Overview

Anduril can be extended by implementing new components. A component is executable code that encapsulates some functionality used in workflows, such as preprocessing data in a certain format or a certain statistical algorithm. A component is packaged so that it can be reused between projects, and distributed to other users if needed.

Ready-made components provide a large amount of functionality, so you usually don’t need to implement your own components when you start using Anduril. In particular, components that invoke external scripts allow embedding custom scripts in your workflows without encapsulating them as components. However, if you use certain code in several projects, you obtain the following benefits from implementing it as a component:

• A component is implemented once and used several times, which reduces work and increases quality
• Components are found on the Anduril search path so it is easy to import code into new workflows
• Components have a standard and documented interface, which allows sharing them between users
• Components can be systematically tested
• Components can specify their external dependencies, which can be automatically installed
• Related components can be packaged in bundles that can be distributed online

Example scenario

In the following sections, we illustrate extending Anduril by creating a custom bundle that contains one atomic component (implemented using R) and one composite component (Scala function). The finished bundle is available as a ZIP archive.