Visually Debugging VIs with Execution Highlighting

Turn on execution highlighting to have LabVIEW play an animation of how the block diagram of a VI executes. Execution highlighting shows the movement of data between nodes on the block diagram by displaying bubbles that move along the wires.

You can use execution highlighting in conjunction with single-stepping to see how data moves from node to node through a VI.

Notice Execution highlighting greatly reduces the speed at which the VI runs.

To use execution highlighting, complete the following steps.

  1. Open the block diagram of any VI.
  2. Click the Highlight Execution button () on the toolbar of the block diagram window to enable execution highlighting.

    Starting with LabVIEW 2023 Q3, you can click and hold Highlight Execution to select a speed for execution highlighting. Medium speed matches the behavior of Execution Highlighting in previous versions of LabVIEW.

  3. Run the VI and view the block diagram as the VI runs.
    When execution highlighting is on, bubbles move along the wires to mark the movement of data between nodes. LabVIEW also displays the values at each terminal.
  4. Stop the VI.
  5. To disable execution highlighting, click the Highlight Execution button () again at any time.