TikZ: alignment with number grids arranged in a graph

tikz-pgf

This tikzpicture organizes square grids on a graph. The numbers inside the grid do not align very well (too far to the left on the left of the graph, too far to the right on the right of the graph). How can I get that right? Thanks!

Any other improvements in the code style and/or overall esthetics always appreciated (the arrows are not the prettiest). I tried to use a matrix of nodes, which would have simplified and clarified the code, but couldn't get it to work inside a \newcommand, so I resorted to placing nodes manually instead.

\documentclass[class=article,border=5pt,tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds, scopes, positioning}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\newcommand{\nodeA}{\tikz{%
    \draw[step=1,color=gray] (0,0)  grid (3,3);
    \node at (1/2,5/2) {1};
    \node at (1/2,3/2) {2};
    \node at (5/2,1/2) {9};
}}%

\newcommand{\nodeB}{\tikz{%
    \draw[step=1,color=gray] (0,0)  grid (3,3);
    \node at (1/2,5/2) {1};
    \node at (1/2,3/2) {2};
    \node at (1/2,1/2) {3};
    \node at (3/2,5/2) {4};
    \node at (5/2,1/2) {9};
}}%

\newcommand{\nodeC}{\tikz{%
    \draw[step=1,color=gray] (0,0)  grid (3,3);
    \node at (1/2,5/2) {1};
    \node at (1/2,3/2) {2};
    \node at (3/2,5/2) {3};
    \node at (5/2,1/2) {9};
}}%

\newcommand{\nodeD}{\tikz{%
    \draw[step=1,color=gray] (0,0)  grid (3,3);
    \node at (1/2,5/2) {1};
    \node at (1/2,3/2) {2};
    \node at (1/2,1/2) {3};
    \node at (3/2,5/2) {4};
    \node at (3/2,3/2) {5};
    \node at (5/2,1/2) {9};
}}%

\newcommand{\nodeE}{\tikz{%
    \draw[step=1,color=gray] (0,0)  grid (3,3);
    \node at (1/2,5/2) {1};
    \node at (1/2,3/2) {2};
    \node at (1/2,1/2) {3};
    \node at (3/2,5/2) {4};
    \node at (5/2,5/2) {5};
    \node at (3/2,3/2) {6};
    \node at (5/2,1/2) {9};
}}%

\newcommand{\nodeF}{\tikz{%
    \draw[step=1,color=gray] (0,0)  grid (3,3);
    \node at (1/2,5/2) {1};
    \node at (1/2,3/2) {2};
    \node at (3/2,5/2) {3};
    \node at (1/2,1/2) {4};
    \node at (5/2,1/2) {9};
}}%

\newcommand{\nodeG}{\tikz{%
    \draw[step=1,color=gray] (0,0)  grid (3,3);
    \node at (1/2,5/2) {1};
    \node at (1/2,3/2) {2};
    \node at (3/2,5/2) {3};
    \node at (3/2,3/2) {4};
    \node at (1/2,1/2) {5};
    \node at (5/2,1/2) {9};
}}%

\newcommand{\nodeH}{\tikz{%
    \draw[step=1,color=gray] (0,0)  grid (3,3);
    \node at (1/2,5/2) {1};
    \node at (1/2,3/2) {2};
    \node at (3/2,5/2) {3};
    \node at (5/2,5/2) {4};
    \node at (5/2,1/2) {9};
}}%

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 10mm and 20mm]
\node (A)                    {\nodeA};
\node (B) [below  left=of A] {\nodeB};
\node (C) [below right=of A] {\nodeC};
\node (D) [below left=of B]  {\nodeD};
\node (E) [below =of B]      {\nodeE};
\node (F) [below left=of C]  {\nodeF};
\node (G) [below =of C]      {\nodeG};
\node (H) [below right=of C] {\nodeH};

\scoped[on background layer]
    \draw[->] (A) edge (B) (A) to (C);
    \draw[->] (B) edge (D) (B) to (E);
    \draw[->] (C) edge (F) (C) to (G) (C) to (H);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Best Answer

You are using nested tikzpictures, which is not recommended. In this particular case, inner picture is using the anchor defined by its positioning.

An alternative without nesting picture could be to use matrix nodes. Something like this:

\documentclass[class=article,border=5pt,tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds, scopes, positioning}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\tikzset{
    mygrid/.style={
        matrix,
        inner sep=1pt,
        column sep=-\pgflinewidth,
        row sep=-\pgflinewidth,
        matrix of nodes,
        nodes in empty cells,
        nodes={draw=gray, anchor=center, inner sep=.3333em, minimum size=5mm}
    }
}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 10mm and 20mm]
\node[mygrid] (A) {1&&\\2&&\\&&9\\};
\node[mygrid, below left=of A] (B) {1&4&\\2&&\\3&&9\\};
\node[mygrid, below right=of A] (C) {1&3&\\2&&\\&&9\\};
\node[mygrid, below left=of B] (D) {1&4&\\2&5&\\3&&9\\};
\node[mygrid, below =of B] (E) {1&4&5\\2&6&\\3&&9\\};
\node[mygrid, below left=of C] (F) {1&3&\\2&&\\4&&9\\};
\node[mygrid, below =of C] (G) {1&3&\\2&4&\\5&&9\\};
\node[mygrid, below right=of C] (H) {1&3&4\\2&&\\&&9\\};

\scoped[on background layer]
    \draw[->] (A) edge (B) (A) to (C);
    \draw[->] (B) edge (D) (B) to (E);
    \draw[->] (C) edge (F) (C) to (G) (C) to (H);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Update: using trees

Following SebGlav suggestion I've managed to use a TiKZ-tree for such a graphic. I was not able to do it with forest.

