A system and method for implementing a debugging graphical program in a main graphical program. A user can associate a debugging graphical program with a wire in a data flow diagram in order to debug and/or analyze the main graphical program. This association does not change or require recompilation of the main graphical program. The debugging graphical program, or smart probe, receives the data from the main graphical program, analyzes this data, and can perform one of several actions. The debugging graphical program can display the data in the wire, generate statistics based on received data, log statistics or data to a file, or perform other analysis functions. The debugging graphical program can also cause the main graphical program into halting execution, entering single stepping mode, etc. The user may choose a debugging graphical program already present, or create one using graphical programming techniques.