Is there a tool that can describe a block diagram?

[alexusasd]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this forum so i am sorry if this is the incorrect place to ask such a question.

Title says it all pretty much.

Is there an external or Labview-included tool that can receive and describe in simple terms what is going on in a block diagram?e.g. what VIs are used, the connections, loops etc.

Thank you very much

[crossrulz]

You could have a look at AntiDoc.  I haven't messed with it yet, so I'm not sure if it will meet your requirements or not.

Otherwise, my recommendation is to add comments into your code to make it more obvious what a diagram is doing.

[PalanivelThiruvenkadam]

VI Documentation and #Comments in the Block diagram will be better option without complicating.

[altenbach]

You already got a good answer.

Who is the target audience for this "description"? An expert LabVIEW programmer or a layperson that does not know LabVIEW at all?

A LabVIEW diagram is the graphical source code containing the logic based on dataflow principles. A well written program would be very easy to read directly. OTOH, screenfuls of disorganized spaghetti code is not even worth analyzing. If all controls/indicators (and cluster elements, etc.) are well named, things are mostly self explanatory. As soon as there are terminals without labels or with default labels (Numeric, Numeric 1, Boolean 2), things get murky.

Can you explain what you mean by "in simple terms"? The diagram already shows what VIs, primitives, and structures are used and how they connect and depend on each other. Any "description" would probably be much more complicated than the diagram itself. If express VIs are used, there are also hidden configurations. A stack of N structures is very different than N parallel structures, so just counting the number of various structures would be lossy.

You can see all used VI in the VI hierarchy,

Can we assume that the code is perfect? Otherwise, the VI analyzer can point out problems in the code.

Do you just want a table with all subVIs and structures used, or a verbal description such as: "This is a state machine that regulates pressure based on time, user control, and measured conditions, and logs states to a database" or "This is disorganized code that will never work unless rewritten by a skilled LabVIEW programmer". 😄

[raphschru]

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@altenbach wrote:

Who is the target audience for this "description"? An expert LabVIEW programmer or a layperson that does not know LabVIEW at all?

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Some scenarios that comes to my mind for wanting a textual description of the structure of a VI:

 - Generating lazy VI documentation.

 - When you don't have access to the diagram for some reason and want to replicate it.

 - For a blind person.

 - When training a language-based AI that can tell you how to create a new VI based on a list of requirements.