Control the start and end of arrows

positioningtikz-pgf

I would like to fix the following plot:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning,calc}
\usepackage{pgfmath}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[
    reader/.style = {rectangle, draw, fill=#1, minimum width=4mm, minimum height=14mm}
    ]
    
    % \draw[help lines, gray!30] (-12,-7) grid (7,7);
    \pgfmathsetseed{13} % Set the seed for reproducibility

    % 
    \def\radius{2.6}
    \def\angleIncrement{360/5.6}

    % 
    \coordinate (center) at (0,0);
    \coordinate (R) at (-8.5,0);
    % 
    \node[reader=blue!30] (R1) at (R) {};
    \node[above] at (R1.north) {{Reader}};
    
    \draw[fill=none] (0,0) circle (\radius);
    

    \foreach \i/\label in {1/A, 2/B, 3/C, 4/D, 5/E} {
        \pgfmathsetmacro{\angle}{\angleIncrement * (\i + 1)}
        \coordinate (\label) at ($(center) + (\angle:\radius)$);
        \node[ rectangle,draw=black, fill=green!30, minimum width=2pt, minimum height=20pt, 
                    rotate={5 + 10*rand}, scale=0.75] at (\label) {\label};
    }

    \draw[-, , draw=red, line width=0.5mm] (B.north) -- (A.south);
    \draw[-, , draw=red, line width=0.5mm] (A.east) -- (E.west);
    \draw[latex-latex, , draw=blue, line width=0.5mm] (E.west) -- (D.east) node[pos=0.7, above left, ] {\large{$d_{DE}$}};
    \draw[-, , draw=red, line width=0.5mm] (D.east) -- (C.west);
    
    \draw[-latex, dashed, line width=0.2mm] (R1.east) -- (B.west) node[pos=0.6, above, ] {\large{$d_{2}$}};
    \draw[-latex, dashed, line width=0.2mm] (R1.east) -- (C.west) node[midway, above, ] (D3) {};
    \draw[-latex, dashed, line width=0.2mm] (R1.east) -- (A.west) node[pos=0.7, above, ] (D1) {\large{$d_{1}$}};
    
    \draw[-latex, dashed, line width=0.2mm] (R1.east) -- (E.west) node[midway, above, ] (D4) {\large{$d_{4}$}};
    \path[] (D1) -- (D3) node[pos=0.85, scale=1.3] {$\vdots$};
    
    
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

For example, dashed arrows d1, d2, d4 I would like to end at west of nodes A, B, and E.

Also, connecting lines A-B, A-E, C-D, and double arrow D-E.
All lines uses the center of the node to start/end. For example, B-A should go from B.north to A.south.

Best Answer

There's no need to define a coordinate;

\coordinate (\label) at ($(center) + (\angle:\radius)$);
\node[ rectangle,draw=black, fill=green!30, minimum width=2pt, 
 minimum height=20pt,rotate={5 + 10*rand}, scale=0.75] at (\label) {\label};

it's simpler to define node, as the arrows between nodes go from edge to edge and not to the center.

\node[ rectangle,draw=black, fill=green!30, minimum width=2pt, 
minimum height=20pt,rotate={5 + 10*rand}, scale=0.75]
at ($(center) + (\angle:\radius)$) (\label){\label};

By the way, Tikz coordinates are zero-dimensional nodes.

So to draw arrows between nodes, there's no need to specify whether they start from north, south, east or another anchor.

\draw[-, , draw=red, line width=0.5mm] (N2.north) -- (N1.south);

simply write :

\draw[-,draw=red, line width=0.5mm] (N2) -- (N1);

Complete code

\documentclass[border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning,calc}
\usepackage{pgfmath}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[
    reader/.style = {rectangle, draw, fill=#1, minimum width=4mm, minimum height=14mm}
    ]
    
    % \draw[help lines, gray!30] (-12,-7) grid (7,7);
    \pgfmathsetseed{13} % Set the seed for reproducibility

    % 
    \def\radius{2.6}
    \def\angleIncrement{360/5.6}

    % 
    \coordinate (center) at (0,0);
    \coordinate (R) at (-8.5,0);
    % 
    \node[reader=blue!30] (R1) at (R) {};
    \node[above] at (R1.north) {{Reader}};
    
