful Prepare recipe. However, this means you can do a number of things in one node. There's no way to adequately capture that in a single name of the node.

3. You often end up with very similar node names in part to the default naming convention. If you're not extremely vigilant about naming your nodes, sometimes you end up with a lot of nodes or datasets that have the same first N characters and in many places in the UI, you don't know which one to select because the drop down only displays the first N characters so there is no uniqueness in the name.

Just like computer code, there should be support for comments below a node, visually in the designer. That way you can clearly explain what each node is doing, even in the case of a multi-step node like the Prepare recipe.

[tgb417]

@cdutoit 

While this is being reviewed. 

At this time I use several features of DSS to document nodes.

In visual recipes on the right side of the screen is a small blue (i) in a blue circle.  If you go into that tab there is a place to add short and long description about the node.  When you use this feature and set a short description in the flow you get an (i) on the node.  If you hover over the node the short description is displayed on a pop-up window.

This same little (i) in gray circle is also available on individual steps in a visual recipe as step comments.  These hide automaticly.  However, they can be set to always show.

This information is available via the API and is included can be included in automatically generated flow documentation.   

Note the Documentation on this feature is very hard to come by.  In fact with a quick look I've not found any public documentation about using this from the user interface.  Only references in the API documentation.  

Hope this helps while you are waiting for this project suggestion to be reviewed.

[tgb417]

@cdutoit 

While this is being reviewed. 

At this time I use several features of DSS to document nodes.

In visual recipes on the right side of the screen is a small blue (i) in a blue circle.  If you go into that tab there is a place to add short and long description about the node.  When you use this feature and set a short description in the flow you get an (i) on the node.  If you hover over the node the short description is displayed on a pop-up window.

This same little (i) in gray circle is also available on individual steps in a visual recipe as step comments.  These hide automaticly.  However, they can be set to always show.

This information is available via the API and is included can be included in automatically generated flow documentation.   

Note the Documentation on this feature is very hard to come by.  In fact with a quick look I've not found any public documentation about using this from the user interface.  Only references in the API documentation.  

Hope this helps while you are waiting for this project suggestion to be reviewed.