Flowchart

Let the Markdown file support flow chart in your VuePress site

This plugin is using flowchart.js to support this feature.

Config

// .vuepress/config.ts
import { mdEnhance } from "vuepress-plugin-md-enhance";

export default {
  plugins: [
    mdEnhance({
      // Enable flowchart
      flowchart: true,
    }),
  ],
};

// .vuepress/config.js
const { mdEnhance } = require("vuepress-plugin-md-enhance");

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    mdEnhance({
      // Enable flowchart
      flowchart: true,
    }),
  ],
};

Syntax

<!-- ↓ :preset is optional -->

```flow:preset

<!-- Your flowchart code here. -->

```

Available presets for now:

• vue (default)
• ant
• pie

Demo

```flow
st=>start: Start|past:>http://www.google.com[blank]
e=>end: End|future:>http://www.google.com
op1=>operation: My Operation|past
op2=>operation: Stuff|current
sub1=>subroutine: My Subroutine|invalid
cond=>condition: Yes
or No?|approved:>http://www.google.com
c2=>condition: Good idea|rejected
io=>inputoutput: catch something...|future

st->op1(right)->cond
cond(yes, right)->c2
cond(no)->sub1(left)->op1
c2(yes)->io->e
c2(no)->op2->e
```

Flowchart Intro

Node Types

Defines the shape that the node will take.

Start & End

Used as the first node where flows start from. Default text is Start.

• [Variable]->start: [Text]

Used as the last node where a flow ends. Default text is End.

• [Variable]->end: [Text]

```flow
st=>start: Start
e=>end: End

st->e
```

Operation

Indicates that an operation needs to happen in the flow.

• [Variable]->operation: [Text]

```flow
process=>operation: Operation
e=>end: End

process->e
```

Input / Output

Indicates that IO happens in a flow.

• [Variable]->inputoutput: [Text]

```flow
process=>inputoutput: Inputoutput
e=>end: End

process->e
```

Subroutine

Indicates that a subroutine happens in the flow and that there should be another flowchart that documents this subroutine.

• [Variable]->subroutine: [Text]

```flow
process=>subroutine: Subroutine
e=>end: End

process->e
```

Condition

Allows for a conditional or logical statement to direct the flow into one of two or more paths.

• [Variable]->condition: [Text]

• [Variable]([yesText])->[Position]

• [Variable]([noText])->[Position]

```flow
cond=>condition: Process?
process=>operation: Process
e=>end: End

cond(yes)->process->e
cond(no)->e
```

Parallel

Allows for multiple flows to happen simultaneously.

• [Variable]->parallel: [Text]
• [Variable](path1, direction)->[Position]
• [Variable](path1, direction)->[Position]

```flow
para=>parallel: parallel tasks
process=>operation: Process
e=>end: End

para(path1, bottom)->process->e
para(path2)->e
```

Connections

Connections are defined in their own section below the node definitions.

The -> operator specifies a connection from one node to another like nodeVar1->nodeVar2->nodeVar3.

Not all nodes need to be specified in one string and can be separaged like so

nodeVar1->nodeVar2
nodeVar2->nodeVar3

Connection syntax is as follows:

<node variable name>[(<specificaion1>[, <specification2])]-><node variable name>[[(<specificaion1>[, <specification2])]-><node variable name>]

Items in [] are optional.

Directions

The following directions are available and define the direction the connection will leave the node from. If there are more than one specifiers, it is always the last. All nodes have a default direction making this an optional specification. <direction> will be used and one of the below list should be used in its place.

• left
• right
• top
• bottom

Node Specific Specifiers by Type

Each node variables has optional specifiers, like direction, and some have special specifiers depending on the node type that are defined below. Specifiers are added after the variable name in () and separated with , like nodeVar(spec1, spec2).

• startoperationinputoutputsubroutine

  Optional direction

  startVar(<direction>)->nextNode

  operationVar(<direction>)->nextNode

  inputoutputVar(<direction>)->nextNode

  subroutineVar(<direction>)->nextNode

• condition

  Required logical specification of yes or no

  Optional direction

  conditionalVar(yes, <direction>)->nextNode1
  conditionalVar(no, <direction>)->nextNode2
  

• parallel

  Required path specification of path1, path2, or path3

  Optional direction

  parallelVar(path1, <direction>)->nextNode1
  parallelVar(path2, <direction>)->nextNode2
  parallelVar(path3, <direction>)->nextNode3
  

Links

A external link can be added to a node with the :> operator.

The st node is linked with http://www.google.com and will open a new tab because [blank] is at the end of the URL.

The e node is linked with http://www.yahoo.com and will cause the page to navigate to that page instead of opening a new tab.

st=>start: Start:>http://www.google.com[blank]
e=>end: End:>http://www.yahoo.com

Advice

Symbols that should possibly not be used in the text: => and -> and :> and | and @> and :$

To emphasize a specific path in your flowchart, you can define it like this:

st@>op1({"stroke":"Red"})@>cond({"stroke":"Red","stroke-width":6,"arrow-end":"classic-wide-long"})@>c2({"stroke":"Red"})@>op2({"stroke":"Red"})@>e({"stroke":"Red"})