[Tex/LaTex] TikZ arrow drawing and node positions

tikz-arrowstikz-pgf

I just started using TikZ, I want to draw exactly like this picture,

I tried, and this is what I get, which is not exactly what I want, how can I achieve the wanted result?
Thanks

My MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
            \tikzstyle{block} = [draw,text centered, minimum height=2.8em,minimum width=12em]
        \tikzstyle{block1} = [text centered, minimum height=2.8em,minimum width=12em]   
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \node [block] at (0,0) (1) {\textbf{Abstract Specification ($R_{0}$)}};
    \node [block] at (1.7,-2) (2) {\textbf{Refined Specification($R_{1}$)}};
    \node [block1] at (3.5,-3.8) (3) {.........};
    \node [block] at (6,-6) (4) {\textbf{Refined Specification ($R_{N}$)}};
    \node [block] at (7.5,-8) (5) {\textbf{Executable Program}};
        % arroows
 \draw [-latex,thick] (1.south) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (2.north) ;
 \draw [-latex,thick] (2.south) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (3.north) ;
  \draw [-latex,thick] (3.south) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (4.north) ;
  \draw [-latex,thick] (4.south) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (5.north) ;
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Best Answer

A first fix is to get rid of .north and .south, so that the arrows will point to the center. (tikz is clever enough to don't "show" the arrow that connects the paths inside them)

But to have really parallel arrows you need to fix the coordinates to exact steps:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
            \tikzstyle{block} = [draw,text centered, minimum height=2.8em,minimum width=12em]
        \tikzstyle{block1} = [text centered, minimum height=2.8em,minimum width=12em]   
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \node [block] at (0,0) (1) {\textbf{Abstract Specification ($R_{0}$)}};
    \node [block] at (1.7,-2) (2) {\textbf{Refined Specification($R_{1}$)}};
    \node [block1] at (3.4,-4) (3) {.........};
    \node [block] at (5.1,-6) (4) {\textbf{Refined Specification ($R_{N}$)}};
    \node [block] at (6.8,-8) (5) {\textbf{Executable Program}};
        % arroows
 \draw [-latex,thick] (1) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (2) ;
 \draw [-latex,thick] (2) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (3) ;
  \draw [-latex,thick] (3) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (4) ;
  \draw [-latex,thick] (4) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (5) ;
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Output:

A next step is to use bm package to make bold the math too...

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{bm}

\begin{document}
            \tikzstyle{block} = [draw,text centered, minimum height=2.8em,minimum width=12em]
        \tikzstyle{block1} = [text centered, minimum height=2.8em,minimum width=12em]   
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \node [block] at (0,0) (1) {\textbf{Abstract Specification ($\bm{R_{0}}$)}};
    \node [block] at (1.7,-2) (2) {\textbf{Refined Specification ($\bm{R_{1}}$)}};
    \node [block1] at (3.4,-4) (3) {.........};
    \node [block] at (5.1,-6) (4) {\textbf{Refined Specification (\bm{$R_{N}}$)}};
    \node [block] at (6.8,-8) (5) {\textbf{Executable Program}};
        % arroows
 \draw [-latex,thick] (1) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (2) ;
 \draw [-latex,thick] (2) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (3) ;
  \draw [-latex,thick] (3) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (4) ;
  \draw [-latex,thick] (4) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (5) ;
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Output: The same with bold math.

Something last is if you want to make ultra thick the arrows and thick the rectangles (So that it will be more close to a flow diagram by emphasize the flow and the separate steps)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
            \tikzstyle{block} = [draw,thick,text centered, minimum height=2.8em,minimum width=12em]
        \tikzstyle{block1} = [text centered, minimum height=2.8em,minimum width=12em]   
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \node [block] at (0,0) (1) {\textbf{Abstract Specification ($\bm{R_{0}}$)}};
    \node [block] at (1.7,-2) (2) {\textbf{Refined Specification ($\bm{R_{1}}$)}};
    \node [block1] at (3.4,-4) (3) {.........};
    \node [block] at (5.1,-6) (4) {\textbf{Refined Specification (\bm{$R_{N}}$)}};
    \node [block] at (6.8,-8) (5) {\textbf{Executable Program}};
        % arroows
 \draw [-latex,ultra thick] (1) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (2) ;
 \draw [-latex,ultra thick] (2) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (3) ;
  \draw [-latex,ultra thick] (3) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (4) ;
  \draw [-latex,ultra thick] (4) --  node [right] {\small{$Refinement$}} (5) ;
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Output:

It is a matter of taste after that (and may be before :P )

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] TikZ node placement and arrow drawing

There's a good chance some more elegant solution will appear soon, but here goes:

By using the calc library you can add node halfway between sensors and resources, and position information with relation to this. I actually used the corners of these, resources.south west and sensors.north west, and put the new node midway between these.
One way is to use relative coordinates to first go a little right of processing, then up, left to planning. By using |-/-| you can access coordinates that lie on the intersection of the horizontal line from one node and vertical line from another. That way you can end the arrow directly above sensors.north east, for example.

I first add a new node, lowerright while drawing the line from resources to planning. (lowerright |- container.east) is the point that lies on the vertical line from lowerright and the horizontal line from container.east. Similar for (container.east -| resources.south east).
You can add a node above the top left corner of container.
Add inner sep=<dimension> to the container node, instead of defining width and height. This sets the distance from the contents of the node to the edge of the node.

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{fit,arrows,calc,positioning}

\begin{document}
\tikzstyle{b} = [rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, node distance=3cm, text width=6em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em, thick]
\tikzstyle{c} = [rectangle, draw, inner sep=0.5cm, dashed]
\tikzstyle{l} = [draw, -latex',thick]

\begin{tikzpicture}[auto]
    \node [b] (planning) {Planning};
    \node [b, below=of planning] (resources) {Resources};
    \node [b, below=of resources] (sensors) {Sensors};
    \coordinate (RSmid) at ($(resources.south west)!0.5!(sensors.north west)$);
    \node [b, left=of RSmid, node distance=4cm] (information) {Information system};
    \node [b, below=of sensors] (processing) {Processing};

    \node [c,fit=(resources) (sensors)] (container) {};

    \path [l] (planning) -- (resources);
    \path [l] (resources) -- (sensors);
    \path [l] (sensors) -- (processing);

    \path [l] (information) |- (planning);
    \path [l] (information) |- (processing);
    
    \node at (container.north west) [above right] {Desc};
    
    \draw [l] (processing.east) -- ++(2,0) node(lowerright){} |- (planning.east);
    \draw [l] (lowerright |- container.east) -- (container.east -| resources.south east);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

[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

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] TikZ node placement and arrow drawing

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

Related Question