[chbot] State machine drawing tool

[Stephen Irons]

I use PlantUML to visualise state diagrams. It takes Graphviz-like markup,
and uses Graphviz as the backend to lay out this states. I prefer it over
raw Graphviz:

   - It draws the states (nodes) in the UML-style with rounded rectangles
   rather than rectangles or ellipses.
   - It has an Eclipse plugin. If you put PlantUML markup in comments in
   your code (between @startuml and @enduml markers), Eclipse generates the
   picture automatically. I think Doxygen can also process PlantUML markup.

You can take some control of the layout by using '->' or '-->' to indicate
the transition: I think that '-->' suggests a vertical transition, whereas
'->' prefers horizontal. I always use '-->' and just accept what it gives.

I have also used UMLet (Java, runs standalone under Linux or as an Eclipse
plugin). It is a pretty basic tool, and I prefer the Graphvis-style markup.

If you can accept a web-based visual drawing tool running in your browser,
draw.io the the best drawing package for sticks-and-boxes drawings that I
have come across, except Visio. I prefer it over Dia and Inkscape for this
type of picture. Draw.io stores your data in your cloudy storage (Dropbox,
Drive, etc), or on your local device. Alternatively, you can run the
Draw.io server as a plugin on your own OwnCloud server, so you are not
dependent on them continuing to give free access.

Stephen

On 9 May 2016 at 14:01, Richard Jones <richard.jones.1952 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Graphvis is the tool I used for visualising state machines. You can give
> it layout hints, but eventually I learned to just accept its output, I'll
> see if I can track down some example scripts.
> Richard
> On 9 May 2016 13:08, "Charles Manning" <cdhmanning at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Fine People...
>>
>> Somw while ago someone ??Richard??? showed off a state machine drawn
>> using some Linux state machine drawing tool.
>>
>> Anyone remember what it was? Alternatively anyone got some suggestions?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Charles
>>
>>
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