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This month, we’re going to take a look at one of Ubuntu’s drawing programs, specifically for doing diagrams like flowcharts. It’s DIA – the open source answer to Visio (not sure what the question actually was).
Visio’s Linux Brother
Now, make no mistake about it, I like Visio a lot. I used to do third-level support at Microsoft for Microsoft Business Graphics Products, which was mostly Visio, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Publisher.
One of the neatest things I EVER saw a computer do was a Visio feature at the time. In training, they had us use a particular wizard in Visio to map the entire Ethernet network we were on at the time. Within just a few minutes, it came back with a complete network diagram, including pictograms for the actual hardware it found (specific computers, printers, etc.), not just generic ones. It was ASTOUNDING. Doing that job manually would have been a Herculean task, Visio literally did it, accurately, in a few minutes.
Although it’s obsolete now, I actually recently purchased a copy of the 2000 edition of ‘Visio for Enterprise’ specifically because it has that feature. I’ve sometimes daydreamed that one could have possibly built a career back in the day on the premise of doing network diagramming, taking several days or weeks at the job with one’s feet on the desk all day, only to produce a brilliantly made diagram with almost no effort on the last day of a contract.
Don’t judge, if anyone knew how easy it was, they would completely discount the end result quality and not want to pay, due to the ease of effort. Expertise and knowledge should have value. Learned the lesson the hard way about making things look too easy (using Lotus 123 for DOS support back in the 90’s, but maybe that’s a story for another day….).
At any rate, flowcharting capability is important in computer programming, for the sake of designing a program’s input, output, and overall flow, and also very important in business to chart the process flows that a business needs in order to operate, like the entire customer service process, or the order filling process, or the product fabrication process. Flowcharting these processes helps with visualizing and designing them, and is a good way to help make sure that likely contingencies and outcomes are properly planned for.
Installing DIA
DIA can be installed in multiple ways on Linux. For example, it’s available from the Synaptics Package Manager, or from the command-line. Long-time readers know very well that we’re about to head for the command-line.
Let’s try something a little different this month in terms of how to launch a terminal session. Hit the key combination CTRL-ALT-T on your keyboard. That key combination will start a Terminal command-line session. In Terminal, type:
sudo apt-get install dia
and hit Enter. Answer any prompts appropriately, and DIA will be installed.
Remember, SUDO stands for Super User Do, and indicates you want to perform an administrator level function under your current user login. Apt-get is the Debian distribution command-line tool for software management (Ubuntu is based on the older Linux distribution Debian), and of course install is the installation functionality of apt-get.
Launching DIA
Now that DIA is installed, click the App Drawer (9 white boxes in a grid, bottom-left of your screen).
Use the dots on the right to page up and down to look for DIA, or just type DIA at the top of the screen in the search box:
Click DIA and the application will launch (shown bottom left)
Main Interface
At the top of the screen, there are a series of tools. From left to right, they are: New File, Open File, Save File, Save File As, Export File, Print, Undo, Redo, Copy, Cut, Paste, Zoom In, Zoom Fit, Zoom Level, Zoom Drop-down, Toggle Snap-to-Grid, and Toggle Snap-to-Object. Most of these should be self-explanatory, basic functions. The Snap-to-Grid and Snap-to-Object options can be very helpful in keeping objects in your diagram aligned properly.
Basic Functionality: Adding Shapes
Let’s try clicking on a shape to add a simple box to the screen. In the toolkit on the left, you’ll see a square figure. Click that, then click where you want to place it on the screen/page, dragging from top-left to bottom-right in order to place and size it as desired:
Once you’ve added the box, Dia will default to Text entry mode, allowing you to enter a label within the figure:
Now, click the diamond shape in the toolbox on the left, which is a Decision box, and add it below the existing box, in the same fashion:
Adding Lines
In order to show the relationship between steps of a process, we use connecting lines. Above the flowchart palette, you’ll see the available lines. Let’s try the basic connector, 3rd row, 2nd item. Hover over the first box until you see its border change colors. Click to anchor the beginning of the line, then move over the second box until you see its outline also change color, then click to stamp the line down, connecting the two boxes. Notice the connector line has a pointer to indicate the direction of process flow:
If you use the Selection icon in the toolbox (upper-left, looks like a mouse pointer arrow), you can now click and move either box around and they will remain connected.
Next month: More tools and functions within Dia.