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[yanjustino]

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[Gullinvargr]

The C4 Model suggests that if you're going to use colors, shapes (other than plain boxes) different lines for different kinds of relationships, etc., that you should have a legend to explain these rather than expecting people looking at the diagram to guess. Is there any way to create such a legend with c4sharp? I tried creating a boundary box with generic objects of the various types, but it tends to be a bit big and you can't add relationship lines. Any suggestions?

[yanjustino]

Hi, @Gullinvargr! To expose the legend you should use the property ShowLegend in your code, like this:

public class ComponentDiagramSample : ComponentDiagram
{
    protected override string Title => "Internet Banking System API Application";
    protected override DiagramLayout FlowVisualization => DiagramLayout.LeftRight;
    
    //To show the legend
    protected override bool ShowLegend => true;
...

[Gullinvargr]

Thanks!

[Gullinvargr]

Another question. Is there any way to apply the standard database shape (cylinder)? PlantUML has that shape but I can't figure out a way to get to it with c4sharp.

[yanjustino]

Yep!!! To shape a container as a database shape you should use Database class, like this:
see our sample code here

    public static Database SqlDatabase => new (
        Alias: "Database",
        Label: "SqlDatabase",
        Description: "Stores user registration information, hashed auth credentials, access logs, etc.",
        Technology: "SQL Database"
    );

[Gullinvargr]

Back again. 😉 Can text in a container be aligned left instead of centered? For longer descriptions I think it would be more readable. It doesn't seem to be an option in themes.