3 ms·

Show HN: Box of Rain - Auto-Layouted ASCII Diagrams

24 points by switz 8mo ago

latchkey 8mo ago
Neat, but you can just do this in mermaid too. Taking one of your examples: <mermaid> flowchart LR web([Frontend]) subgraph platform [Cloud Platform] api([API Server]) db[(Database)] api --> db end web -->|HTTPS| api </mermaid> If you install the latest https://oj-hn.com https://oj-hn.com , you can see it rendered inline here.
- switz 8mo ago
  Fair point. I added basic mermaid parsing to the library so you can do that here too. $ echo 'flowchart LR web([Frontend]) subgraph platform [Cloud Platform] api([API Server]) db[(Database)] api --> db end web -->|HTTPS| api' | npx box-of-rain --mermaid ╔══ Cloud Platform ════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ╭──────────╮ ║ ╭────────────╮ ╔════════════╗ ║ │ │ ║ │ │ ║ ║ ║ │ Frontend │ ─── HTTPS ──▶│ API Server │ ────▶║ Database ║ ║ │ │ ║ │ │ ║ ║ ║ ╰──────────╯ ║ ╰────────────╯ ╚════════════╝ ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
  - latchkey 8mo ago
    Nice work! Love it.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
Retr0id 8mo ago
On my system the "right arrow" glyph is 2 units wide and breaks all the layouts.
- switz 8mo ago
  TIL about ambiguous width unicode characters. Turns out some locales render these chars as double width. I'm attempting to work out a solution. Seems like maybe there are some universal half-width characters that can be used. https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr11/ https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr11/
  - Retr0id 8mo ago
    Unfortunately even if you pick nominally-equal-width glyphs, on the web you can still get screwed over by font substitution/fallback done by the browser.
  - exceptione 8mo ago
    Weird. Same issue with NL-locale @ firefox, while terminal is ok. So it is not confined to East-Asian locales if that is what you think.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- OhMeadhbh 8mo ago
  First off, let me say it is awesome you're doing something like this. But... I'm encountering a similar issue on both Chrome and Firefox on Leenucks. I guess it's possible you don't see the problem on your Mac because both these browsers use the OS to do font rendering.
- Surac 8mo ago
  same in my Brave Browser, why not stick to nomal Ascii?
josefdlange 8mo ago
I'm just here for the Grateful Dead reference.
- josefdlange 8mo ago
  Holy moly -- you're behind Relisten, OP? I owe you a great debt of gratitude for the hours of musical joy Relisten has given me.
  - switz 8mo ago
    Yup! We’re just one link in the chain (bands, tapers, archivists, & the listeners), but I appreciate the sentiment. Alec and I have been running Relisten for over a decade and we’ve put a lot of work into it these past few years. Had to give the Dead a little nod here
    - josefdlange 8mo ago
      Too true! Feels extra nice to be able to spread the sentiment of gratitude so far and wide. Keep it up!
- SoleilAbsolu 8mo ago
  If this runs on the CLI, the system prompt should be "What do you want me to do?"

24 points by switz 8mo ago

Neat, but you can just do this in mermaid too. Taking one of your examples: <mermaid> flowchart LR web([Frontend]) subgraph platform [Cloud Platform] api([API Server]) db[(Database)] api --> db end web -->|HTTPS| api </mermaid> If you install the latest https://oj-hn.com https://oj-hn.com , you can see it rendered inline here.

switz 8mo ago
Fair point. I added basic mermaid parsing to the library so you can do that here too. $ echo 'flowchart LR web([Frontend]) subgraph platform [Cloud Platform] api([API Server]) db[(Database)] api --> db end web -->|HTTPS| api' | npx box-of-rain --mermaid ╔══ Cloud Platform ════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ╭──────────╮ ║ ╭────────────╮ ╔════════════╗ ║ │ │ ║ │ │ ║ ║ ║ │ Frontend │ ─── HTTPS ──▶│ API Server │ ────▶║ Database ║ ║ │ │ ║ │ │ ║ ║ ║ ╰──────────╯ ║ ╰────────────╯ ╚════════════╝ ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
- latchkey 8mo ago
  Nice work! Love it.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

Retr0id 8mo ago

On my system the "right arrow" glyph is 2 units wide and breaks all the layouts.

switz 8mo ago
TIL about ambiguous width unicode characters. Turns out some locales render these chars as double width. I'm attempting to work out a solution. Seems like maybe there are some universal half-width characters that can be used. https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr11/ https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr11/
- Retr0id 8mo ago
  Unfortunately even if you pick nominally-equal-width glyphs, on the web you can still get screwed over by font substitution/fallback done by the browser.
- exceptione 8mo ago
  Weird. Same issue with NL-locale @ firefox, while terminal is ok. So it is not confined to East-Asian locales if that is what you think.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
OhMeadhbh 8mo ago
First off, let me say it is awesome you're doing something like this. But... I'm encountering a similar issue on both Chrome and Firefox on Leenucks. I guess it's possible you don't see the problem on your Mac because both these browsers use the OS to do font rendering.
Surac 8mo ago
same in my Brave Browser, why not stick to nomal Ascii?

josefdlange 8mo ago

I'm just here for the Grateful Dead reference.

josefdlange 8mo ago
Holy moly -- you're behind Relisten, OP? I owe you a great debt of gratitude for the hours of musical joy Relisten has given me.
- switz 8mo ago
  Yup! We’re just one link in the chain (bands, tapers, archivists, & the listeners), but I appreciate the sentiment. Alec and I have been running Relisten for over a decade and we’ve put a lot of work into it these past few years. Had to give the Dead a little nod here
  - josefdlange 8mo ago
    Too true! Feels extra nice to be able to spread the sentiment of gratitude so far and wide. Keep it up!
SoleilAbsolu 8mo ago
If this runs on the CLI, the system prompt should be "What do you want me to do?"