nomnoml

Hello, this is nomnoml, a tool for drawing UML diagrams based on a simple syntax. It tries to keep its syntax visually as close as possible to the generated UML diagram without resorting to ASCII drawings.

Created by Daniel Kallin. Contributions by Alexander Moosbrugger and korroz.

Nomnoml was made possible by these cool projects

• jison
• dagre
• lodash
• typicons
• zepto
• codemirror
• solarized

Library

The nomnoml standalone javascript library can be used to render diagrams on your own web page. The only dependencies are lodash and dagre. Install it using either npm or good old script inclusion.

NodeJS usage with SVG output:

1
2
3
4
5
npm install nomnoml

var nomnoml = require('nomnoml');
var src = '[nomnoml] is -> [awesome]';
console.log(nomnoml.renderSvg(src));

Html usage with a Canvas rendering target:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
<script src="lodash.js"></script>
<script src="dagre.js"></script>
<script src="nomnoml.js"></script>

<canvas id="target-canvas"></canvas>
<script>
    var canvas = document.getElementById('target-canvas');
    var source = '[nomnoml] is -> [awesome]';
    nomnoml.draw(canvas, source);
</script>

SVG support

An experimental (and not fully featured) SVG rendering mode is available as the nomnoml.renderSvg function.

Command Line Interface

dist/nomnoml-cli.js exposes the SVG renderer with a command line interface. This mode also supports the #import: <filename> directive which allow you to separate complex diagrams into multiple files.

Web application

The nomnoml web application is a simple editor with a live preview. It is purely client side and changes are saved to the browser's localStorage, so your diagram should be here the next time, (but no guarantees).

Interaction

The canvas can be panned and zoomed by dragging and scrolling in the right hand third of the canvas. Downloaded image files will be given the filename in the #title directive.

Example

This is how the Decorator pattern looks like in nomnoml syntax:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
[<frame>Decorator pattern|
  [<abstract>Component||+ operation()]
  [Client] depends --> [Component]
  [Decorator|- next: Component]
  [Decorator] decorates -- [ConcreteComponent]
  [Component] <:- [Decorator]
  [Component] <:- [ConcreteComponent]
]

Association types

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
-    association
->   association
<->  association
-->  dependency
<--> dependency
-:>  generalization
<:-  generalization
--:> implementation
<:-- implementation
+-   composition
+->  composition
o-   aggregation
o->  aggregation
--   note
-/-  hidden

Classifier types

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
[name]
[<abstract> name]
[<instance> name]
[<reference> name]
[<note> name]
[<package> name]
[<frame> name]
[<database> name]
[<start> name]
[<end> name]
[<state> name]
[<choice> name]
[<input> name]
[<sender> name]
[<receiver> name]
[<transceiver> name]
[<actor> name]
[<usecase> name]
[<label> name]
[<hidden> name]

Directives

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
#arrowSize: 1
#bendSize: 0.3
#direction: down | right
#gutter: 5
#edgeMargin: 0
#edges: hard | rounded
#fill: #eee8d5; #fdf6e3
#fillArrows: false
#font: Calibri
#fontSize: 12
#leading: 1.25
#lineWidth: 3
#padding: 8
#spacing: 40
#stroke: #33322E
#title: filename
#zoom: 1

Directives only available when using the command line interface

1
#import: my-common-styles.nomnoml

Custom classifier styles

A directive that starts with "." define a classifier style.

1
2
3
4
#.box: fill=#88ff88
#.blob: fill=pink visual=ellipse italic bold dashed
[<box> GreenBox]
[<blob> HideousBlob]

Available visuals are

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
visual=actor
visual=class
visual=database
visual=ellipse
visual=end
visual=frame
visual=hidden
visual=input
visual=none
visual=note
visual=package
visual=receiver
visual=rhomb
visual=roundrect
visual=sender
visual=start
visual=transceiver

Available modifiers are

1
2
3
4
5
6
center
bold
underline
italic
dashed
empty

Contributing

If you want to contribute to the project more info is available in CONTRIBUTING.md.