Flowchart

Important

This is an alpha. Soon, some macra names are going to change to reflect official box names more closely. Stay tuned!

Flowchart is a set of m4 macra made for Graphviz .dot files facilitating working, well, with flowcharts. It allows to:

• use pre-defined custom flowchart shapes (e.g. ISO 1028),
• define nodes inline,
• define flexible record-like structures using provided functionalities,
• embed flowcharts in your .dot files using Graph and Process macra.

Required software

1. Graphviz is an open source graph visualization software allowing you to compile graphs from a files in .dot format.
2. m4 macro processor is a GNU preprocessor for editing text files.

You can install the software using official projects' pages or your package manager (APT, Homebrew/Macports etc).

Examples

Refer to compiled examples in the example folder:

Basic shapes:

include(shapes.m4)
digraph {
    /* node definitions */
    input Input("Creating graph")
    colleague Input("Colleague\nopinion")
    design Manual("Designing graph\nin Graphviz")
    ask Preparation("Waiting for colleague\nsuggestion")
    compile Action("Compiling graph")
    graph_result Data("Graph")
    is_good Decision("Is graph good?")
    save Action("Save graph")
    output Output("Graph is done!")
    /* database-related nodes definitions */
    Database(Storage) // note no quotation marks!
    stored_data Data("Graph", Storage)
    /* graph definition */
    input -> design -> ask -> compile -> graph_result -> is_good -> save -> output
    colleague -> ask
    subgraph store { rank=same save -> Storage -> stored_data }
    is_good:e -> ask:e [xlabel="no"]
}

Use custom attributes with predefined macra:

include(shapes.m4)
digraph {
    default_action Action("Default Action")
    custom_action Action("Custom Action") [color=red, style=rounded]
    default_action -> custom_action -> default_action
}

Inline node definition:

include(shapes.m4)
digraph {
    _Input("Input") -> _Manual("Unimportant\nwork") -> _Action("Quick\nAction") -> _Output("Output")
}