PlantUML with Style -- How I do PlantUML

example-sequence.puml

# Sequence Diagram Example
@startuml
    'General Defaults
    !$BASEPATH = ".."
    !include $BASEPATH/globals/stylesheet.iuml

    'Actor Definitions

    autonumber 1 "0:"
    title Sequence Diagram

    A -> B: Perform Action
    B --> A: (Response)

@enduml

How I Do PlantUML.md

I use PlantUML a lot. It's what I use for drawing all sorts of diagrams and it's handy because of its easy markup (once you get used to it) while making things easy to maintain as projects grow (thanks to version control)

This gist explains how I do my PlantUML workspace in a project.

• The idea is to keep a globals directory for all diagrams to follow (like the "stylesheet" below) to keep things consistent.
• I use a stylesheet.iuml file that keeps the use of colors consistent through use of basic FOREGROUND, BACKGROUND and ACCENT colors.
• The style-presets.iuml file defines these colors so you can make "presets" or "themes" out of them.
• As stated in the stylesheet.iuml, you'll need the Roboto Condensed and Inconsolata fonts for these to work properly.
• You can choose to either run the PlantUML jar over your file/s, or use an IDE like VSCode with the PlantUML extension. Here's a preview of example-sequence.puml for example: https://imgur.com/Klk3w2F

Assume the following directory structure:

$ tree
.
├── globals
│   ├── style-presets.iuml
│   └── stylesheet.iuml
└── diagrams
    ├── example-sequence.puml
    ├── etc...

Once you have this configured, just run

# If you don't have PlantUML yet, install it!
# In macOS, you can just brew it
brew install plantuml

# Assuming you're in the base path already
plantuml diagrams/example-sequence.puml

# Done. You should have diagrams/example-sequence.png after running.

Changelog

2023-07-31:

• Updated variable definitions to match with PlantUML's standard and corrections. Thanks GabrielF-C!
• Made sure this gist still works as of 2023/07/31, on version PlantUML version 1.2023.10 (Wed Jul 12 23:54:07 PST 2023)
• Added instructions.

2020-01-27:

• Added a preview of how it looks like when it's exported / viewed with PlantUML: https://imgur.com/Klk3w2F
• Added a quick tip to use an IDE or the PlantUML jar to get this to work.
• Corrected the filename - example-sequence.puml. It was .iuml before. The extensions don't really matter from what I can tell though.
• Added this changelog.

style-presets.iuml

# Style Presets
@startuml

' Preset Styles by Jeriel Jan

' Preset: Monochrome
!$STYLE_DEFAULT_ACCENT = "#000"
!$STYLE_DEFAULT_BGC = "#FFF"
!$STYLE_DEFAULT_FGC = "#000"

' Preset: Material Light Blue (200)
!$STYLE_LIGHT_ACCENT = "#81D4FA"
!$STYLE_LIGHT_BGC = "#FFF"
!$STYLE_LIGHT_FGC = "#000"

' Preset: Material Light Blue (800)
!$STYLE_DARK_ACCENT = "#0277BD"
!$STYLE_DARK_BGC = "#FFF"
!$STYLE_DARK_FGC = "#000"

' Preset: Material Light Blue (800)
!$STYLE_MIDNIGHT_ACCENT = "#0277BD"
!$STYLE_MIDNIGHT_BGC = "#000"
!$STYLE_MIDNIGHT_FGC = "#FFF"

skinparam {
    ' This field left intentionally blank.
}

@enduml

stylesheet.iuml

# Project Stylesheet
@startuml

' Load preset styles.
!$STYLEPATH = "."
!include $STYLEPATH/style-presets.iuml

' Color Definition
' Choose the style you want by applying them here.