    \draw[fill=none] (0,0) circle (\radius);
    

    \foreach \i/\label in {1/A, 2/B, 3/C, 4/D, 5/E} {
        \pgfmathsetmacro{\angle}{\angleIncrement * (\i + 1)}
       \node[ rectangle,draw=black, fill=green!30, minimum width=2pt, minimum height=20pt, 
                    rotate={5 + 10*rand}, scale=0.75] at ($(center) + (\angle:\radius)$) (\label){\label};
    }

    \draw[-, , draw=red, line width=0.5mm] (B) -- (A);
    \draw[-, , draw=red, line width=0.5mm] (A) -- (E);
    \draw[latex-latex, , draw=blue, line width=0.5mm] (E) -- (D) node[pos=0.7, above left, ] {\large{$d_{DE}$}};
    \draw[-, , draw=red, line width=0.5mm] (D) -- (C);
    
    \draw[-latex, dashed, line width=0.2mm] (R1) -- (B) node[pos=0.6, above, ] {\large{$d_{2}$}};
    \draw[-latex, dashed, line width=0.2mm] (R1) -- (C) node[midway, above, ] (D3) {};
    \draw[-latex, dashed, line width=0.2mm] (R1) -- (A) node[pos=0.7, above, ] (D1) {\large{$d_{1}$}};
    
    \draw[-latex, dashed, line width=0.2mm] (R1) -- (E) node[midway, above, ] (D4) {\large{$d_{4}$}};
    \path[] (D1) -- (D3) node[pos=0.85, scale=1.3] {$\vdots$};
    

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to define the default vertical distance between nodes

I don't really get the question so I hope this is what you wanted. If you include a full document (such that we copy paste and see the problem on our systems) things are much more easier.

Here, you can change the default setting within a scope but your block style had a node distance which was resetting every time it is issued. I've made it 2mm such that we can see the difference easier.

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows,shapes.geometric,positioning}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[decision/.style={diamond, draw, text width=4.5em, text badly centered, node distance=3.5cm, inner sep=0pt},
                    block/.style   ={rectangle, draw, text width=6em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em, minimum height=2em},
                    cloud/.style   ={draw, ellipse, minimum height=2em},
                    line/.style    ={draw,-latex'},
                    node distance = 1cm, 
                    auto]
    \node [block] (1st) {1st};
    \node [block, right= of 1st]  (2nd1) {2nd1};
\begin{scope}[node distance=2mm and 10mm]%Here we change it for everything inside this scope
    \node [block, above= of 2nd1] (2nd2) {2nd2};
    \node [block, below= of 2nd1] (2nd3) {2nd3};
    \node [block, right= of 2nd1] (3rd1) {3rd1};
    \node [block, above= of 3rd1] (3rd2) {3rd2};
    \node [block, above= of 3rd2] (3rd3) {3rd3};
\end{scope}
    \node [block, below= of 3rd1] (3rd4) {3rd4};
    \node [block, below= of 3rd4] (3rd5) {3rd5};

    \path [line] (1st) -- (2nd1);
    \path [line] (2nd1) -- (2nd2);
    \path [line] (2nd1) -- (2nd3);
    \path [line] (2nd2) -- (3rd3);
    \path [line] (2nd1) -- (3rd1);
    \path [line] (1st) -- (2nd1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Adjusting edge alignment and positioning of fitted node

This is done by setting the width of the first node, and then fitting the other two nodes to the previous nodes, using the fit library.
Same as #1.
Solved with #1.
This depends on what you want to do. If you only want two short nodes inside of the yellow, you can add two more nodes anchored there. But it depends on what you want to do

Output

Code

\documentclass[margin=10pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning,fit}

\tikzset{
    every node/.style={draw, rectangle, align=center, text width=3cm, inner sep=0, thick, outer sep=0}
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=5mm]
\node[fill=green!40, minimum height=2cm, minimum width=5cm, text width=3cm] (one) {This is\\block top left};
\node[fill=red!40,  fit={(one.west) (one.east)}, minimum height=1cm, anchor=north west, below =of one] (two) {block bottom left};
\node[fill=yellow, fit={(one)(two)},right =of two.south east, anchor=south west] (three) {This is\\block right};

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}