word-flowchart

name	word-flowchart
description	Create Word-style flowcharts in Graphviz DOT with black/white styling, orthogonal arrows, and clean alignment. Use when converting text or images into flowcharts, refining DOT layout/spacing, enforcing strict alignment, or building complex parent-child expansions with dashed correspondence links and module boxes.
description_zh	使用 Graphviz DOT 绘制 Word 风格流程图，强调黑白样式、正交连线与严格对齐，适合研究技术路线与复杂流程整理。

Word Flowchart

Overview

Generate clean, Word-style flowcharts using Graphviz DOT with precise alignment, orthogonal arrows, and consistent black/white styling. Apply fixed positioning when layouts are complex or require strict centering and symmetry.

Workflow

1. Extract structure

• Identify main flow (linear order), expansions (parent → children), and correspondence links (cross-layer mapping).
• Capture constraints: columns, rows, symmetry, alignment, and which edges must be orthogonal.

2. Choose layout engine

• Use dot for simple ranked flows.
• Use neato + pos + pin=true for strict alignment, centering, or complex multi-row modules.

3. Define Word-style defaults

• Black borders/text, white background.
• All nodes use white fill unless explicitly requested otherwise.
• Main flow edges solid; correspondence edges dashed.

4. Plan coordinates when fixed layout is required

• Assign row y values and column x values on a fixed grid.
• Default gaps (points): vertical 60, horizontal 100.
• For nested blocks (A contains B/C), default inner gaps: vertical 30, horizontal 30.
• Keep equal vertical spacing for main rows.
• Center child rows on the parent node and space children evenly.
• 当连线出现交叉/绕行时，必须改为显式栅格 + 折点方案：用固定 x/y 栅格坐标放置节点，用不可见 bend 点拉直折线路径，避免 Graphviz 自动绕线。
• 逻辑判断节点的子节点水平间距规则：
  • 子节点到逻辑节点中心的水平距离必须 ≥ 逻辑节点宽度的一半。
  • True 分支必须沿逻辑节点正下方布局，水平距离为 0；False 分支水平展开。
  • 若 True 分支为正下方直连，则允许首段垂直向下；False 分支仍保持“先水平后竖直”的拐弯方向规则。

5. Build orthogonal edges

• Set splines=ortho.
• Prefer a single edge for a turned arrow. Use tailport/headport, minlen, and constraint=false to control the bend without splitting.
• If a bend must be forced with a point, use one invisible bend node and ensure only the final edge has an arrowhead:
  • A -> bend [arrowhead=none] then bend -> B
• To avoid visible gaps at bends, make bend nodes effectively zero-size:
  • shape=point, width=0.001, height=0.001, fixedsize=true, style=invis
• If a gap still appears, add a micro-overlap by inserting a tiny segment (two bend points 2–4pt apart in the first-segment direction) so the corner visually connects.
• Preferred fix for bend discontinuity:
  • Keep a single bend node and disable clipping on both segments:
    • A -> bend [arrowhead=none, headclip=false, tailclip=false]
    • bend -> B [headclip=false, tailclip=false]
  • This forces the two segments to visually overlap at the bend.
• Use invisible midpoint nodes to force right-angle forks from parent to children.
• Use invisible bend points for orthogonal dashed links.
• For turn direction, force the first segment using ports:
  • Left-then-down: tailport=w, headport=n
  • Right-then-down: tailport=e, headport=n
  • Left-then-up: tailport=w, headport=s
  • Right-then-up: tailport=e, headport=s
• When possible, keep a single edge and let Graphviz auto-generate the bend; avoid multi-segment edges that create visible gaps.
• Anchor points rule:
  • Decision (diamond) nodes must connect on exact vertices: top/right/bottom/left points.
  • Rectangle/ellipse nodes must connect at edge midpoints (top/right/bottom/left), not corners.
• Resolve direction conflicts by edge type:
  • Branches from decision nodes: first segment horizontal (left/right), then vertical to target.
  • Converging into a shared target below: first segment vertical down, then horizontal into the target side.
• 方向规则优先级：
  • True 分支正下方直连优先于“先水平后竖直”，避免人为制造拐弯。

6. Add module boxes (optional)

• Use four corner points connected with dashed edges to draw a rectangular module boundary.
• Ensure the box covers parent + child row with balanced padding.

7. Render and adjust

• Render with neato -n2 when positions are fixed.
• Tighten or loosen child spacing, then resize the module box accordingly.
• 调整顺序建议：先调标签位置 → 再调分支横距 → 最后才整体缩放栅格。

8. Pre-delivery review

• Check layout overlap: render once and confirm nodes/boxes are not stacked or touching.
• If overlap occurs or Graphviz warns about “touching” boxes, scale all pos values up uniformly (e.g., x/y * 1.2) or increase the default gaps, then re-render.
• Ensure no edge is represented as multiple arrows; only one arrowhead should appear per logical edge.

9. Final delivery

• Provide both the DOT code and a rendered image as the final output.

Word-Style DOT Defaults (Recommended)

graph [layout=neato, splines=ortho, overlap=false, outputorder=edgesfirst, bgcolor="white"];
node  [shape=box, style="filled", color="black", fontcolor="black", fillcolor="white", fontsize=11, margin="0.12,0.05"];
edge  [color="black", arrowsize=0.7, fontsize=11];

Use style=dashed for correspondence edges and module boxes.

Alignment Rules for Complex Layouts

• Keep every row on the same y.
• Keep every column on the same x.
• Use the default grid gaps (vertical 60, horizontal 100) unless the user specifies otherwise.
• For nested blocks, use inner gaps (vertical 30, horizontal 30) and keep the block centered on the parent.
• For child rows, place children symmetrically around the parent:
  • 2 children: x = xc ± d
  • 3 children: x = xc - d, xc, xc + d
  • 4 children: x = xc - 1.5d, xc - 0.5d, xc + 0.5d, xc + 1.5d
• Align correspondence edges to the centerline of the target node.

For full coordinate patterns, see references/graphviz-layout.md.

Resources (optional)

references/

Use references/graphviz-layout.md for coordinate grids, orthogonal edge patterns, and module box templates.