!$STYLE_ACCENT = $STYLE_DEFAULT_FGC
!$STYLE_BGC = $STYLE_DEFAULT_BGC
!$STYLE_FGC = $STYLE_DEFAULT_FGC

' RECOMMENDED STYLE
' -=- DO NOT EDIT THIS SECTION. -=-
' See Custom Style section below to override items here.

skinparam {

    ' Global Options
    DPI 200
    Shadowing false
    DefaultFontName Roboto Condensed
    DefaultMonospacedFontName Inconsolata
    DefaultFontColor $STYLE_FGC

    ' Styles - Borders

    ArrowColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ActivityBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ActivityDiamondBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ActorBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    AgentBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ArtifactBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    BoundaryBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ClassBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    CloudBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    CollectionsBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ComponentBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ControlBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    DatabaseBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    EntityBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    FileBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    FolderBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    FrameBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    InterfaceBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    LegendBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    NodeBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    NoteBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ObjectBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    PackageBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    ParticipantBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    PartitionBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    QueueBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    RectangleBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    SequenceBoxBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    SequenceDividerBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    SequenceGroupBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    SequenceLifeLineBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    SequenceReferenceBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    StackBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    StateBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    StorageBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    SwimlaneBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
    UsecaseBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT

    ' Styles - Backgrounds

    ActivityBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ActivityDiamondBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ActorBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    AgentBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ArtifactBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    BackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    BoundaryBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ClassBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ClassHeaderBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    CloudBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    CollectionsBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ComponentBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ControlBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    DatabaseBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    EntityBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    FileBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    FolderBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    FrameBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    IconPackageBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    IconPrivateBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    IconProtectedBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    IconPublicBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    InterfaceBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    LegendBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    NodeBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    NoteBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ObjectBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    PackageBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    ParticipantBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    PartitionBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    QueueBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    RectangleBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    SequenceBoxBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    SequenceDividerBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    SequenceGroupBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    SequenceGroupBodyBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    SequenceLifeLineBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    SequenceReferenceBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    SequenceReferenceHeaderBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    StackBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    StateBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    StereotypeABackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    StereotypeCBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    StereotypeEBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    StereotypeIBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    StereotypeNBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    StorageBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    TitleBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC
    UsecaseBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC

    ' -=- END OF RECOMMENDED STYLE -=-

    ' Other Settings
    ' These settings are included in the language specs, but
    ' it's not recommended to be applied.

        'TitleBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT
        'DiagramBorderColor $STYLE_ACCENT

    ' CUSTOM STYLE
    ' All items below can be safely commented out.
    ' This will override the options listed above.
    roundcorner 8
    'Monochrome true

    NoteFontName Roboto Condensed
    NoteFontStyle Italic
    'NoteBackgroundColor $STYLE_BGC

}
@enduml

This is a great explanation, I was looking for something like this for almost an entire week.
I don't use styles a lot, but I do prefer a custom style which is different than the default one in PlantUML.

Exactly what I want, big thumbs to you. 👍

This is what I need for my diagrams. We want to save everything in a central file and use the style in all .plantuml diagram files.

What's the use of style-presets.iuml here?

!define BASEPATH ..
!include BASEPATH/globals/stylesheet.iuml

So basically, example-sequence.puml calls stylesheet.iuml and stylesheet.iuml internally calls style-presets.iuml.
Why can't we just use keep things simple and use only stylesheet.iuml? What is the benefit of using style-presets.iuml?

Thanks to share with us!! 🤗

According to PlantUML documentation :

Even if some legacy features are still supported with the actual preprocessor, you should not use them any more (they might be removed in some long term future).

You should not use !define and !definelong anymore. Use !function, !procedure or variable definition instead.

• !define should be replaced by return !function
• !definelong should be replaced by !procedure.

source

So maybe consider changing !define to variables, here's an example :

' Preset: Monochrome
!$STYLE_DEFAULT_ACCENT = "#000"
!$STYLE_DEFAULT_BGC = "#FFF"
!$STYLE_DEFAULT_FGC = "#000"

For more info on variables, see : https://plantuml.com/preprocessing