TikZFlow
Open the editor

When something can't be edited

TikZFlow never changes code it doesn't understand. Whatever it can't model is kept exactly as you wrote it, and TeX still draws it.

The summary

Under the canvas, the summary says what the editor understood, for example "12 nodes, 2 groups and 14 edges editable; 1 block kept as-is". Details lists each item below, and clicking one shows its code.

Blocks kept as-is

\foreach loops, \matrix, pics and macros the editor doesn't know become blocks kept as-is. The quick preview doesn't draw them; the TeX preview does, and clicking one there selects its code. Edit them in the code pane.

Locked nodes

A node that can't be dragged says why when you select it. The most common reasons:

  • It refers to a name that doesn't exist (a typo, or a node defined later). LaTeX would fail on it too. The panel suggests the name you probably meant, and offers Pin at current position (plain coordinates where it is drawn now) or Attach to another node.
  • It refers to a node inside a block kept as-is. The editor can't know where that node is.
  • It is a group's box (fit): it follows its nodes. Dragging it moves them.

Other warnings

  • Syntax errors: click the count to jump to each one.
  • Undefined names: nodes or coordinates used but never defined, including inside \draw.
  • Options the preview ignores, and the small amber dot on a node: options or shapes the quick preview can't draw. They stay in the code, and the TeX preview draws them.
  • Low contrast: text that is hard to read against its fill. Select the node for a one-click fix.
  • Style … is a TikZ key: a style named like one of TikZ's own keys, which makes TeX fail.
  • An amber marker with "TeX puts … from where the editor's own drawing does" in the TeX preview's notes: see Nodes TeX places elsewhere.

Reporting a problem

Report a problem in the app bar opens a form on GitHub (you need a GitHub account). It asks for the code, your browser and what happened. Nothing is sent from TikZFlow: you choose what to paste. The smallest piece of code that shows the problem helps most.

TikZFlow is open source: the code is at github.com/LoganAlexanderBurnett/tikzflow.