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ASCII diagram creator (asciiflow.com)
269 points by whiskers on June 14, 2011 | hide | past | favorite | 39 comments



Perl has a module called 'Graph::Easy' which can create a diagram from a graph automatically, and can also do ASCII-output. See http://bloodgate.com/graph-demo for an interactive demo.

  [Sun] -- [Pear]
  [Apple] --> [Pear]
  [Pear] -- [fruit] --> [Pineapple]
  [Pear] --> [Cherry]
  [fruit] ==> [Done]
Renders to:

                +--------+
                | Cherry |
                +--------+
                  ^
                  |
                  |
  +-------+     +--------+     +-------+     +-----------+
  | Apple | --> |  Pear  | --- | fruit | --> | Pineapple |
  +-------+     +--------+     +-------+     +-----------+
                  |              H
                  |              H
                  |              v
                +--------+     +-------+
                |  Sun   |     | Done  |
                +--------+     +-------+


It's a pity that the GraphViz family of automatic graph drawing tools don't support ASCII:

  (user@air) /Users/user $ dot -Tascii

  Format: "ascii" not recognized. Use one of: bmp
  cgimage cmap cmapx cmapx_np dot eps exr fig
  gd gd2 gif gv imap imap_np ismap jp2 jpe jpeg
  jpg pct pdf pict plain plain-ext png ps ps2 psd
  sgi svg svgz tga tif tiff tk vml vmlz vrml wbmp
  x11 xdot xlib canon


There is a similar Java application also: http://ditaa.sourceforge.net/ But it works in a bit different way: converts such ASCII diagrams into bitmap graphics.


Some ideas for more features:

    ,----------------.
    | Round-cornered |
    |      boxes     |
    `----------------'

    -+
     |
     >- Stretchy braces
     |
    -+
Also, GUI control mockups:

    ( Buttons )

    [ Dropdown lists |v]

    [X] Checkboxes

    (o) Radio buttons

    Sliders: ---|---------- 

    +-------------^
    | Scroll bars #
    |             #
    |             |
    |             v
    <----######-->

    Spin-boxes: [ 37.0 |:]
...you get the idea.

Being able to select drawn items and move them around after the fact would also be great.


Also it would be nice if they supported IE.


When I saw this, it was down a vote or two. I thank you, kind sir / madam, for making me bust a gut.

Not because I think you're wrong. Just that it's tantamount to bringing a bucket of KFC to a vegan event.


I'm not quite sure I understand your analogy unless you mean to say that asciiflows core principles include not using IE.


I think they mean that HN's core principles include not using IE.


What about ASCIIO? It's great because it allows you to move and connect the blocks after you created them. It's great to document source code.

http://search.cpan.org/dist/App-Asciio/lib/App/Asciio.pm


Needless to say, Emacs can do it (M-x artist-mode)


Just what I was about to say http://www.cinsk.org/emacs/emacs-artist.html


Dammit, Emacs. http://xkcd.com/378/


But but but... what about python? http://xkcd.com/353/


Honestly? This is the first online wireframing tool that I've been able to use and instantly display what I want.

Great work!


Just needed this the other day and found this application: http://www.jave.de/ More features, but also feels more complex.

Screenshot: http://www.jave.de/screenshots/60rc2_screenshot.png


Reminds me of TheDraw from back in the day:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheDraw


I know this is a beta, but one suggestion: have an option to export the HTML wrapped in a div/span/pre/<something> which has a monospace font style, this would make it truly effortless to export the html and save it as-is.

Also I couldn't figure out how the arrow cursor worked or what one was supposed to do with it.

my remarks aside, very cool app!


Hints about the active tool appear at the bottom right; apparently the arrow tool is used for selecting a region so you can copy it to the clipboard.


I'm really enjoying this, the utter simplicity of it has a certain appeal. I would really like the ability to add columns / rows at the cursor position, though. Moving things around / feature heaven / hell would be fun, but that I think would be a net improvement without breaking the simplicity at all.


