# See partition information in a vtkPartitionedDataSet
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [September 8, 2025, 4:06pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170 "2025-09-08T16:06:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Kenneth_Moreland)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 4:06pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170/1 "2025-09-08T16:06:32Z")
Is there a way to get information about the partitions in a `vtkPartitionedDataSet` object? For blocks that are in a `vtkPartitionedDataSetCollection`, I can see information about the blocks in the MultiBlock Inspector and other places. However, the ParaView GUI treats a `vtkPartitionedDataSet` as a single entity.
I understand why ParaView is doing this, except sometimes when debugging meshes I really need to inspect the partitions under the `vtkPartitionedDataSet`. Is there an easy way to do this?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170/2 "2025-09-08T16:08:01Z")
ConvertToMultiblock should do the trick.
---
### Author:  [@Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Kenneth_Moreland)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170/3 "2025-09-08T16:52:28Z")
Thanks for the suggestion, @mwestphal . Unfortunately, that is not working for me.
In my case, the `vtkPartitionedDataSet` is nestled in a `vtkPartitionedDataSetCollection`. The top level object is converted to a `vtkMultiBlockDataSet`, but the contained partitions are converted to a `vtkMultiPieceDataSet`. ParaView seems to be treating the `vtkMultiPieceDataSet` the same way it treats the `vtkPartitionedDataSet`.
---
### Author:  [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170/4 "2025-09-08T17:17:05Z")
Yeah, by intention ParaView hides `vtkPartitionedDataSet` and `vtkMultiPieceDataSet`, which as you point out, is a pain for debugging.
I was looking for a hack to use dataset id to select partitions from a partitioned dataset, but nothing I tried worked.
The best I can think of is to save the dataset out to the XML partitioned dataset format and load individual partitions from the output on disk.
---
### Author:  [@Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Kenneth_Moreland)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170/5 "2025-09-08T21:14:43Z")
I hacked away around this. You can use a `Programmable Filter` to pull out all the partitions to each have its own block. Here is the script that I used:
```python
input0 = inputs[0]
def convert_partitions(src: vtk.vtkPartitionedDataSetCollection,
dest: vtk.vtkPartitionedDataSetCollection):
# Count partitions
num_partitions = 0
for block_i in range(0, src.GetNumberOfPartitionedDataSets()):
block = src.GetPartitionedDataSet(block_i)
num_partitions += block.GetNumberOfPartitions()
print("Num partitions", num_partitions)
dest.SetNumberOfPartitionedDataSets(num_partitions)
# Convert partitions to blocks
partition_i = 0
for block_i in range(0, src.GetNumberOfPartitionedDataSets()):
block = src.GetPartitionedDataSet(block_i)
for block_part_i in range(0, block.GetNumberOfPartitions()):
partition = vtk.vtkPartitionedDataSet()
partition.SetNumberOfPartitions(1)
partition.SetPartition(1, block.GetPartition(block_part_i))
dest.SetPartitionedDataSet(partition_i, partition)
partition_i += 1
convert_partitions(input0.VTKObject, output.VTKObject)
```
To make this a bit easier, here is a python script that can be loaded as a plugin. It will create a filter named `Partitions To Blocks` that will do the same thing.
[partitions-to-blocks-plugin.py](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/qQo5USvmZ4cfWY7VU7Pggvfq9cb.py) (1.9 KB)
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 5:48am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170/6 "2025-09-09T05:48:02Z")
Ha right, my solution seems to work only with a partitioned dataset, not with a pdc.
TBF this could be added to ConvertToMB or ConvertToPDC very easily.
---
### Author:  [@Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Kenneth_Moreland)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 11:23am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170/7 "2025-09-09T11:23:43Z")
Is that a voluneer? 😉
That sounds like a good idea to me. But should the behavior of exposing partitions as blocks be the default or only behavior?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 11:24am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/see-partition-information-in-a-vtkpartitioneddataset/17170/8 "2025-09-09T11:24:42Z")
It definitely should not be the default imo.