Workflow won't run if an input port is empty, but rodan won't tell you why

[JoyfulGen]

If an input port in a workflow is empty, rodan still indicates the status of that workflow as 'valid'. However, if you try to run the workflow, nothing happens; but since rodan thinks the workflow is valid, there's no indication of why the workflow isn't running.

I came across this issue when I was trying to run an IC workflow. The IC job already had a 'Training data' input port, but I was running the IC for the first time, so I had no training data to give it. I figured I would just leave the port empty, since the IC doesn't need training data to work. But when I tried to run the workflow, nothing happened, because a port was empty. Once I had removed the empty port, the workflow ran just fine:

workflow.won.t.run.with.empty.port.mov

I think it's totally fine that a workflow won't run if a port is empty. My requested fix would be that if a user tries to run a workflow with an empty input port, Rodan warns the user that won't be possible, and tells the user why.

[kyrieb-ekat]

Jumping in here to second this and also say it might alternatively also be nice to optionally have a popup or something which says "hey, input port blah in job blah is empty. Would you like to assign something or leave it empty?" and then you can decide to proceed with an empty port anyways instead of needing to manually go in, remove the port, rerun, etc.

[JoyfulGen]

Oh yes I like that idea!

[homework36]

I can try to make the workflow invalid but I probably don't know how to make a popup window.

[kyrieb-ekat]

I think probably the most significant thing is the invalid flag; anything else is window-dressing/a wish list item for later.