Cool! This is something I wanted to have and had started making for myself. Mine is much less useful than asciiflow but the thing I like most about it is that it allows writing and drawing more in the way I use my notebook. It's easy to write little blocks of text that aren't aligned along the left margin.

Feature request: In text mode, assign <enter> to move the cursor down a line and to the column that text entry began.

Here's my prototype: http://norstrulde.org/tty/tty.html


I like this. I like this a lot. This is perfect for someone who just needs to get a few thoughts together and can't be bothered with firing up Dia or something similarly bloated.


Yes, it's really nice and simple - great that you can just cut and paste the result into an e-mail too!


This is very cool. And you can quickly create mockups for roguelike levels.

                                     +-------+     +------------+                                   
            +---------------+        |       |     |     >      |     -4/124                        
            |               |        ||   <  | +---+%%%         |     15/15                         
            |   >   =       |        |       | |   |%     \     |                                   
            |               +--------+   %   | |   |     !!     |                                   
            |         %     |        |       | |   |            |      +----+                       
            |     %         |        |       | |   |            |      |%   |                       
            +---------------+        |  %%   +-+   +-----+------+      |    |                       
                                     |       |           |             |   >|                       
                                     |       |           |             |"   |                       
                                     |   %   |           |             +-+--+                       
                                     +----+--+           +---------+     |                          
                      +---------+         |                        |     |                          
                      |((       |         |    +------------+  +---+-----+--+                       
                      | ( O     |         |    |~~ P        |  |            |                       
                      |  @K  %  |         |    |~~~~     <  +--+      %   / |                       
                      |   %  Y  |         |    |~~~         |  +------------+                       
                      |   %   Y |         |    |            |                                       
                      |    c    Y---------+----+      ]     |   Slow Poisoned                       
                      |         |              |            +                                       
                      +---------+              |            |                                       
                                               |   <        |                                       
                                               +------------+          D:24                         
                You teleport.                                                                       
                The centaur shoots an arrow of flame. The arrow hits you.                           
                You die...                                                                          
                Xom says:"I guess I need a new plaything now."


Must you young'uns always try and reinvent the wheel?

Thedraw FTW: http://www.syaross.org/thedraw/

Now get off my LAN


>Must you young'uns always try and reinvent the wheel?

Yes. http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=spokeless+wheel

Thedraw? or, excuse me, THEDRAW? I haven't heard of that one before, and the page says next to nothing.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheDraw

TheDraw was used mostly in the BBS scene to create ASCII/ANSI art for the BBS's log in screen and menus. There was an entire sub-community of artists back then.

To be fair, the website is a diagram tool that outputs ASCII, while TheDraw more more like a ASCII/ANSI illustration tool.

I didn't find any galleries of ANSI art out there but this page has a few screenshots: http://icodeforfood.com/shockwave-bbs/


textfiles.com would have quite a lot of ascii art from back then. Memories :)


Looks like they're just honoring the age-old custom of adopting the idea to a new platform.


This would make a good nethack level editor!


I was thinking the same thing


If this was a standalone application it would replace my notepad usage for notetaking 100%...


http://www.jave.de/


Wow thanks for that, ideally I'd like one without all that extra stuff and just the diagrams from asciiflow.. but that's just being pedantic :)


Too clever. Can VIM do it too?


A quick google shows someone wrote a plugin called drawit.vim. Personally, I think this is one case where I'd rather use the mouse.


This is one of the best things I've seen all week. I hate traditional flowcharting tools, they're wonky and a pain when you have to convert them to anything else. ASCII is the portable data format basically.


Very nice website!

I tried to do the same with a 28x4 canvas with unicode for twitter, but client and host unicode rendering differences turn it into an unintelligible mess most of the time (www.draw140.com)


Oh wow, nice.

Just what I needed to make a directory tree example for a readme.txt


Awesome! Bookmarked for future usage.




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