\documentclass[class=article,border=5pt,tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\tikzset{
    mygrid/.style={
        matrix,
        inner sep=1pt,
        column sep=-\pgflinewidth,
        row sep=-\pgflinewidth,
        matrix of nodes,
        nodes in empty cells,
        nodes={draw=gray, anchor=center, inner sep=.3333em, minimum size=5mm}
    },
    mygridfortree/.style={mygrid, ampersand replacement=\&}
}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
    level distance=2cm, 
    level 1/.style={sibling distance=6cm},
    level 2/.style={sibling distance=2cm}
]
\node[mygrid] {1&&\\2&&\\&&9\\}
    child{node[mygridfortree] {1\&4\&\\2\&\&\\3\&\&9\\}
        child{node[mygridfortree] {1\&4\&\\2\&5\&\\3\&\&9\\}}
        child{node[mygridfortree] {1\&4\&5\\2\&6\&\\3\&\&9\\}}}
    child{node[mygridfortree] {1\&3\&\\2\&\&\\\&\&9\\}
        child {node[mygridfortree] {1\&3\&\\2\&\&\\4\&\&9\\}}
        child {node[mygridfortree] {1\&3\&\\2\&4\&\\5\&\&9\\}}
        child {node[mygridfortree] {1\&3\&4\\2\&\&\\\&\&9\\}}};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Numerical conditional within tikz keys

I am definitely unfamiliar with both beamer and tikz (do not quite get what the \only are supposed to do) but perhaps this could go in the direction you want:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{chains}
\newcounter{count}

% helper macro:
\long\def\GobToSemiColon #1;{}

\newcommand\myPicture{
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{scope}[start chain = going below]
  \ifnum\value{count}<1 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \ifnum\value{count}>3 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \node[draw, rectangle, on chain] {display only when counter is between
    1 and 3};

  \ifnum\value{count}>-1 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \node[draw, rectangle, on chain] {display only when counter is
    negative}; 

  \ifnum\value{count}<100 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \ifnum\value{count}>200 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi  
  \node[draw, rectangle, on chain] {display only if counter is between
    100 and 200};

  \ifnum\value{count}<3 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \ifnum\value{count}>20 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \node[draw, circle, on chain] {only when counter is in the range 3 to 20};
  \end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\only{\setcounter{count}{-3}\myPicture}
\only{\setcounter{count}{105}\myPicture}
\only{\setcounter{count}{39}\myPicture}
\only{\setcounter{count}{2}\myPicture}
\only{\setcounter{count}{5}\myPicture}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

beamer

[Tex/LaTex] Line up nested tikz enviroments or how to get rid of them

As is explained in How do I draw shapes inside a tikz node? pics can be used for defining new objects. My main problem using pics is how to place where you want because they aren't nodes and positioning them is not so easy.

Following code shows how to define EDFA block.

    EDFA/.pic={
        \begin{scope}[scale=.5]
        \draw (-1,0) coordinate (in) --  (-1,1) -- (1,0) coordinate (out) --  (-1,-1) -- cycle;
        \node[anchor=north,inner sep=2pt] at (0,-1) {$1$};
        \end{scope}

In this case, coordinate (-1,0) will act as west anchor and 1,0 as east. Both point will have an special name for further reference. Every pic is placed according its own origin (0,0). You can use Claudio's answer to Anchoring TiKZ pics for better positioning.

As your example was simple, I'd prefer to star with EDFA and place Source and Sink after it.

\documentclass[]{article}

% tikz
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning} %relative positioning

\begin{document}

\tikzset{%
    EDFA/.pic={
        \begin{scope}[scale=.5]
        \draw (-1,0) coordinate (in) --  (-1,1) -- (1,0) coordinate (out) --  (-1,-1) -- cycle;
        \node[anchor=north,inner sep=2pt] at (0,-1) {$1$};
        \end{scope}
    }
}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
block/.style={draw},
]

\draw pic (edfa) {EDFA};

\node[block, left=of edfain] (source) {Source};

\node[block, right= of edfaout] (sink) {Sink};

\draw[->] (source) -- (edfain);
\draw[->] (edfaout) -- (sink);

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

I understand that your components are more complex than EDFA because for this particular case an isosceles triangle node with a label will do the work and it can be used as a node and not as a pic:

\documentclass[]{article}

% tikz
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning} %relative positioning
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
    block/.style={draw},
    edfa/.style={isosceles triangle, minimum width=1cm, 
         draw, anchor=west, isosceles triangle stretches, 
         minimum height=1cm, label=-80:#1}
]

\node[block] (source) {Source};

\node[edfa=1, right=of source] (edfa) {};

\node[block, right= of edfa] (sink) {Sink};

\draw[->] (source) -- (edfa);
\draw[->] (edfa) -- (sink);

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Numerical conditional within tikz keys

[Tex/LaTex] Line up nested tikz enviroments or how to get rid of them

Related Question