Skip to main content

Crate railroad

Crate railroad 

Source
Expand description

A library to create syntax (“railroad”) diagrams as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).

Railroad diagrams are a graphical way to represent context-free grammar. Every diagram has exactly one starting- and one end-point; everything that belongs to the described language is represented by one of the possible paths between those points.

Using this library, diagrams are created by primitives which implemented Node. Primitives are combined into more complex strctures by wrapping simple elements into more complex ones.

use railroad::*;

// This diagram will be a (horizontal) sequence of simple elements
let mut seq: Sequence<Box<dyn Node>> = Sequence::default();
seq.push(Box::new(Start))
   .push(Box::new(Terminal::new("BEGIN".to_owned())))
   .push(Box::new(NonTerminal::new("syntax".to_owned())))
   .push(Box::new(End));

// The library only computes the diagram's geometry; we use CSS for layout.
let mut dia = Diagram::new_with_stylesheet(seq, &Stylesheet::Light);

// A `Node`'s `fmt::Display` is its SVG.
println!("<html>{}</html>", dia);

// For direct streaming, render into `svg::Renderer`.
let mut streamed = String::new();
let mut renderer = svg::Renderer::new(&mut streamed);
dia.render(&mut renderer, 0, 0, svg::HDir::LTR).unwrap();
assert!(streamed.starts_with("<svg"));

§Implementing custom nodes

Downstream crates can implement Node directly for custom primitives. The main rule is simple: a node must only draw within the geometry it advertises. If a node reports width(), height(), and entry_height(), its drawing must stay inside that box and keep its connecting path at y + entry_height().

For simple leaf nodes, implementing entry_height(), height(), width(), and Node::draw is usually enough; the provided geometry-aware methods are correct by default. For composite nodes that position child nodes, override Node::compute_geometry and usually also Node::draw_with_geometry and Node::render_with_geometry so child geometry is computed once and reused during rendering.

Re-exports§

pub use crate::notactuallysvg as svg;
pub use resvg;

Modules§

notactuallysvg
Lower-level SVG building blocks used by railroad’s rendering layers.
render
A shorthand for rendering diagrams to images, using resvg’s default options.

Structs§

Choice
A container of elements, drawn vertically, where exactly one element has to be picked
Comment
A label / verbatim text drawn inline on the connecting path.
Diagram
The top-level container that renders a node tree as a complete SVG document.
Empty
A dummy-element which has no size and draws nothing.
End
A symbol indicating the logical end of a syntax-diagram via two vertical bars.
HorizontalGrid
A horizontal group of unconnected elements.
LabeledBox
A box drawn around the given element and a label placed inside the box, above the element.
Link
Wraps another primitive, making it a clickable link to some URI.
MultiChoice
A multi-column container where exactly one child alternative has to be picked.
NodeGeometry
Pre-computed geometry for a node and its entire subtree.
NonTerminal
A NonTerminal, drawn as a rectangle.
Optional
Wraps another element to make that element logically optional.
Repeat
Wraps one element by providing a backwards-path through another element.
Sequence
A horizontal group of elements, connected from left to right.
SimpleEnd
A symbol indicating the logical end of a syntax-diagram via a circle
SimpleStart
A symbol indicating the logical start of a syntax-diagram via a circle
Stack
A vertical group of elements, drawn from top to bottom.
Start
A symbol indicating the logical start of a syntax-diagram via two vertical bars.
Terminal
A Terminal-symbol, drawn as a rectangle with rounded corners.
VerticalGrid
A vertical group of unconnected elements.

Enums§

LinkTarget
Possible targets for Link.
Stylesheet
Pre-defined stylesheets

Constants§

DEFAULT_CSS
Default Cascading Style Sheets for the resuling SVG.

Traits§

Node
A diagram primitive that participates in layout and SVG generation.
NodeCollection
Convenience aggregation helpers for iterators and collections of Nodes.