How To

Table of contents:

• HOW-TO Export Diagram to .bpmn (XML) format
• HOW-TO Save Diagram in SVG
• HOW-TO Display code with line numbers
• HOW-TO Manually select connection sides for elements
• HOW-TO change font size for title, element and footer

HOW TO: Export Diagram to .bpmn (XML) format

To export diagram to .bpmn format, call export_to_bpmn() method after draw() method.

   my_process_map.draw()
   my_process_map.export_to_bpmn("my_process.bpmn")

If you are using PiperFlow syntax, set the optional export_to_bpmn parameter to True. the .bpmn file name will be the same as the PNG or SVG output file name, but with .bpmn extension.

text2diagram.render(input_syntax, output_file, export_to_bpmn=True)

Known Limitation: The BPMN 2.0 specification does not support font colour or lane fill colour. The attributes listed below cannot be exported to.bpmn:

• Pool text font
• Lane fill colour
• Lane text colour
• Shape text colour

HOW TO: Save Diagram in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format

To save diagram in SVG instead of the default PNG format, specify painter_type when creating ProcessMap.

with ProcessMap(
        "My Process", painter_type="SVG"
    ) as my_process_map:
   ...
   my_process_map.save("my_process.svg")

HOW TO: Display generated code with line numbers

To display generated code, print the return code using text2diagram.show_code_with_line_number() function.

input_syntax = """<your piperflow text>"""

gen_code, img = text2diagram.render(input_syntax)
text2diagram.show_code_with_line_number(gen_code)

  1 from processpiper import ProcessMap, EventType, ActivityType, GatewayType
  2 with ProcessMap("debug", colour_theme="BLUEMOUNTAIN", width=10000) as my_process_map:
  3     with my_process_map.add_pool("Pool") as pool1:
  4         with pool1.add_lane("") as lane1:
  5             start = lane1.add_element("start", EventType.START)
  6             activity_14 = lane1.add_element("the customer receives feedback from the assessor or approver", ActivityType.TASK)
  7             end = lane1.add_element("end", EventType.END)
  8             activity_13 = lane1.add_element("assess the request", ActivityType.TASK)
  9             gateway_1 = lane1.add_element("", GatewayType.EXCLUSIVE)
 10             gateway_2 = lane1.add_element("", GatewayType.EXCLUSIVE)
 11             deny_the_loan = lane1.add_element("deny the loan", ActivityType.TASK)
 12             approve_the_loan = lane1.add_element("approve the loan", ActivityType.TASK)
 13             send_the_request = lane1.add_element("send the request", ActivityType.TASK)
 14             gateway_2_end = lane1.add_element("", GatewayType.EXCLUSIVE)
 15             gateway_1_end = lane1.add_element("", GatewayType.EXCLUSIVE)
 16         start.connect(activity_13)
 17         activity_13.connect(gateway_1)
 18         gateway_1.connect(gateway_2)
 19         gateway_1.connect(approve_the_loan, "the loan is \nsmall, the \ncustomer is")
 20         approve_the_loan.connect(gateway_1_end)
 21         gateway_2.connect(deny_the_loan)
 22         gateway_2.connect(send_the_request, "the customer is")
 23         send_the_request.connect(gateway_2_end)
 24         deny_the_loan.connect(gateway_2_end)
 25         gateway_2_end.connect(gateway_1_end)
 26         gateway_1_end.connect(activity_14)
 27         activity_14.connect(end)
 28     my_process_map.draw()
 29     my_process_map.save("piper_20230813_144818.png")

HOW TO: Manually select connection sides for elements

An element has four connection points. Namely: Top, Bottom, Left and Right.

Processpiper library connects these shapes automatically according to their connection points' distance. If the output is not how you like it, you can manually specify the connection side. Here is how:

Example 1: Connect from Side.Bottom to Side.Left

To draw a connection from source element's bottom point to target element's left point as shown above, specify the source_connection_side and target_connection_side when calling connect() method.

source_element.connect(target_element, source_connection_point=Side.BOTTOM, source_connection_point=Side.LEFT)

Example 2: Connect from Side.RIGHT to Side.RIGHT

To draw a connection from source element's right point to target element's right point as shown above, specify the source_connection_side and target_connection_side when calling connect() method.

source_element.connect(target_element, source_connection_point=Side.RIGHT, source_connection_point=Side.RIGHT)

Note:

• If you only specify either of the sides (source_connection_side or target_connection_side), processpiper library will automatically determine the nearest point for the corresponding element.

HOW TO: Change font size for title, element and footer

You can change font size for title, element and footer using the following methods. Call the methods before draw() method:

process_map.set_title_font_size(30)
process_map.set_element_font_size(10)
process_map.set_footer("My footer", font_size=20)

process_map.draw()
process_map.save("my-diagram.png")