Projector tab does not appear when tensorboard is launched with tensorboard.program

[hvcdrake]

Hello,

Running Tensorboard from command line

Launching Tensorboard from the command line works. When i click in the projector opction from the selector i get the hoped result.

Launching line:
tensorboard --logdir="other_logs" --host="127.0.0.1" --port="6010"

Running Tensorboard from python script

The issue comes when i run tensorboard from a python script. The projector option does not appear. Getting /#projector did not work neither. It's that launching tensorboard in different ways is leading to theese results.

I tested this with the imdb example from the documentation page (https://www.tensorflow.org/tensorboard/tensorboard_projector_plugin).

Also tested with a custom log directory. All log dirrectories are attached.

tb_launch_issue.zip

I know that it could seem trivial but we really need to launch tensorboard on demmand from a python program. Maybe am i doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance.

Python Script

from tensorboard import program
import os.path


ld=os.path.abspath("other_logs") # Try with imdb-example or other_logs 
h="127.0.0.1" # Localhost
p="6010" # Port

# Initating an launching tensorboard
tb = program.TensorBoard()
tb.configure(argv=[None, '--logdir', ld, '--host', h, '--port', p])
tb.main()

Enviroment

os: Windows 10
python: 3.6.9
tensorboard: 2.1.0
tensorflow: 2.1.0 // Also tested with tb-nightly

[wchargin]

Hi @hvcdrake! Thanks for the report. The projector plugin is loaded a
bit differently from most TensorBoard-bundled plugins, using a “dynamic
plugin” mechanism that finds the plugins to load at runtime. The catch
is that we currently only load dynamic plugins through tensorboard(1),
not through tensorboard.program; compare:

tensorboard/tensorboard/main.py

Line 65 in cdd02d7

default.get_plugins() + default.get_dynamic_plugins(),

tensorboard/tensorboard/program.py

Lines 144 to 147 in cdd02d7

	if plugins is None:
	from tensorboard import default
	plugins = default.get_plugins()

I’ll send out a patch for this; thanks!

[wchargin]

Also, pro tip—

tb.configure(argv=[None, '--logdir', ld, '--host', h, '--port', p])

—you can configure these with a nicer kwargs API:

ld = os.path.abspath(...)
h = "127.0.0.1"
p = 6010  # note: a real integer, not "6010"

tb.configure(logdir=ld, host=h, port=p)

Then, you don’t have to worry about escaping or flag syntax or anything.

[hvcdrake]

Hi @hvcdrake! Thanks for the report. The projector plugin is loaded a
bit differently from most TensorBoard-bundled plugins, using a “dynamic
plugin” mechanism that finds the plugins to load at runtime. The catch
is that we currently only load dynamic plugins through tensorboard(1),
not through tensorboard.program; compare:

tensorboard/tensorboard/main.py

Line 65 in cdd02d7

default.get_plugins() + default.get_dynamic_plugins(),

tensorboard/tensorboard/program.py

Lines 144 to 147 in cdd02d7

	if plugins is None:
	from tensorboard import default
	plugins = default.get_plugins()

I’ll send out a patch for this; thanks!

Got it! Thanks @wchargin

[hvcdrake]

Also, pro tip—

tb.configure(argv=[None, '--logdir', ld, '--host', h, '--port', p])

—you can configure these with a nicer kwargs API:

ld = os.path.abspath(...)
h = "127.0.0.1"
p = 6010  # note: a real integer, not "6010"

tb.configure(logdir=ld, host=h, port=p)

Then, you don’t have to worry about escaping or flag syntax or anything.

Cool! Thanks : )