Generalisation

Up to now, diagrams descriptions have to start with @startuml and to finish with @enduml. PlantUML will allow in some future to generate other diagrams than UML, and in that cases, @startuml would not make sense anymore.

So, the general convention is changed to let diagrams descriptions start with @startXXX and to finish with @endXXX, where XXX has to be changed with the type of diagrams. Of course, XXX is changed uml for all existing diagrams, so that compatibility is not break.

Note that XXX could be any strings of characters.

This means that plugin developers are encouraged to change their code to recognize @start instead of @startuml

DOT

Since PlantUML uses Graphviz/DOT, it is possible to directly use DOT language.

This means that you can use Graphviz/DOT with all tools that support PlantUML.

Note that the very first line has to be: digraph XXXX { You can also use @startuml/@enduml instead of @startdot/@enddot.

Here is a working example:

@startuml
digraph foo {
  node [style=rounded]
  node1 [shape=box]
  node2 [fillcolor=yellow, style="rounded,filled", shape=diamond]
  node3 [shape=record, label="{ a | b | c }"]

  node1 -> node2 -> node3
}
@enduml

@startuml
digraph foo {
 PlantUML -> Dot [label=use];
}
@enduml