"A state diagram is a type of diagram used in computer science and related fields to describe the behavior of systems. State diagrams require that the system described is composed of a finite number of states; sometimes, this is indeed the case, while at other times this is a reasonable abstraction." Wikipedia
Mermaid can render state diagrams. The syntax tries to be compliant with the syntax used in plantUml as this will make it easier for users to share diagrams between mermaid and plantUml.
stateDiagram
[*] --> Still
Still --> [*]
Still --> Moving
Moving --> Still
Moving --> Crash
Crash --> [*]
stateDiagram
[*] --> Still
Still --> [*]
Still --> Moving
Moving --> Still
Moving --> Crash
Crash --> [*]
In state diagrams systems are described in terms of its states and how the systems state can change to another state via a transitions. The example diagram above shows three states Still, Moving and Crash. You start in the state of Still. From Still you can change the state to Moving. In Moving you can change the state either back to Still or to Crash. There is no transition from Still to Crash.
A state can be declares in multiple ways. The simplest way is to define a state id as a description.
stateDiagram
s1
stateDiagram
s1
Another way is by using the state keyword with a description as per below:
stateDiagram
state "This ia state decription" as s2
stateDiagram
state "This ia state decription" as s2
Another way to define a state with a description is to define the state id followed by a colon and the description:
stateDiagram
s2 : This ia state decription
stateDiagram
s2 : This ia state decription
Transitions are path/edges when one state passes into another. This is represented using text arrow, "-->".
When you define a transition between two states and the states are not already defined the undefined states are defined with the id from the transition. You can later add descriptions to states defined this way.
stateDiagram
s1 --> s2
stateDiagram
s1 --> s2
It is possible to add text to a transition. To describe what it represents.
stateDiagram
s1 --> s2: A transition
stateDiagram
s1 --> s2: A transition
There are two special states indicating the start and stop of the diagram. These are written with the [*] syntax and the direction of the transition to it defines it either as a start or a stop state.
stateDiagram
[*] --> s1
s1 --> [*]
stateDiagram
[*] --> s1
s1 --> [*]
In a real world use of state diagrams you often end up with diagrams that are multi-dimensional as one state can have several internal states. These are called composit states in this terminology.
In order to define a composit state you need to use the state keyword followed by and id and the body of the composit state between {}. See the example below:
stateDiagram
[*] --> First
state First {
[*] --> second
second --> [*]
}
stateDiagram
[*] --> First
state First {
[*] --> second
second --> [*]
}
You can do this in several layers:
stateDiagram
[*] --> First
state First {
[*] --> Second
state Second {
[*] --> second
second --> Third
state Third {
[*] --> third
third --> [*]
}
}
}
stateDiagram
[*] --> First
state First {
[*] --> Second
state Second {
[*] --> second
second --> Third
state Third {
[*] --> third
third --> [*]
}
}
}
You can also define transitions also between composit states:
stateDiagram
[*] --> First
First --> Second
First --> Third
state First {
[*] --> fir
fir --> [*]
}
state Second {
[*] --> sec
sec --> [*]
}
state Third {
[*] --> thi
thi --> [*]
}
stateDiagram
[*] --> First
First --> Second
First --> Third
state First {
[*] --> fir
fir --> [*]
}
state Second {
[*] --> sec
sec --> [*]
}
state Third {
[*] --> thi
thi --> [*]
}
You can not define transitions between internal states belonging to different composit states
It is possible to specify a fork in the diagram using <<fork>> <<join>>.
stateDiagram
state fork_state <<fork>>
[*] --> fork_state
fork_state --> State2
fork_state --> State3
state join_state <<join>>
State2 --> join_state
State3 --> join_state
join_state --> State4
State4 --> [*]
stateDiagram
state fork_state <<fork>>
[*] --> fork_state
fork_state --> State2
fork_state --> State3
state join_state <<join>>
State2 --> join_state
State3 --> join_state
join_state --> State4
State4 --> [*]
Sometimes nothing says it better then a Post-it note. That is also the case in state diagrams.
Here you can choose to put the note to the right of or to the left of a node.
stateDiagram
State1: The state with a note
note right of State1
Important information! You can write
notes.
end note
State1 --> State2
note left of State2 : This is the note to the left.
stateDiagram
State1: The state with a note
note right of State1
Important information! You can write
notes.
end note
State1 --> State2
note left of State2 : This is the note to the left.
As in plantUml you can specify concurrency using the -- symbol.
stateDiagram
[*] --> Active
state Active {
[*] --> NumLockOff
NumLockOff --> NumLockOn : EvNumLockPressed
NumLockOn --> NumLockOff : EvNumLockPressed
--
[*] --> CapsLockOff
CapsLockOff --> CapsLockOn : EvCapsLockPressed
CapsLockOn --> CapsLockOff : EvCapsLockPressed
--
[*] --> ScrollLockOff
ScrollLockOff --> ScrollLockOn : EvCapsLockPressed
ScrollLockOn --> ScrollLockOff : EvCapsLockPressed
}
stateDiagram
[*] --> Active
state Active {
[*] --> NumLockOff
NumLockOff --> NumLockOn : EvNumLockPressed
NumLockOn --> NumLockOff : EvNumLockPressed
--
[*] --> CapsLockOff
CapsLockOff --> CapsLockOn : EvCapsLockPressed
CapsLockOn --> CapsLockOff : EvCapsLockPressed
--
[*] --> ScrollLockOff
ScrollLockOff --> ScrollLockOn : EvCapsLockPressed
ScrollLockOn --> ScrollLockOff : EvCapsLockPressed
}
Styling of the a state diagram is done by defining a number of css classes. During rendering these classes are extracted from the file located at src/themes/state.scss