FHIR Chat · Diagram/chart solutions

Stream: IG creation

Topic: Diagram/chart solutions

Corey Spears (Sep 22 2021 at 14:33):

In IGs, it is important to express workflows and object relationships in a graphical format to make it easy and quick for implementers to understand. Are there any commonly used solutions for creating these among the community?

I would like to use as open a solution as possible and include the source files in the IG repository for maintenance purposes so that someone could pick up right where things are without having to recreate the material if there are changes.

Grahame Grieve (Sep 22 2021 at 14:34):

isn't that what the plantuml discussion is about?

Josh Mandel (Sep 22 2021 at 14:36):

#IG creation > PlantUML integration documentation

Corey Spears (Sep 22 2021 at 14:57):

I thought that was discussing automated modeling tools (integrated into the publisher) as opposed to something that could be used by someone like a business analyst in a drag and drop way. I will take a look at it, but it looks like it may be a bit too technical for most of the people on the IG development team. Are there simple UIs that can be used for building the diagrams?

Josh Mandel (Sep 22 2021 at 15:37):

My preferred tool, which isn't drag-and-drop, is https://hackmd.io/new -- you can use any of the syntax from https://mermaid-js.github.io/mermaid/#/ to create diagrams and see immediately what your result looks like.

e.g. https://hackmd.io/WTB8aWaIQhmsaYvhtBwsIA?both shows a simple sequence diagram

image.png

^^ this tool manages version history, integrates with github, supports collaborative editing

John Moehrke (Sep 22 2021 at 15:38):

use powerpoint, save as PNG, put the pptx into image-source for future editors use.

Lloyd McKenzie (Sep 22 2021 at 15:40):

Powerpoint is easier to author with (and gives full control of prettifying), but sucks for source control. PlantUML is source-control friendly, but only gives limited control over appearance and is a bit harder to author with. Though there is a sandbox you can play with and iterate quickly.

John Moehrke (Sep 22 2021 at 15:41):

yes, PlantUML is what I prefer using.. but when drag-drop GUI is needed, sometimes using the tool that is easy and saving the native format as well as the web friendly should be considered an optino.

Gino Canessa (Sep 22 2021 at 15:49):

As a note on mermaid (which is what I prefer too).. VS Code has the same inline preview support in Markdown (with an extension), so you can keep the source definition in the MD file and see live previews.