[Tex/LaTex] TikZ: Calculate “pre length” based on path length

pgf-decorationstikz-pgf

I would like to automatically calculate the pre length value for a line decoration to be "centered". Let me explain it by this example:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.shapes}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[foo/.style={decorate,decoration={
    shape backgrounds,shape=circle,shape sep=2.5cm,pre=moveto,pre length=#1}}]
  \node at (0cm,0cm)  [label=below:0]  {};
  \node at (5cm,0cm)  [label=below:5]  {};
  \node at (9cm,0cm)  [label=below:9]  {};
  \node at (10cm,0cm) [label=below:10] {};
  \draw[foo=0cm]    (0cm,0cm) -- (10cm,0cm); % line 1
  \draw[foo=0cm]    (0cm,5mm) -- ( 9cm,5mm); % line 2
  \draw[foo=0.75cm] (0cm,1cm) -- ( 9cm,1cm); % line 3
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

~~(How can I add a compiled version of the code? Do I have to manually compile and upload it as a image?)~~

compiled version

line 1 (bottom) is what I want: Circles from the start of the line (0,0) to its end (10,0).
line 2 (middle) shows the problem: If the paths length is not a multiple of shape sep, the first circle is at the paths start and there is nothing between the last circle and the paths end.
line 3 (top) shows how the problem should be handled: By setting pre length to the right value (or by some other method, if you have a better idea), the distance between the paths start and the first circle is the same as the distance between the last circle and the paths end.

Now my question is: How can I set pre length to ~~(path length - shape sep)/2~~(path length - (number of circles - 1) * shape sep) / 2 (thanks to Altermundus for the correction)? Or is there a better solution to this?

Best Answer

I'm not sure of my formula but (path length - shape sep)/2is not very fine. You can use some values like \pgfmetadecoratedpathlength and \pgf@lib@shapedecoration@sep.

\documentclass{standalone}    
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.shapes}

\begin{document} 
  \makeatletter
\begin{tikzpicture}%
   [foo/.style={decorate,
                decoration={shape backgrounds,
                            shape=circle,
                            shape sep=2.5cm,
                            pre=moveto,
   pre length=(\pgfmetadecoratedpathlength-%
              floor(\pgfmetadecoratedpathlength/\pgf@lib@shapedecoration@sep)*%
                     \pgf@lib@shapedecoration@sep)/2}}]
  \node at (0cm,0cm)  [label=below:0]  {};
  \node at (5cm,0cm)  [label=below:5]  {};
  \node at (9cm,0cm)  [label=below:9]  {};
  \node at (10cm,0cm) [label=below:10] {};
  \draw[foo] (0cm,1cm) -- ( 9cm,1cm); 
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Rotate a node but not its content: the case of the ellipse decoration

The source of the difficulty is that ellipses are constructed in a particular way in TikZ. They are paths that start from the x-axis and proceed counter-clockwise around their centre. The vast majority of the time, the exact parametrisation doesn't matter. You appear to have found the one situation where it does!

In the actual question, you only want to be able to mirror the ellipse, and so draw it starting from the negative x-axis (the title of the question suggests a more flexible approach). That's actually not too hard since we can exploit the symmetry of the ellipse. The key is to provide it with a negative x-radius, since then it will start from the negative x-axis (and proceed clockwise, but we could correct for that by negating the y-radius as well). To do this, we interrupt the call from the node shape to the drawing command and flip the sign of the x-radius. The simplest way to do this is to redefine the \pgfpathellipse macro to do the negation and then call the original macro. The following code does this.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations,shapes,decorations.markings}
\makeatletter
\let\origpgfpathellipse=\pgfpathellipse
\def\revpgfpathellipse#1#2#3{%
  #2%
  \pgf@xa=-\pgf@x
  \origpgfpathellipse{#1}{\pgfqpoint{\pgf@xa}{0pt}}{#3}}
\makeatother

\tikzset{
  reversed ellipse/.style={
    ellipse,
    reverse the ellipse%
  },
  reverse the ellipse/.code={
    \let\pgfpathellipse=\revpgfpathellipse
  }
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[ellipse,
  draw,
  postaction={
    decorate,
    decoration={
      markings,
      mark=at position 1 with {
        \arrow[line width=5pt,blue]{>}
      }
    }
  }
] at (0,0) {hello world};

\node[reversed ellipse,
  draw,
  postaction={
    decorate,
    decoration={
      markings,
      mark=at position 1 with {
        \arrow[line width=5pt,blue]{>}
      }
    }
  }
] at (0,-2) {hello world};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Here's the result:

rotated ellipse

(the arrow got clipped, but you can see where it lies)

[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] Rotate a node but not its content: the case of the ellipse decoration

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

Related Question