visualize #

Generate an interactive HTML graph of a VI's dataflow, or of the dependency graph across a whole library or class. Like describe, visualize never requires primitive or vi.lib mappings — it graphs structure, not converts. It requires the optional visualize extra:

pip install lvkit[visualize]

If that extra isn't installed, visualize prints Error: pyvis not installed. Run: pip install pyvis and exits non-zero before writing anything.

Synopsis #

lvkit visualize <input_path> [options]

Arguments #

Argument	Description
`input_path`	Path to a `.vi`, `.lvlib`, `.lvclass`, or a directory.

If input_path doesn't exist, visualize prints Error: Path not found: <input_path> and exits non-zero.

Options #

Option	Description
`-o OUTPUT`, `--output OUTPUT`	Output HTML file. Defaults to `outputs/graph.html`.
`--mode {dataflow,deps}`	Graph type. `dataflow` graphs the operations inside a single VI — for a `.lvlib`/`.lvclass`/directory input it graphs only the first VI encountered while loading, not the whole set. `deps` graphs VI-to-VI dependencies and works with any `input_path`, including a lone `.vi`.
`--open`	Open the generated file directly in your system's default browser via Python's `webbrowser` module after writing it — no server is started.
`--load-mode MODE`	How deep to load dependencies: `full` (default), `minimal`, or `none`. `--load-mode none` skips SubVI expansion.
SubVI resolution flags	`--search-path`, `--project-root`, `--vilib`, `--userlib`, `--no-auto-vilib` — see SubVI & vi.lib resolution.

Example #

lvkit visualize "Result Logger.lvclass" \
  --search-path samples/OpenG/extracted \
  --mode deps \
  -o outputs/result-logger-deps.html

--search-path samples/OpenG/extracted tells visualize where to find Result Logger.lvclass's own SubVI dependencies (see SubVI & vi.lib resolution). This writes an interactive dependency graph to outputs/result-logger-deps.html. Switch --mode dataflow to instead graph the operations within a single VI.

The output is a self-contained HTML file — open it in a browser directly, no server needed. Nodes are color-coded by kind and a legend is drawn in the corner: in deps mode, VI/library/class/typedef, plus a grey stub node for any dependency visualize couldn't resolve; in dataflow mode, SubVI call/ primitive operation/structure/constant. Clicking a node populates a properties panel with its details.

Unresolved SubVIs #

A SubVI or vi.lib call visualize can't resolve never fails the command — it's recorded as a stub instead. In deps mode the stub is drawn as a grey node with a "missing/stub" tooltip; in dataflow mode the call itself is still drawn, just not expanded further. This differs from generate, which fails the build on an unresolved primitive or vi.lib VI by default.