CWL: Can we create a workflow model without the need for execution of the scripts?

Question

[pratikshrivastava23]

Hi Guys,

I am new to CWL, and trying to create a workflow for one of my existing project in it. My project is created using Rscript and I would like to model the graph using the CWL viewer without execution of the script.

Would it be possible to do it in CWL and if yes, could you please share any pointers?

Thanks in Advance! -- Pratik

Answer 1

[kaushik.ghose]

Yes, this is completely possible. For example you can use the Rabix composer tool to map out the nodes and connections. This gives you a visual depiction of the workflow, which you can then export to json CWL representation.

Answer 2

[bogdan.gavrilovic]

The best way to do it is to load the workflow using Rabix Composer (http://rabix.io/) as you can both see the graph and edit (add or remove steps).

The cwltool (https://github.com/common-workflow-language/cwltool) also has some options to print a visual presentation of the graph. Here's something from the tool help

 --print-rdf           Print corresponding RDF graph for workflow and exit
 --print-dot           Print workflow visualization in graphviz format and exit

[kaushik.ghose]

Also found cwlviewer, though I haven't used it yet