Is there any ability to auto update the Node-Red editor to the tab currently executing nodes? In other words - if I have lengthy flow which spans multiple tabs and may take a couple of minutes to complete - is it possible for the Node-Red flow editor to navigate to the currently active node tab? If Tab1 contains the initial nodes of the flow and then the flow transitions to Tab2 via link nodes - desire would be that the flow editor transitions visually from Tab1 to Tab2 as the flow of execution does. The only intel I can find on auto tab navigation is within dashboards - no dashboard in use here - and the ui-control node which to my understanding is only applicable to dashboards.
If I have 50 tabs, processing is done in parallel, how would your request work ?
They are all "active" and processing is (or should be) done within milliseconds/seconds (depending on your flow). If it takes "minutes" you may be blocking other flows.
If there was a node to trigger a tab change then this could theoretically be possible. But as far as I know, this would require both server side and client side implementations. The editor code would need to listen for tab change events sent from the server (tab chance node).
I doubt there would be enough users for such a feature to make it reasonable to support. I assume also the idea of the editor is mainly to be an editor and not a monitoring tool.
If there was a node to trigger a tab change then this could theoretically be possible.
But it still would not make sense.
As an alternative you could create a single ui-template node and connect all nodes to it (via a link node), it would display in sequence the payload of the "current active" node, add the node name to the payload and you know where it is.
Completely agree. Theoretically it could allow you to "follow" the path of execution and check node statuses but in practise it would not update fast enough. But most importantly it could cause a situation of the editor jumping to a different tab before being able to remove the tab switch...
The best workaround to achieve something like this would be to add named debug nodes along the flow execution. This way you could see execution progressing from the debug side bar. Clicking the debug node name from the sidebar should take you to the tab where the debug node is.
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Thanks for the response bakman. Perhaps I should have explained the use case in original post but initially I did not think it was necessary as I was only trying to determine if it was possible. But let me expand.
Agreed that if the flow was a linear execution - the process would/should complete in milliseconds/second and likely tabs could not switch in time fast enough and/or would only be on tabs long enough that it would be of no use.
The use case I am interested in is not such a linear flow from beginning to end. Instead I am creating a Node Red flow for a group of executives who would be able to initiate a conversation with several types of input points including chatbots and Alexa. The executives would have their own Node Red flow on their workstation. When the user enters a phrase into the chatbot (I.e.) I was hoping to then bring the user to specific tabs or sub-flows. Picture a sub flow to be "Finance Operations." Another sub flow "Account Maintenance." Off of each sub flow would be several operations the executive could initiate via Node Red - possibly thru clicking on an inject node or some other means. So when the executive enters Finance Operations into the chatbot - I was hoping that I could bring the user automatically/immediately to the relevant sub-flow/tab that has such operations.
Does this use case make sense and any idea if this is achievable? I do not believe it is possible based on prior research I have done but attempting to ensure definitively.
Thanks for the response ristomatti. And agree - if the functionality I am looking for (expanded on more in response to bakman) - the debugs and clicking on the node in the side panel is likely the best, closest path for what I am trying to accomplish.
Why would you expose the backend to executives? How happy do you think they will be seeing lots of nodes and wires? Why not build a dashboard with multiple tabs instead? You could cause pressing a button (or selecting an item from a dropdown) to swap to a different tab in the dashboard.
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Yes - the two main alternatives are mentioned above. Either use the debug sidebar to follow what is happening... (not really exec friendly imho) - or use a dashboard to actually expose what you want when you want. The editor is not a dashboard 
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