PlantUML Q&A - Recent questions in Won't implement

how to drow the collaboration diagram

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:51:10 +0000

concurrency flow in activity diagram

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 03:49:15 +0000

I want to create two concurrent flows in an activity diagram, but these two flows do not need to be synchronized. The scenario can be something like this, a go routine (let's call it MAIN) starts a new go routine to do a separate service, and then the MAIN go routine continues, no synchronization between them at all. how to do that? AFAIK, according to UML activity specification, a join node do synchronization intrinsically, while a merge node is related to several alternative flows before. There seems to be no proper design for the above scenario, neither does plantUML. Thanks!

State Diagram: Change the shape of states

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 04:10:22 +0000

I actually want to change shape the default state of the state diagram, which is by default a small circle. I want to create a state (or box) with name start. I am trying it, but I am not able to getting a state with shape circle.

Can someone help me with the same? How can I change the shape in the state digram?

Vertical fork

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 07:47:15 +0000

Hello everyone,

Could anyone help me with writing vertical fork and join for activity diagram?

It would be great if you write a script by taking a simple example (Please with legacy ACTIVITY DIAGRAM)

how to programmatically generate diagram?

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 19:41:46 +0000

Hello
Can I connect the plantuml library to my project, get data from the database and make a diagram only programmatically?

Allow line breaks before { and inside !define parameters

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 08:21:17 +0000

This code causes syntax error because the { is on another line:

class Foo
{
    #BAR
}

This code also causes error because the parameters continue in another line:

!definelong USEFUL(Foo,   Bar,
                   House, Cat)
    SOMETHINGUSEFULL...
!enddefinelong

USEFUL(Foo,   Bar,
       House, Cat)

Does sequence diagram support grouping messages from specified participant(s)?

Mon, 05 Jun 2017 15:46:55 +0000

The "group" keyword in the sequence diagram currently group messages from all participant in between the group definition and the "end group" statement.

My question is: is there a way that I can only create a group, which group messages from one or more participants? Like what note does..

for example:

@startuml
participant A
participant B
participant C
group over A, B : This ideally only group messages from/to A and B
A ->> B : Message 1
B ->> C : Message 2
C ->> A : Message 3
A ->> C : Message 4
end group
@enduml

Thanks a lot guys.

How can we "force" the location of the arrow start in activity diagram

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 07:47:03 +0000

Hello,

Using the typical code :

If (action1) then (true)

     : do A;

Else (false)

     :Do B|

      stop

endif

Depending of (what ? Random ?), on graphical representation, the arrow to "do A" and the other to "do B", in other word true or false, will start from the right, the left, or the bottom of the "IF" hexagonal shape.

Is there a way to force right, left, bottom for each arrow ?

Thanks in advance

Philippe

Please provide node shadows in DOT diagrams

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:47:50 +0000

I have a document with a mix of diagrams. I have some activity diagrams, and I also drew an Org Chart using DOT notation, and the look is inconsistent between the two.

Can you please provide node shadows in DOT diagrams?

Can I reverse engineer classes in python code and automatically create a class diagram?

Wed, 25 Nov 2015 19:00:22 +0000

I already have classes in python code. I want to automatically create a class diagram by reverse engineering the python code. Can I do this with Plantuml?

Can PlantUML output dot files?

Mon, 15 Jun 2015 11:26:00 +0000

One of the output formats that dot supports is a dot file with annotated locations. Is that output format available in PlantUML?

Is there a way or a tool that can convert Visio graphs or SVG images to PlantUML?

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:19:37 +0000

I have plenty of visio UML graphs and I want to port them into PlantUML is there a way to do so automatically?

Is there a tool that can convert SVG into PlantUML syntax?

Thanks

Does a grammar exist for the language?

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 20:29:20 +0000

For to develop integration into IntelliJ it would be very helpful to have a grammar. Best would be a BNF grammar. Does a grammar exist for the PlantUML language? I know there is the language reference document. But to infer the grammar out of this document seems to me very extensive.

Sorting based on visibilty

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 05:42:55 +0000

Is there an option to sort the class methods and properties (in a class diagram) by their visibility? Public with public, private with private etc.