Tool for sketching overviews with ASCII input

Question

In our company we use an Wiki to document our projects.

I am missing a way to sketch simple overview diagrams.

Now I search a tool to create such diagrams.

Requirements:

• read ASCII/UTF (not SVG)
• re-usable entities: Figures for database, actor (person), internet (cloud), ... should be easy to re-use
• output format: SVG or PNG
• Relations between the entities

Main focus is on easy of use. I don't need all things which are possible in UML.

Use case: I want to draw images like this:

Answer 1

If it's mainly about sequence diagrams, I use JS Sequence Diagrams.

The input is plain text which is nice for version control. The output can have different styles. I love the "hand-drawn" (like xkcd) style, to indicate that this is a sort of draft diagram.

For final versions which go into official documentation, I switch to "simple" style. The result can be downloaded as SVG.

Disadvantage: it supports sequences only, no other UML diagrams.

Your diagram could look like this:

DB->Browser: data
Browser->Queue: push
User->Queue: change data
Queue->Browser: finish item
Browser->DB: save

Answer 2

I have upvoted both of Thomas answers & will be looking into them.

I have done a lot of searching for MSC drawing tools, especially those which take plain text as input. In addition to scripts easy to store in version control, it allows me to code tools (normally as Python scripts), for instance to automatically generate an MSC from a test log to quickly give me a visual overview of a test run's result.

Much as I like the XKCD effect, I have yet to find anything which offers as much control of output possibilities as MSC Generator, which allows diagrams even more complex than this:

Take a look at the examples, to see things like this

There are also powerful nested notations, plus alternatives and option events. Here's a slightly more expressive example:

The program is stable and well supported and has been around for many years. I have found the author to be helpful and open to suggestions. He usually replies to emails within an hour or two.

In addition to the web site and in-built help, I strongly recommend reading the PDF documentation, which seems to be the most complete.

For Windows a full installer is provided, for Linux and MacOS a source tarball is available.

The program is free, and satisfaction is guaranteed, or you get your money refunded in full ;-)

Answer 3

In order to sketch class diagrams and use case diagrams, I use yUML. I don't like the activity diagrams of the same site.

The input is plain text which is nice for version control. The output can have different styles. I love the "scruffy" (xkcd-like) style, to indicate that this is a sort of draft diagram.

For final versions which go into official documentation, I switch to "plain" style. The result can be downloaded as SVG.

Disadvantage: it's in beta stadium, not sure what consequences that could have. Potentially the service might be down without further notice or be converted into a commercial one.

A class diagram could look like this:

[MyClass|-private:string;+public:string|doSomething()]<>-*>[OtherClass]
[OtherClass]++-0..*>[JustAnotherClass]
[OtherClass]-[note:This is a note{bg:wheat}]

Answer 4

Mermaid

Mermaid lets you create diagrams and visualizations using text and code.

It is a Javascript based diagramming and charting tool that renders Markdown-inspired text definitions to create and modify diagrams dynamically.

It supports.

• Flow Chart
• Sequence Diagram
• Gantt Diagram
• Class Diagram
• Entity Relationship Diagram
• User Journey Diagram

See: Diagram Types