Commands inside comments

Question

Is it possible to use PlantUML commands inside of existing source code (SQL) in comments? (So SQL compiler will skip PlantUML commands because it's in comment block and PlantUML will use only it's own commands).

Example of code:

CREATE PROCEDURE test() BEGIN

 -- @startuml

  -- (*) --> "First activity"

SELECT * FROM table_1;

  -- (*) --> "second activity"

SELECT * FROM table_2;

-- --> (*)

-- @enduml

END;

 

Currently PlantUML shows this error:

SELECT * FROM table_1;

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Syntax Error?

 

Answer 1

Well, this is weird, we have never though about doing something like this, but here what you can do:

First, you have to choose between two syntaxes : the legacy http://plantuml.sourceforge.net/activity.html  and the new http://plantuml.sourceforge.net/activity2.html

If you choose the new activity syntax, you can do:

-- @startuml
-- start
-- :SELECT * FROM table_1;
-- :second activity;
-- :SELECT * FROM table_2;
-- end
-- @enduml

Note that an activity has to start with : and ends with ;
The : will be an issue for SQL command, but luckily, you can put an activity on two lines.
And remove the header -- for real SQL command, PlantUML will be OK with that:

-- @startuml
-- start
-- :
SELECT * FROM table_1;
-- :second activity;
-- :
SELECT * FROM table_2;
-- end
-- @enduml


For the legacy activity syntax, you have to use --> and quotes "


-- @startuml
-- (*) --> "First activity"
-- --> "SELECT * FROM table_1;"
-- (*) --> "second activity"
-- --> "SELECT * FROM table_2;"
-- --> (*)
-- @enduml

Which can be changed into:

-- @startuml
-- (*) --> "First activity"
-- --> "
SELECT * FROM table_1;
-- "
-- --> "second activity"
-- --> "
SELECT * FROM table_2;
-- "
-- --> (*)
-- @enduml

It's also working, but the new activity syntax is probably simplier.

Hope this helps!