LucidCpp

Header-only C++ data structure visualizer. Generate an HTML view for lists and trees without changing your structs.

Requirements

• C++11 or newer
• A web browser (opens automatically)

Getting started

1. Copy the folder include/vis into your project.
2. Include the header:

   #include "vis/Vis.hpp"

3. Build and run your program.

Build and run

This project uses CMake. Configure and build from the repo root:

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

Run the examples

After building, run the example binaries from the build folder:

./build/examples/basic_list
./build/examples/basic_tree

Each example writes an HTML file in the repo root and opens it in your default browser.

Tutorial: visualize a linked list

Define a node type, then call vis::writeListHTMLFile.

#include "vis/Vis.hpp"

struct Node {
   int data;
   Node* next;
};

int main() {
   Node c{3, nullptr};
   Node b{2, &c};
   Node a{1, &b};

   vis::writeListHTMLFile(&a, "list.html");
   return 0;
}

Output: an HTML file is created and opened in your browser.

Tutorial: visualize a tree

For trees (or graphs), pass lambdas that describe how to read node data and children.

#include "vis/Vis.hpp"
#include <vector>

struct TreeNode {
   std::string value;
   TreeNode* left;
   TreeNode* right;
};

int main() {
   TreeNode c{"C", nullptr, nullptr};
   TreeNode b{"B", nullptr, nullptr};
   TreeNode a{"A", &b, &c};

   auto getData = [](TreeNode* n) { return n->value; };
   auto getChildren = [](TreeNode* n) {
      std::vector<TreeNode*> kids;
      if (n->left) kids.push_back(n->left);
      if (n->right) kids.push_back(n->right);
      return kids;
   };

   vis::writeTreeHTMLFile(&a, "tree.html", getData, getChildren);
   return 0;
}

Examples

• Linked list example: examples/basic_list.cpp
• Tree example: examples/basic_tree.cpp