Signal Flow Diagram

[Perfect Human Interface]

Hey all. I was thinking about communicating signal flow without trying to show someone your messy schematic and figured why not just do it visually right in Flowstone anyways.

Signal Flow Diagram.PNG (53.16 KiB) Viewed 40339 times

I think it's pretty self-explanatory. There's probably better tools out there for this but at least it's familiar.

I welcome any comments/improvements.

[RJHollins]

Cool Idea !

Recently I had to resort to doing a workflow chart to help me organize a procedure for a schematic. Helped me focus.

This is a nice start ... I'm thinking about how we could add a 'decision branch' diagram. They come in various forms like:

YES/ NO

IF THEN ELSE .... etc.


edit .... I just remember ... many years back there was an APP that had 'FlowChart' diagramming as one of its features.
When I needed, it was really nice to have.

thanks!

[Spogg]

I like it. Very much actually!

I usually just scrawl some barely legible stuff on a notepad then lose it.

Cheers

Spogg

[Nubeat7]

Isnt it redundant to draw a schematic which looks like a schematic in fs? if you dont want to Show whats Inside the modules you just need to delete whats Inside and just Leave the connections...

Better to invest the time to clean up your Messy project Than drawing the same as you already have

[Perfect Human Interface]

Isnt it redundant to draw a schematic which looks like a schematic in fs? if you dont want to Show whats Inside the modules you just need to delete whats Inside and just Leave the connections...

Better to invest the time to clean up your Messy project Than drawing the same as you already have

Of course that's a valid consideration. This idea arose as I was thinking about how to communicate signal flow of something made in Flowstone to someone who doesn't use Flowstone. It may be useful for that. Ultimately, the point is clarity.

Edit: You could also just paste the guts of these modules into the cold empty husks of your original modules if you wanted to graphicize them.

[RJHollins]

adding ...

back some time ago [SM forum] ... one of the posters had a schematic that had notation to identify/document particular sections ... the 'COMMENT' module had ARROWs that could point to specifics [as best I remember].

I don't recall who actually did this [maybe MyCo or Trog] ?


As to diagramming ... a current limit of FlowStone [for this purpose] is that all connections happen in the horizontal plane .... no vertical indicators.

also ... I've been using the 'COMMENT' module as a way of highlighting areas [modules, component area] to help me focus on sections. They can be color coded and go translucent.

[Perfect Human Interface]

adding ...

back some time ago [SM forum] ... one of the posters had a schematic that had notation to identify/document particular sections ... the 'COMMENT' module had ARROWs that could point to specifics [as best I remember].

I don't recall who actually did this [maybe MyCo or Trog] ?

That's right, I totally forgot about that.

I dug up an old one by "mwvdlee," all in green, and updated it into a module with properties that handles straight horizontal and vertical and adjusts for clipping cases. It can also work for bent lines if you stack modules.

Flow Arrow.PNG (5.42 KiB) Viewed 40297 times

Apologies to those for whom seeing complicated green modules makes them itch. Feel free to rewrite it in Ruby.

[noisenerd]

Isnt it redundant to draw a schematic which looks like a schematic in fs?

I don't know, I could see this being handy for times when you don't necessarily have any details yet. For that matter, I could see it being handy for making charts of stuff that might not have anything to do with FS.

In any case, I'm grabbing it... thanks!

[tulamide]

I don't really get it.

A messy schematic is always bad. It can introduce a lot of issues and at the same time it is hard to track down the issues. So, instead of using replacements for messy schematics, I'd advice to tidy up them.

Leaves flowcharting. Hmm, there are so many easy solutions already, like this free online Flowchart creator: https://www.draw.io/

And it does the job easier, faster and is way more versatile. Just saying.

[RJHollins]

Thanks for the link to the web flowcharting ... nice

As to Flowstone ... I see nothing wrong with 'expanding' the concept/use of Flowstone. It might not be of interest to everyone ... but it could also lead to some new/innovative ideas ... who knows.

It can also be FUN


---- edit ----

Good find on the ARROW posting. That was the one I remember. In fact, it is now in the toolbox and will be used to help me do some internal documentation for my own sanity/reminder/key point.

Thanks !