Using tikz diagrams in beamer with minor differences between slides

Question

I'd like to highlight different parts of a tikz diagram in beamer slides using something like the \only command. I was able to do this at the level of nodes, which is probably fine, but as I have some long node definitions, I was wondering if I could put \only inside of the \node

e.g.

\node [block \only<1>{,fill=blue!50}] (start) {start};

won't work (unsurprisingly).

The MWE posted below is an OK solution for my problem, but I'm curious if there is a solution that is more atomic (i.e. works within the \node command rather than outside of it. I guess that this is not possible if we are confined to just latex.

\documentclass[compress,red,notes]{beamer}

\usepackage{tikz}

\tikzstyle{line} = [draw, very thick, color=black!50]

\tikzstyle{block} = [rectangle, draw,
    text centered, node distance=4em]


\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{An tikz diagram.}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.5, every node/.style={scale=0.5}]

    \only<1>\node [block, fill=blue!50] (start) {start};
    \only<2>\node [block] (start) {start};

    \node [block, below of=start] (end) {end};

    \path [line] (start) -- (end);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{figure}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

Based on @Kevin C's suggestion to look at @Daniel's answer, I have the following non-working solution:

\documentclass[compress,red,notes]{beamer}

\usepackage{tikz}

\tikzstyle{line} = [draw, very thick, color=black!50]

\tikzstyle{block} = [rectangle, draw,
    text centered, node distance=4em]

\tikzset{
  invisible/.style={#1{}},
  visible on/.style={alt={{color=blue!50}{invisible}}},
  alt/.code args={<#1>#2#3}{%
    \alt<#1>{\pgfkeysalso{#2}}{\pgfkeysalso{#3}} % \pgfkeysalso doesn't change the path
  },
}


\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{An tikz diagram.}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.5, every node/.style={scale=0.5}]

    \node [block, visible on=<2>] (start) {start};

    \node [block, below of=start] (end) {end};

    \path [line] (start) -- (end);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{figure}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

I think this is the answer to your question: http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/55849/18228 — Herr K., Jun 05 '14 at 21:03
Thanks, that does look like what I was hoping for! I've updated the question a bit. — bbarker, Jun 05 '14 at 21:36
Actually the solution to your problem is slightly easier (code-wise). See my answer. — Herr K., Jun 05 '14 at 22:06

Herr K. · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-05T22:14:09.870

3

To set certain keys to take effect on specified slides, you can define a style slightly simpler than Daniel's visible on. The following definition for a onslide style should suffice:

% usage: onslide=<overlay spec>{keys}
onslide/.code args={<#1>#2}{\only<#1>{\pgfkeysalso{#2}}}

Code

\documentclass[compress,red,notes]{beamer}
\usepackage{tikz}
  \tikzset{
    line/.style={draw, very thick, color=black!50},
    block/.style={rectangle, draw, text centered, node distance=4em},
    onslide/.code args={<#1>#2}{\only<#1>{\pgfkeysalso{#2}}}, 
  }

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{An tikz diagram.}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.5, every node/.style={scale=0.5}]
    \node [block, onslide=<2>{fill=blue!50}] (start) {start};

    \node [block, below of=start] (end) {end};

    \path [line] (start) -- (end);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{figure}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

Output

enter image description here

edited Jun 05 '14 at 22:14

answered Jun 05 '14 at 22:06

Herr K.

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This is very cool - more incentive to better understand PGF/TikZ someday ... – bbarker Jun 05 '14 at 22:35
If you use the overlay-beamer-styles from aobs-tikz package, you can say \node [block, background fill=blue!50,fill on=<2>] (start) {start};. – Claudio Fiandrino Jun 06 '14 at 06:10
@ClaudioFiandrino: Thanks for the pointer! Didn't realize there's been a package for this. Nice work! – Herr K. Jun 06 '14 at 14:43

Using tikz diagrams in beamer with minor differences between slides

1 Answers1

Code

Output