Flowchart Symbols¶
SchemDraw provides basic flowcharting abilities.
The SchemDraw.flow module contains a set of functions for defining
flowchart blocks that can be added to SchemDraw Drawings.
from SchemDraw import flow
Flowchart blocks:
-
SchemDraw.flow.box(w=3, h=2)¶ Flowchart box
- Parameters
w – width
h – height
- Return type
dict
- Returns
element definition dictionary
-
SchemDraw.flow.sub(w=3.5, h=2, s=0.3)¶ Flowchart subprocess box (box with extra vertical lines)
- Parameters
w – width
h – height
s – spacing of side lines
- Return type
dict
- Returns
element definition dictionary
-
SchemDraw.flow.data(w=3, h=2, s=0.5)¶ Flowchart data or I/O block (parallelogram)
- Parameters
w – width
h – height
s – slant of parallelogram
- Return type
dict
- Returns
element definition dictionary
-
SchemDraw.flow.start(w=3, h=2)¶ Flowchart start block (oval)
- Parameters
w – width
h – height
- Return type
dict
- Returns
element definition dictionary
-
SchemDraw.flow.connect(r=0.75)¶ Flowchart connect block (circle)
- Parameters
r – radius
- Return type
dict
- Returns
element definition dictionary
-
SchemDraw.flow.decision(w=4, h=2, responses=None)¶ Flowchart decision block (diamond)
- Parameters
w – width
h – height
responses – Dictionary of responses to label at each point of diamond. Keys are ‘N’, ‘S’, ‘E’, ‘W’. Example: {‘E’: ‘Yes’, ‘W’: ‘No’}
- Return type
dict
- Returns
element definition dictionary
All flowchart symbols have four anchors named ‘N’, ‘S’, ‘E’, and ‘W’ for the
four directions. The SchemDraw.elements.ic() function can be used with the flowchart elements
to create blocks with multiple inputs/outputs per side if needed.
Flowchart elements do not have “leads” like electrical elements, so they must be connected with LINE elements. The ARROWHEAD element can be used to show flow direction. The w and h parameters must be manually specified to size each block to fit any labels.
Decisions¶
To label the decision branches, the SchemDraw.flow.decision() function takes the
responses parameter, a dictionary of responses for each direction. For example:
decision = flow.decision(responses={'W': 'Yes', 'E': 'No', 'S': 'Maybe'})
See the Flowcharting Gallery for more examples.