How to define a container with an alias without a name

Question

hi,

i would like to define a container ( rectangle, node...) with an alias for referencing it in a relationship but without a name.

Unfortunately, this is not working : 

rectangle  as r1 {

  rectangle child1

  rectangle child2

}

we must do 

rectangle " some name" as r1 

{

  rectangle child1

  rectangle child2

}

In that case, r1 is used for the relationships, and "some name" is the displayed name

Or 

rectangle  r1 

{

  rectangle child1

  rectangle child2

}

In that case, r1 is used for the relationships and is also the displayed name

Is it possible to wrap elements into a container with only an alias without a  displayed name?

thanks

Answer 1

Don't ask me why it works; and I'm not sure whether it will work on all Platforms.  But on my Windows 10, I can do this:

@startuml
rectangle "<U+0000>" as R1 {
  rectangle Child1
  rectangle Child2
}

rectangle "<U+000A>" as R2 {
  rectangle Child3
  rectangle Child4
}

rectangle "<U+000D>" as R3 {
  rectangle Child5
  rectangle Child6
}

R1 --> R2
Child4 --> Child5
@enduml

i.e. control characters 0,10, or 13 all create an empty title.

Comments

I will not ask you if it's portable or not, I just say thank you for sharing your solution ;-) !

I am on windows 10 either and your solution works for me.

Kasra

Answer 2

Hello K.,

A first workaround will be to use " ":

@startuml
rectangle " " as r1 {
  rectangle child1
  rectangle child2
}
@enduml

But with that, we observe an empty white line on the top of  rectangle!

If that can help,
Regards,
Th.

Comments

Thanks for the quick reply!

I actually found that solution but as you said there is an empty line on the top.

I do believe that is so far the best solution.

Should I suggest that as a wanted feature?

Thanks again.

Regards,

Kasra