Step one for any first-time exercise with a new programming tool is Hello World!
The most basic option for this in Node-RED a combination of an Inject and a Debug node; for Node-RED this looks like
This is achieved by click/dragging an Inject node from the palette on the left, onto the canvas:
then do the same for the Debug node:
and link the output of Inject to the input of Debug:
Click-and-hold the output connector of the Inject node, drag the connection line to the Debug node inout connector, ensuring the target connector turns orange; then release.
Review the Debug node by double-clicking in the body of the node, and you will see the configuration panel:
Click Cancel.
Review the Inject node by double-clicking in the body of the node, and you will see its configuration panel:
Click on the black triangle next to timestamp, select the string option, and type into the new text entry field the message you woould like to see in the debug window. Then click Done.
You should see that the Inject node has a blue dot, indicating it has been modified:
also observe that the top-right menu now has a red Deploy button:
This indicates the Node-RED configuration has changed and does not match the running application. Click Deploy to add the flow you just created into Node-RED runtime.
Click on the button on the left side of the Inject node and observe the message displayed in the debug window:
Congratulations! - you have established a working Node-RED live application, and successfully generated data.