Graphviz Preview

An extension for Visual Studio Code to preview Graphviz (DOT) files.

Installation

You can install this extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace.

This extension requires Graphviz to be installed. Also, make sure that the extension can find the dot executable provided by Graphviz. Either make sure the directory containing the dot executable exists in the PATH or Path environment variable, or specify the path of the dot executable with graphvizPreview.dotPath configuration.

Usage

Open preview

Open the Command Palette (usually by pressing Ctrl + Shift + P), then select “Graphviz: Open Preview to the Side”.

Manipulate preview

There are three scale modes: Fixed, Fit and Auto Fit.

• Fixed: The scale ratio does not change when the source changes or the window size changes.
• Fit: The graph is scaled to align to the border of the visible view area.
• Auto Fit: When the view area is big enough to contain a 100% sized graph, the graph will be set a scale ratio of 100%, otherwise the graph is scaled to fit into the view area.

Export graph

To export the generated graph, click the “Export” button on the top right corner.

Configuration

Make sure the extension can find the dot program. You can set graphvizPreview.dotPath option to the path of the dot executable, or make sure the directory containing the dot program is in your PATH environment variable.

To set the graphvizPreview.dotPath option, go to File → Preference → Settings.

Known issues

• After saving an untitled file, the preview becomes invalid.
• When the scale ratio is too large, the graph may be at a wrong position.
• Exporting only works for documents that contains a single graph.

FAQ

• Q: How do I change the layout engine?
• A: Set graphvizPreview.dotExtraArgs configuration to ["-Glayout=<ENGINE>"], where <ENGINE> is the desired layout engine.