ASCII Art
It is possible to generate link::sequence-diagram[Sequence Diagrams] using ASCII art.
@startuml participant Bob actor Alice Bob -> Alice : hello Alice -> Bob : Is it ok? @enduml
You have to use the -txt flag in the command line, or the format tag in the link::ant-task[Ant task] :
<target name="main"> <plantuml dir="./src" format="txt" /> </target>
Generated files use .atxt extension. ("a" as ASCII art : to NOT overide any existing .txt files!). Here is the result:
,-.
`-'
/|\
,---. |
|Bob| / \
`-+-' Alice
| hello |
|-------------->|
| |
| Is it ok? |
|<- - - - - - - |
,-+-. Alice
|Bob| ,-.
`---' `-'
/|\
|
/ \
You can control the maximum number of characters between participants by using skinparam maxAsciiMessageLength. This can be helpful if you need to limit the width of your ASCII Art.
For example:
@startuml skinparam maxAsciiMessageLength 8 participant Bob actor Alice Bob -> Alice : hello Alice -> Bob : Is it ok? @enduml
Will look like:
,-.
`-'
/|\
,---. |
|Bob| / \
`-+-' Alice
|hello |
|------>|
| |
Is it ok?
|<------|
,-+-. Alice
|Bob| ,-.
`---' `-'
/|\
|
/ \
Unicode
The default txt format uses only plain ASCII characters. It is possible to use few extended Unicode characters to have a slightly better result. You should use the -utxt flag in the command line, or the utxt format in the link::ant-task[Ant task].
┌─┐
║"│
└┬┘
┌┼┐
┌───┐ │
│Bob│ ┌┴┐
└─┬─┘ Alice
│ hello │
│──────────────>│
│ │
│ Is it ok? │
│<─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ │
┌─┴─┐ Alice
│Bob│ ┌─┐
└───┘ ║"│
└┬┘
┌┼┐
│
┌┴┐
They are two drawbacks of using utxt:
-
The result is UTF-8 encoded, and sometimes this is an issue (mail gateway, editors…)
-
The used font must have the used extended characters (like Courier, Courier New…)
Complex Diagram
You can even try complex example if you wish.
@startuml
'hide footbox
participant "Bob on\nseveral lines" as Bob
actor Alice
Bob -> Alice : hello
note right of Alice
this is a note
end note
Alice -> Bob : Is it ok\nwith a message that is\non several lines?
note right
This other note
should work
on several lines
end note
== This is a separation ==
Bob -> Last : Yes it works!
Last -> Last : working in progress
note left : this is\nanother note
Last --> Last : working in progress
Last --> Bob : done
opt dummy comment
Bob -> Last : Error\nOn\nSeveral\nLine
Last --> Bob : None
else
Last --> Bob : None
Last -> Bob : None
else other
Last -> Bob : None
note over Alice, Last
This is a long note
over Alice and Last
end note
Last -> Bob : None
Last -> Bob : None
end
@enduml
Result
,-.
`-'
,-------------. /|\
|Bob on | | ,----.
|several lines| / \ |Last|
`------+------' Alice `-+--'
| hello | |
|---------------------->| |
| | |
| | ,--------------!.
| | |this is a note|_\
| | `----------------'
|Is it ok | ,----------------!.
|with a message that is | |This other note |_\
|on several lines? | |should work |
|<----------------------| |on several lines |
| | `------------------'
| | |
| ======================== |
====================================== This is a separation =======================================
| ======================== |
| | |
| Yes it works! |
|-------------------------------------->|
| | |
| ,------------!. |----.
| |this is |_\| | working in progress
| |another note ||<---'
| `--------------'|
| | |- - .
| | | | working in progress
| | |< - '
| | |
| done | |
|<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| | |
______________________________________________________________________
! OPT / dummy comment | | !
!_____/ | | | !
! | | | !
! | Error | | !
! | On | | !
! | Several | | !
! | Line | | !
! |-------------------------------------->| !
! | | | !
! | None | | !
! |<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | !
!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!
! | | | !
! | None | | !
! |<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | !
! | | | !
! | None | | !
! |<--------------------------------------| !
!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!
! [other] | | | !
! | None | | !
! |<--------------------------------------| !
! | | | !
! | ,-------------------!. !
! | |This is a long note|_\ !
! | |over Alice and Last | !
! | `---------------------' !
! | None | | !
! |<--------------------------------------| !
! | | | !
! | None | | !
! |<--------------------------------------| !
!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!
,------+------. Alice ,-+--.
|Bob on | ,-. |Last|
|several lines| `-' `----'
`-------------' /|\
|
/ \
Same example using Unicode
┌─┐
║"│
└┬┘
┌─────────────┐ ┌┼┐
│Bob on │ │ ┌────┐
│several lines│ ┌┴┐ │Last│
└──────┬──────┘ Alice └─┬──┘
│ hello │ │
│──────────────────────>│ │
│ │ │
│ │ ╔═════════════╧══╗
│ │ ║this is a note ░║
│ │ ╚═════════════╤══╝
│Is it ok │ ╔═════════════╧════╗
│with a message that is │ ║This other note ░║
│on several lines? │ ║should work ║
│<──────────────────────│ ║on several lines ║
│ │ ╚═════════════╤════╝
│ │ │
│ ╔════════╧═════════════╗ │
══════════════════════╪══════════════╣ This is a separation ╠═╪════════════════════════════════════
│ ╚════════╤═════════════╝ │
│ │ │
│ Yes it works! │
│──────────────────────────────────────>│
│ │ │
│ ╔══════════════╗│────┐
│ ║this is ░║│ │ working in progress
│ ║another note ║│<───┘
│ ╚══════════════╝│
│ │ │─ ─ ┐
│ │ │ | working in progress
│ │ │< ─ ┘
│ │ │
│ done │ │
│<─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ │
│ │ │
╔══════╤═════════╪═══════════════════════╪═══════════════╪════════════╗
║ OPT │ dummy comment │ │ ║
╟──────┘ │ │ │ ║
║ │ │ │ ║
║ │ Error │ │ ║
║ │ On │ │ ║
║ │ Several │ │ ║
║ │ Line │ │ ║
║ │──────────────────────────────────────>│ ║
║ │ │ │ ║
║ │ None │ │ ║
║ │<─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ │ ║
╠════════════════╪═══════════════════════╪═══════════════╪════════════╣
║ │ │ │ ║
║ │ None │ │ ║
║ │<─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ │ ║
║ │ │ │ ║
║ │ None │ │ ║
║ │<──────────────────────────────────────│ ║
╠════════════════╪═══════════════════════╪═══════════════╪════════════╣
║ [other] │ │ │ ║
║ │ None │ │ ║
║ │<──────────────────────────────────────│ ║
║ │ │ │ ║
║ │ ╔══╧═══════════════╧══╗ ║
║ │ ║This is a long note ░║ ║
║ │ ║over Alice and Last ║ ║
║ │ ╚══╤═══════════════╤══╝ ║
║ │ None │ │ ║
║ │<──────────────────────────────────────│ ║
║ │ │ │ ║
║ │ None │ │ ║
║ │<──────────────────────────────────────│ ║
╚════════════════╪═══════════════════════╪═══════════════╪════════════╝
┌──────┴──────┐ Alice ┌─┴──┐
│Bob on │ ┌─┐ │Last│
│several lines│ ║"│ └────┘
└─────────────┘ └┬┘
┌┼┐
│
┌┴┐