How to align blocks in PlantUML class diagrams?

uml plantuml
Yuriy Kulikov picture Yuriy Kulikov · Jul 19, 2012 · Viewed 25.4k times · Source

I am using PlantUML to make simple class diagrams and the tool is awesome, but I couldn't find any way to align classes with each other except putting them into packages or using relationships like Alice -left-* Bob. What I need is something like:

@startuml  
class Bob  
class Alice  
class Dan  
**Dan aligned Alice: horizontally**  
'or using a grid?  
**Bob at grid (2, 3)**  
@enduml

Is there a way?

Answer

PlantUML picture PlantUML · Jul 19, 2012

No, there's no way to do that, sorry :( The idea behind PlantUML is that you should not care too much about the layout rendering.

Actually, early versions of PlantUML use to align classes, but it was an issue: When there were many unrelated classes, diagrams tended to be very large and very thin. So a patch was added to organize classes in a square.

How many classes do you want to have in your diagram? Sure it would be possible to disable the organizing patch for e.g. 3 to 5 classes. You could post a suggestion to the forum to see what other users think about it.

Related questions

How to correct PlantUML Line Path

I created this diagram using the following code. But as you can see, the lines going from (Cancel Order) and (Place Order) to (Publisher) decide to take a terribly rounded path to get their, instead of going straight to the …

Read More
plantuml component diagram - layout control

I'm trying to build an "hardware architecture" graph using plantuml component diagrams and I'm struggling with the layout. My graph is growing to be pretty complex and I'm noticing plantuml keeps on adding frames left to right, making the graph …

Read More
What's the best UML diagramming tool?

I'm trying to choose a tool for creating UML diagrams of all flavours. Usability is a major criteria for me, but I'd still take more power with a steeper learning curve and be happy. Free (as in beer) would be …

Read More