I'm trying to figure out a good program that assists you in developing ASCII-based diagrams for including in a text file. I'm working on a design in which I need to describe a breaker panel schedule by visually showing the panel, and then labeling them from there. Notepad is a total bitch, and none of the other popular text editors offer much relief. TextMate has been the best, but is very time consuming at best.

Are there any utilities out there that help you create text-based line diagrams? I've been looking on google for a good while, and didn't see much, and wanted to see what yall's experience was with these. Thanks.

Here's a sample drawing I put together:

    +-----------------------------------------------+ 
    |                                               |
 1  | size, label, cable size, location             | 
    |                                               | 2
 3  |                                               | 
    |                                               | 4
 5  |                                               | 
    |                                               | 6
 7  |                                               | 
    |                                               | 8
 9  |                                               | 
    |                                               | 10
 11 |                                               | 
    |                                               | 12
 13 |                                               | 
    |                                               | 14
 15 |                                               | 
    |                                               | 16
 17 |                                               | 
    |                                               | 18
 19 |                                               | 
    |                                               | 20
 21 |                                               | 
    |                                               | 22
 23 |                                               | 
    |                                               | 24
 25 |                                               | 
    |                                               | 26
 27 |                                               |
    |                                               | 28
    |                                               |
    |             PANEL NAME, LOCATION              |
    |                VOLTAGE, PHASE                 |   
    +-----------------------------------------------+ 

12/11/2007 8:43:21 AM

@@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@ @@@
@@! @@! !@@ @@! @@! @@@ @@! @@@ !@@ @@! @@! @@@ @@! @@!@!@@@ !@@ @@! @@! @@@
@!!!:! !@@!@! @!! @!@!!@! @!@!@!@! !@@!! @!! @!@!!@! @!!!:! @!@@!!@! !@! @!@!@ @!! @!@!@!@!
!!: !: :!! !!: !!: :!! !!: !!! !:! !!: !!: :!! !!: !!: !!! :!! !!: !!: !!: !!!
: :: ::: ::: ::: : : : : : : : ::.: : : : : : : :: ::: :: : :: :: : : : : :

12/11/2007 9:14:13 AM

___ __ ___ ___
/ /\ | |\ ___ / /\ / /\
/ /::\ | |:| /__/\ / /::\ / /::\
/ /:/\:\ | |:| \ \:\ / /:/\:\ / /:/\:\
/ /::\ \:\ |__|:|__ \__\:\ / /::\ \:\ / /::\ \:\
/__/:/\:\ \:\ ____/__/::::\ / /::\ /__/:/\:\_\:\ /__/:/\:\_\:\
\ \:\ \:\_\/ \__\::::/~~~~ / /:/\:\ \__\/~|::\/:/ \__\/ \:\/:/
\ \:\ \:\ |~~|:| / /:/__\/ | |:|::/ \__\::/
\ \:\_\/ | |:| /__/:/ | |:|\/ / /:/
\ \:\ |__|:| \__\/ |__|:|~ /__/:/
\__\/ \__\| \__\| \__\/
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
/ /\ ___ / /\ / /\ / /\ / /\ ___ / /\
/ /::\ /__/\ / /::\ / /::\ / /::| / /::\ /__/\ / /:/
/__/:/\:\ \ \:\ / /:/\:\ / /:/\:\ / /:|:| / /:/\:\ \ \:\ / /:/
_\_ \:\ \:\ \__\:\ / /::\ \:\ / /::\ \:\ / /:/|:|__ / /:/ \:\ \__\:\ / /::\ ___
/__/\ \:\ \:\ / /::\ /__/:/\:\_\:\ /__/:/\:\ \:\ /__/:/ |:| /\ /__/:/_\_ \:\ / /::\ /__/:/\:\ /\
\ \:\ \:\_\/ / /:/\:\ \__\/~|::\/:/ \ \:\ \:\_\/ \__\/ |:|/:/ \ \:\__/\_\/ / /:/\:\ \__\/ \:\/:/
\ \:\_\:\ / /:/__\/ | |:|::/ \ \:\ \:\ | |:/:/ \ \:\ \:\ / /:/__\/ \__\::/
\ \:\/:/ /__/:/ | |:|\/ \ \:\_\/ |__|::/ \ \:\/:/ /__/:/ / /:/
\ \::/ \__\/ |__|:|~ \ \:\ /__/:/ \ \::/ \__\/ /__/:/
\__\/ \__\| \__\/ \__\/ \__\/ \__\/

12/11/2007 9:14:42 AM

:ASCII CARL FACE:

12/11/2007 9:55:18 AM

Have you tried any old-school ansi/ascii editors like TheDraw?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_text_editors#ASCII_art

12/11/2007 10:26:40 AM

It sounds silly, but I like to use the SAS Program Editor for Unix.

12/11/2007 10:38:33 AM

^^ I'll take a look at some of these. Thanks

^ is this something good for ascii flow charts/etc?

12/11/2007 11:37:30 AM

If you press the "right" arrow past the end of a line, it adds spaces. If you click anywhere, like in the bottom right margin, it will add newlines and spaces so you can get there.

There are certain codes you can put into the left margin of the screen where the line numbers are, such as "I" to insert a line, or "I20" to insert 20 lines, or "CC" on one line, "CC" on another line (to mark the beginning and end of a copy, and then "B" or "A" to say "copy those lines and paste before this line".

It's kinda like Vi, in that there are a lot of powerful features that you probably won't know until you see someone do them.

12/11/2007 1:51:38 PM

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12/11/2007 3:19:07 PM