How to increase spacing between arrows

Question

Hello All,

I creating a deployment diagram. As there are many connections, the arrows are very cluttered. Is there any ways to increasing the spacing between the arrows ? Please see the below image .

https://imgur.com/a/9eQoRXL

Answer 1

Hello J.,

Here are some tests...

Compare:

Code	Ourput
@startuml skinparam linetype ortho node Test1 node Test3 frame f { component C { node 3V } node Test2 } 2V - 3V Test1 --> Test2 Test1 --> Test2 Test1 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 @enduml
@startuml skinparam linetype ortho node Test1 node Test3 frame f { component C { node 3V } node Test2 } '2V - 3V Test1 --> Test2 Test1 --> Test2 Test1 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 @enduml

Then if you want ortho-line, perhaps use the elk layout, as:

@startuml !pragma layout elk node Test1 node Test3 frame f { component C { node 3V } node Test2 } 2V -- 3V Test1 --> Test2 Test1 --> Test2 Test1 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 Test3 --> Test2 @enduml

See doc. here:

• https://plantuml.com/elk

If that can help,
Regards.

Comments

The elk layout here looks very nice and orderly. I took a stab at trying out the ELK layout engine with the instructions here, but since I install PlantUML with Homebrew, it seems that I can't really get it to work properly. Any word on if ELK will become part of plantuml.jar anytime soon? :)

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One workaround for the arrows into Test2 would be to make the Test2 box taller using carriage returns, like this:

node "\n\nTest2\n\n" as Test2

I've got no similar idea for helping the arrows exiting Test1.