Access nodes in tikzpicture within tikzpicture

Question

Got the following from a student. The last line is trying to access the nodes inside of nodes A and B, but it doesn't do so. Can this approach succeed?

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,
  inner/.style={circle,draw=black!50,fill=white!20,thick,inner sep=3pt},
  outer/.style={draw=black,fill=black!20,thick,inner sep=10pt}
  ]
  \node[outer,draw=black] (A) {
    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \node[inner, state] (a) {$a$};
      \node[inner, state] (b) [below =of a] {$b$};
      \node[inner, state] (c) [below =of b] {$c$};
      \node[inner, state] (d) [below =of c] {$d$};
      \node[inner, state] (e) [below =of d] {$e$};
    \end{tikzpicture}
  };
  \node[outer,draw=black,right=of A] (B) {
    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \node[inner, state] (f) {$f$};
      \node[inner, state] (g) [below =of f] {$g$};
      \node[inner, state] (h) [below =of g] {$h$};
      \node[inner, state] (i) [below =of h] {$i$};
    \end{tikzpicture}
  };
  \draw[very thick,orange,-] (a) -- (i);

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/47377/proper-nesting-of-tikzpicture-environments-reset-all-pgf-values-to-their-defaul: nesting tikzpictures is not supported, everything can happen... — Rmano, May 15 '21 at 08:14

Zarko · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-15T07:40:50.333

Another way to use of matrix library at drawing your image:

\documentclass[border=3.141592]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix,
                positioning}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[

M/.style = {matrix of math nodes,%
            nodes={circle, draw=gray, thick,
            minimum size=2em, text depth=0.25ex,
            inner sep=0pt},
            row sep=2em,
            draw, thin
             }
                        ]
\matrix (m) [M]
{
a \    b \    c \    d \    e\
};
\matrix (n) [M, right=of m]
{
f \    g \    h \    i \
};
\draw[very thick,orange] (m-1-1) -- (n-4-1);
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '21 at 00:53

Use matrix and judicious use of \\:

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, %fixed by PROF
  inner/.style={circle,draw=black!50,fill=white!20,thick,inner sep=3pt},
  outer/.style={draw=black,fill=black!20,thick,inner sep=10pt}
  ]
  \node[matrix,draw=black] (A) {
      \node[inner, state] (a) {$a$};
      \node[inner, state] (b) [below =of a] {$b$};
      \node[inner, state] (c) [below =of b] {$c$};
      \node[inner, state] (d) [below =of c] {$d$};
      \node[inner, state] (e) [below =of d] {$e$};\\
  };
  \node[matrix,draw=black,right=of A] (B) {
      \node[inner, state] (f) {$f$};
      \node[inner, state] (g) [below =of f] {$g$};
      \node[inner, state] (h) [below =of g] {$h$};
      \node[inner, state] (i) [below =of h] {$i$};\\
  };
  \draw[very thick,orange,-] (a) -- (i);
\end{tikzpicture}

This is a possible, nice, smart and, in particular, correct way of doing this, apart from using scopes, chains etc. Yet, to be honest, this solution is great mainly because the original attempt, which nests tikzpictures, is basically the opposite of great. — , May 15 '21 at 01:18

Access nodes in tikzpicture within tikzpicture

2 Answers2