Circular connections in flow chart between blocks

Question

how can i connect two blocks with a circular arrow? Please see below the example that i've managed to create so far:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows}
\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 3cm, auto]

\tikzstyle{block} = [rectangle, draw, fill=white!20, 
text width=5.5em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em]
\tikzstyle{line} = [draw, -latex']


\node [block] (1) {Text 1};
\node [block, below right of=1] (2) {Text 2};
\node [block, below left of=2] (3) {Text 3};
\node [block, above left of=3] (4) {Text 4};

\path [line] (1) -- (2);
\path [line] (2) -- (3);
\path [line] (3) -- (4);
\path [line] (4) -- (1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

This is the current result:

This is a quick sketch of the result i would like to have:

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 29 '17 at 21:08

You can use for example the "bend"-option with \path [line] (4) to[bend left=65] (1);

In your code it will be

\path [line] (1) to[bend left=45] (2);
\path [line] (2) to[bend left=45] (3);
\path [line] (3) to[bend left=45] (4);
\path [line] (4) to[bend left=45] (1);

By changing the value you can change the angles of the line.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 30 '17 at 07:46

You could play with to[out=..., in=...], where out and in are respectively the angle of exit and entry to the node. You could also choose the anchor position, for example (2.60) means node named 2 at 60 degrees, 0 is east.

By the way:

Should \tikzset or \tikzstyle be used to define TikZ styles?
Difference between "right of=" and "right=of" in PGF/TikZ
moreover, tikzset sets the style for all your tikzpictures, if you want to set them only for the current picture, just put them directly as tikzpicture environment options.

Here my MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes, arrows.meta, positioning}

\begin{document}
    \pagestyle{empty}

    \begin{tikzpicture}[
        node distance=4ex and 0em,
        block/.style={rectangle, draw, fill=white!20, 
    text width=5.5em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em},
        line/.style={draw, -latex},
        ]

        \node [block] (1) {Text 1};
        \node [block, below right= of 1] (2) {Text 2};
        \node [block, below left= of 2] (3) {Text 3};
        \node [block, above left= of 3] (4) {Text 4};

        \path [line] (1.east) to[out=0, in=90] (2.60);
        \path [line] (2.-60) to[out=-90, in=0] (3.east);
        \path [line] (3.west) to[out=180, in=-90] (4.-120);
        \path [line] (4.120) to[out=90, in=180] (1.west);
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Thank you, this is exactly the result i was looking for. Also thank you for the clarification! — matejmarti, Oct 30 '17 at 14:30

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 29 '17 at 23:59

A little bit automated but sure not perfect:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows,calc}

\newcommand{\circular}[2]{
\node (0) at (0,0){};
\xdef\Radious{#2}
\foreach \nodetext[count=\i] in {#1} {
\xdef\totalIt{\i}
}
\foreach \nodetext[count=\i] in {#1} {
\pgfmathsetmacro\myprev{int{\i-1}}
\pgfmathsetmacro\curxdispl{cos(90-360/\totalIt*(\i-1))*\Radious}
\pgfmathsetmacro\curydispl{sin(90-360/\totalIt*(\i-1))*\Radious}
\path  ($(\curxdispl cm,\curydispl cm)$) node[block,anchor=center] (\i) {\nodetext};
}

\foreach \nodetext[count=\i] in {#1}{
\pgfmathsetmacro\mynext{\ifnum\i<\totalIt int(\i+1)\else 1\fi}
\path[draw,-latex] (\i) to[bend left] (\mynext);
}
}

\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}




\begin{tikzpicture}
\tikzstyle{block} = [rectangle, draw, fill=white!20, 
text width=2.5em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=3em]
\circular{test1,test2,test3}{2}
\end{tikzpicture}\vspace{40pt}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\tikzstyle{block} = [rectangle, draw, fill=white!20, 
text width=3.5em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=2em]
\circular{test1,test2,test3,test4,test5}{4}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Output:

Circular connections in flow chart between blocks

3 Answers3

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