[Tex/LaTex] TikZ arrow positioning

tikz-arrowstikz-pgf

With help of you I could get started with TikZ and create this image:

Original

Because I want to explain the double arrow part (HIS <-> Processing) better, I want to extend the "HIS" block and split this into two different blocks, surrounded with a dashed container "HIS":

Extended

As you can see the arrows overlap and I don't know the correct syntax to shift arrows, like what happened on the right side. This is what I'd like to accomplish:

enter image description here

Note the shift of the arrow coming out of processing, which is translated to the bottom. This shifting is also needed to have arrows between Reporting and Archive. The tex code (I use pdflatex) with the complete document surrounding the image is this:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows,fit,calc}
\tikzstyle{box} = [draw, rectangle, rounded corners, thick, node distance=7em, text width=6em, text centered, minimum height=3.5em]
\tikzstyle{container} = [draw, rectangle, dashed, inner sep=2em]
\tikzstyle{line} = [draw, thick, -latex']

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[auto]
    \node [box] (planning) {Planning};
    \node [box, below of=planning] (resources) {Resources};
    \node [box, below of=resources] (sensors) {Sensors};
    \node [box, below of=sensors] (processing) {Processing};

    \coordinate (middle) at ($(resources.west)!0.5!(sensors.west)$);
    \node [box, left of=middle, node distance=10em] (archive) {Archive};
    \node [box, left of=archive, node distance=10em] (reporting) {Reporting};

    \node[container, fit=(resources) (sensors)] (or) {};
    \node at (or.north west) [above right,node distance=0 and 0] {OR};

    \node[container, fit=(archive) (reporting)] (his) {};
    \node at (his.north west) [above right,node distance=0 and 0] {HIS};

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

    \path [line] (archive) |- (planning);
    \path [line] (archive) |- (processing);
    \path [line] (processing) -| (reporting);

    \draw [line] (processing.east) -- ++(2,0) node(lowerright){} |- (planning.east);
    \draw [line] (lowerright |- or.east) -- (or.east -| resources.south east);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

I tried already (processing.south) -| (reporting) instead of (processing) -| (reporting), but this doesn't translate the arrow enough to have it fist a vertical part.

Any help is really appreciated, as I hope to understand TikZ better!

Best Answer

My solution leads to:

enter image description here

The code to realize it is:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows,calc,fit}
\tikzset{box/.style={draw, rectangle, rounded corners, thick, node distance=7em, text width=6em, text centered, minimum height=3.5em}}
\tikzset{container/.style={draw, rectangle, dashed, inner sep=2em}}
\tikzset{line/.style={draw, thick, -latex'}}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[auto]
    \node [box] (planning) {Planning};
    \node [box, below of=planning] (resources) {Resources};
    \node [box, below of=resources] (sensors) {Sensors};
    \node [box, below of=sensors] (processing) {Processing};

    \coordinate (middle) at ($(resources.west)!0.5!(sensors.west)$);
    \node [box, left of=middle, node distance=10em] (archive) {Archive};
    \node [box, left of=archive, node distance=10em] (reporting) {Reporting};

    \node[container, fit=(resources) (sensors)] (or) {};
    \node at (or.north west) [above right,node distance=0 and 0] {OR};

    \node[container, fit=(archive) (reporting)] (his) {};
    \node at (his.north west) [above right,node distance=0 and 0] {HIS};

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

    \path [line] (archive) |- (planning);
    \path [line] (archive) |- (processing);
    \path [line] (processing)--($(processing.south)-(0,0.5)$) -| (reporting);

    \draw [line] ($(processing.south)-(0,0.5)$) -- ++(4,0) node(lowerright){} |- (planning.east);
    \draw [line] (lowerright |- or.east) -- (or.east -| resources.south east);

    \draw[line] (archive.170)--(reporting.10);
    \draw[line] (reporting.350)--(archive.190);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Explanation

To shift down from the Reporting to Processing box I used this trick:

\path [line] (processing)--($(processing.south)-(0,0.5)$) -| (reporting);

to draw a line below the box using as reference its south anchor. Of course ($(processing.south)-(0,0.5)$) is the new reference also to connect the Planning box to the Processing one:

\draw [line] ($(processing.south)-(0,0.5)$) -- ++(4,0) node(lowerright){} |- (planning.east);

Notice that here I extended your ++(2,0) to cope with the fact that the new starting position is in the middle of the box.

Finally, to draw connection lines between Reporting and Archive box I used definitions that you can find in the TikZ documentation 48.2 Predefined Shapes (rectangle).

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