NAME
P5-App-Asciio — Plain ASCII diagram
SYNOPSIS
INFO
DESCRIPTION
Plain ASCII diagram
README
On-line comprehensive documentation
GUI
TUI
SYNOPSIS
___ / | __________________ / /| | / ___/ ___/ / / __ \ / ___ |(__ ) /__/ / / /_/ / /_/ |_/____/\___/_/_/\____/$> asciio [file.asciio] # GUI application using Gtk3
$> tasciio [file.asciio] # TUI application
$> asciio_to_text file.asciio # converts asciio files to ASCII
$> text_to_asciio ... # makes an asciio file from text
DESCRIPTION
Asciio allows you to draw ASCII (or Unicode) diagrams in a Gtk3 GUI or TUI. The diagrams can be saved as ASCII text or in a format that allows you to modify them later.
Asciio is especially useful if you want diagrams under version control with the rest of your code and prefer keyboard editing over mouse-heavy drawing tools.
Both GUI and TUI have vim-like bindings (shortcuts), bindings can be customized.
Diagrams consist of boxes and text elements connected by arrows. Boxes stay connected when moved around.
Asciio works well for software architecture sketches, network layouts, or any diagrams that must remain readable in monospaced text environments like terminals or code comments.
Asciio can also be scripted if you want to generate your diagrams.
DOCUMENTATION
Full documentation, including installation and OCI image, are found at Online Documentation
Asciio in 10 points
- Asciio is an open-source app for creating ASCII diagrams with a GUI.
- You can design flowcharts, and diagrams to place in your code
- It generates plain text output for easy embedding.
- It replaces manual text alignment with drag-and-drop editing.
- A grid canvas keeps elements aligned to character boundaries.
- It offers built-in shapes like boxes, ellipses, and arrows.
- It supports undo/redo, grouping, and multi-selection.
- Connected lines auto-adjust when shapes are moved.
- You can create custom stencils and shape libraries.
- It manages ASCII line crossings automatically in cross mode.
- Text can be inserted and edited directly inside shapes.
Interface
.-------------------------------------------------------------.
| ........................................................... |
| ........................................................... |
| ........................................................... |
| ..........-------------..------------..--------------...... |
| .........| stencils > || asciio > || box |..... |
| .........| Rulers > || computer > || text |..... |
| .........| File > || people > || wirl_arrow |..... |
grid----->......'-------------'| divers > || axis |..... |
| ..................^.....'------------'| ... |..... |
| ..................|...................'--------------'..... |
| ........................................................... |
| ........................................................... |
| ..................|........................................ |
'-------------------|-----------------------------------------'
|
context menu access some commands
but most are accessed through the keyboard
Exporting to ASCII
You can export to a file in ASCII by using a '.txt' file extension.
You can also export the selection, in ASCII, to the Primary clipboard:
Binding: «y» «Y»
Elements
boxes and text
.----------.
| title |
.----------. |----------| ************
| | | body 1 | * *
'----------' | body 2 | ************
'----------'
any text
(\_/) |
text (O.o) <------'
(> <)
if-box and process-box
.--------------.
/ a == b \ __________
( && ) \ \
\ 'string' ne '' / ) process )
'--------------' /_________/
rhombus and ellipse
,', _..---.._
,' ', .'' ''.
,' ', / \
: edit me : | edit me |
', ,' \ /
', ,' '.. ..'
',' '--...--'
user boxes and exec-boxes
For simple elements, put your design in a box, with or without a frame.
The "exec-box" element lets you put the output of an external application in a box, in the example below the table is generated, if you already have text in a file you can use 'cat your_file' as the command.
+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| input_size ‖ algorithmA | algorithmB | algorithmC |
+============+============+============+============+
| 1 ‖ 206.4 sec. | 206.4 sec. | 0.02 sec. |
+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| 250 ‖ - | 80 min. | 2.27 sec. |
+------------+------------+------------+------------+
wirl-arrow
Rotating the end clockwise or counter-clockwise changes its direction.
^ ^
| -----. \
| | \
'---- | '-------
------> |
v
multi section wirl-arrow
A set of whirl arrows connected to each other.
.----------. .
| | \ / \
.-------' ^ \ / \
| .-----------> \ ' .
| '----. \ /
| | \ /
'--------' '------'
angled-arrow and axis
-------. .-------
\ /
\ / ^
| ^
/ \ | /
/ \ | /
------' '------- -------->
Examples
.---. .---. .---. .---. .---. .---. OS API '---' '---' '---' '---' '---' '---' | | | | | | v v | v | v .------------. | .-----------. | .-----. | Filesystem | | | Scheduler | | | MMU | '------------' | '-----------' | '-----' | | | | v | | v .----. | | .---------. | IO |<----' | | Network | '----' | '---------' | | | v v v .---------------------------------------. | HAL | '---------------------------------------'.-Base::Class::Derived_B /Something::Else / \ .----Base::Class::Derived_C \ / '----Base::Class '
/ '----Latest::Greatest Some::Thing--'
| ___ | |||| load | ooo |--.------------------.------------------------. '__' | | | v v v .----------. .--------------------------. .----------------. | module C | | module A | | module B | '----------' |--------------------------| | (instrumented) | | | .-----. | '----------------' '---------------->| A.o | | | | '-----' | | | .------------------. | | | | A.instrumented.o |<-------------' | '------------------' | '--------------------------'
Unicode example
Export to SVG example
The "goat" project (https://github.com/blampe/goat) must be installed.
Asciio and Vim
You can call Asciio from vim and insert your diagram.
map <leader><leader>a :call TAsciio()<cr>function! TAsciio() let line = getline('.') let tempn = tempname() let tempnt = tempn . '.txt' let temp = shellescape(tempn) let tempt = shellescape(tempnt) exec "normal i Asciio_file:" . tempn . "\<Esc>" if ! has("gui_running") exec "silent !mkdir -p $(dirname " . temp . ")" exec "silent !cp ~/.config/Asciio/templates/empty.asciio ". temp . "; tasciio " . temp . "; asciio_to_text " . temp . " >" . tempt exec "read " . tempnt endif redraw! endfunction
OTHER PROJECTS
SVG conversion: goat
Tree generation: ascii_tree
ASCII Math and other: Diagon
Send me links to your favorites tools (only command line, no libs) and I'll add them if they integrate will in Asciio.
INSTALL
local build on debian based distribution
The OCI directory contains a build file Containerfile, you can use the same commands to install locally.
Container image
Read the Installation guide for more information.
AUTHORS
Khemir Nadim ibn Hamouda https://github.com/nkh CPAN ID: NKH
Qin Qing northisland2017@gmail.com