Node-RED Installer, Standalone Installer using Electron

© Hitachi, Ltd. 2021. All rights reserved.
Node-RED Installer,
Standalone Installer using Electron
Hitachi, Ltd.
OSS Solution Center
10/23/2021
Kazuhito Yokoi

1
• Kazuhito Yokoi
• Software Engineer in Hitachi, Ltd.
• Member of Node-RED project
• Organizer of Node-RED user group
• My accomplishments
• 4th ranked contributor
• Maintainer of sub-projects
• Speaker in global conferences
Self-introduction
https://www.hitachi.com/rd/sc/story/nodered
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_7BikDCXk8

1. Our use cases
2. Node-RED Installer
3. Offline use
Contents
2
4. Developing environment

3
Our use cases

4
Hitachi has used Node-RED in various products and services.
• Lumada Solution Hub
(Environment for IoT solutions)
• Hitachi Data Hub
(Platform to collect, refine and store data)
• HA8000E (Edge computer)
• Hitachi Digital Supply Chain/IoT
• Solution using human pose and
behavior recognition
• Planning system for manufacturing
Our products and services
https://www.hitachi.com/rev/archive/2020/r2020_05/05a02/index.html https://www.hitachi.co.jp/products/it/IoTM2M/list/datahub/
https://www.hitachi.co.jp/products/it/ha8000e/ https://www.hitachi.co.jp/products/it/industry/solution/dsc/dsc_iot.html
https://info.hitachi-ics.co.jp/product/activity_evaluation/ https://www.hitachi-solutions.co.jp/ppdss/

5
Node-RED connect OT/IT engineers and customers
who have different backgrounds.
• Suitable for discussions
• Visual programming
• Explanations using tablet and PC
• Citizen development
• Feasibility studies
• Utilizing of IoT and AI technologies
• Rapid development
• Reducing time to develop solutions
• High-quality solutions
Why we use Node-RED

6
Node-RED has abilities to apply state-of-the-art technologies to legacy fields.
Platform to apply modern technologies
Modern
technologies
Mission-critical
IoT fields
Existing products
Apply technologies
Low code IoT AI
Cloud
native
Micro
service
Version
control
CI/CD

7
19 contributors have added new features to the Node-RED project since 2016.
• Japanese translations
• Changing node icon
• Message sequence nodes
• Context Store
• Subflow UI
• Flow linter
• Node generator
• Node-RED Installer
Our contributions to Node-RED project
Contribution statistics
Pull requests
from our team
https://bit.ly/3dqGwRz

8
Node-RED Installer

9
Standalone installer including Node.js, Node-RED nodes, and Node-RED
• Installers for Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Server behaviors which are the same as original Node-RED
Node-RED Installer
Browser
engine
External browsers
Node-RED
installer
Electron
modules
modules
Node-RED
nodes
Local PC or server
Node-RED installer package
Build Install

10
• Building methods
- electron-builder to generate native installers
- Packaging connectors as dependencies
- Downloading other components before building
• Built installers
- Windows (msi)
- macOS (dmg)
- Linux (deb and rpm)
How to build Node-RED Installer
Native installers
electron-builder
Build
Download

11

12
Offline use

13
Low code development is essential for Non-IT engineers to create solutions.
[ Examples of factory modernization ]
• Dashboard to visualize production line
• Defect detection based on image analysis
• Safety measure by human detection
Factory modernization by low code tool
Dashboard
Collect data
Control
Visualize
Analyze
Edge computer
Non-IT engineers
Develop solutions
LCD

14
The conflicting backgrounds between
JavaScript technologies and industrial IoT fields
• JavaScript technologies that require
internet connections to download components
• Closed network for mission-critical
IoT system inside factories
-> We encountered the problem
to install Node-RED.
Problems to install Node-RED in offline environment
Closed network

15
We solved the problems using the Node-RED installer.
[ Cases to use installer ]
• Setting up the Node-RED environment initially
• Upgrading installed Node-RED and nodes
Solution by Node-RED installer
Node-RED
installer
Closed network
Install/
upgrade

16
Demonstration: Image recognition using TensorFlow.js
[ Object detection in automated lines ]
(1) Capture image in the production line
(2) Analyze the image data using the TensorFlow.js model
(3) Move the object by the robot arm
(1) Capture
(3) Control
(2) Analyze
Lines inside factory
Object detection

17

18
Developing environment

19
Problem 1:
Command-line operations
to install Node-RED
Problems in developing environment of Node-RED
Node-RED
Developers
Fragile
flow
> npm install
Error !
Warning !
Difficult for
beginners
Production
environment
Problem 2:
Single environment to develop flow
Developers

20
We often use the following tools in other languages like Java and Python.
• Individual developing environments
• Source code repository
• CI/CD pipelines
General development style in other languages
Git
repository
Application
Production
environment
Deploy
Add code
Add code
Developers
Test

21
• The installer makes it easy to prepare individual developing environments.
• Because project feature is the default in the environment,
developers can connect to source code repository and CI/CD pipelines.
Node-RED environment to apply general development
Git
repository
Application
Production
environment
Deploy
Add code
Add code
Test
Developers

22

23

24
We suggested and contributed to tools to improve the flow quality.
• Flow linter
Command-line tool
to detect flow errors
• Flow test
Command-line tool to test flow
Both functionalities are available
on Node-RED flow editor
Command line tools for CI/CD pipelines
Unconnected pair nodes
Overlapping nodes
No name specified
No name specified

25
Node-RED User Group Japan
User group to share knowledge about Node-RED
• Meetups
• Online articles
• Publishing books
• Translation of the website
We’re going to hold meetup for enterprise.
• Day and time: December 16th 12:00-13:00 (JST)
• Location: YouTube Live
• Speakers: Panasonic and Hitachi
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4777521508 https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B08SJGQPNL https://twitter.com/taiponrock/status/799563109920706561

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• Node-RED, Electron and Node.js are trademarks of OpenJS Foundation.
• Google Chrome is a trademark of Google LLC.
• The Firefox is a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation.
• Microsoft Edge and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
• npm is a trademark of npm, Inc.
• macOS is a trademark of Apple Incorporated.
• Ubuntu is a trademark of Canonical Limited.
• Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc.
in the United States and other countries.
• Raspberry Pi is a registered trademark of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
• Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
in the U.S. and other countries.
• GitHub is a trademark of GitHub, Inc.
• Gitlab is a trademark of GitLab, Inc.
• Other company, product or service names may be trademark or
registered trademark of others.
Trademarks

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