Math, diagrams, code and calculations

#Formulas, diagrams and code

• Formulas in LaTeX: as a block with /math, inside the text with /inlinemath. The preview appears while you type. Building blocks such as fraction, root, superscript, subscript, vector, cross product, ±, π and sum sit above the input.
• Mermaid diagrams: a click or Enter opens the source and preview. Up to 20,000 characters and 500 edges. In dark mode Mermaid diagrams are drawn dark, and redrawn when you switch; downloads (SVG/PNG) and printouts stay light.
• draw.io diagrams (/drawio): open the draw.io editor in a large window; Save applies the diagram as one step you can undo. A double-click, Enter or the pencil on the block opens it again. Flowplan stores the drawing and a picture of it: when viewing – on shared pages, in presentations and offline too – it doesn't load draw.io at all and only shows the picture (cleaned, without scripts and without content from elsewhere). Drawing and picture may each be up to 800 kB.
  • Maximize: the arrows button at the top right of the window (next to the close button) enlarges draw.io to the whole browser window; the same button (Restore size) brings the window back. It works from the keyboard too. The diagram stays open and unsaved changes are not lost; Esc and Close ask before discarding changes as before. The device remembers the choice: the next diagram opens the way you left the last one. On a phone draw.io fills the screen anyway (keeping clear of the notch and the home indicator), so there is no button there.
  • A page for one diagram: the Diagram page template (under Templates, category Knowledge & documentation) creates a full-width page with one empty draw.io diagram and opens draw.io right away. On a full-width page the saved picture uses the whole width, and an empty diagram is a large area rather than a thin strip. There is no separate page type for this as there is for whiteboards – the diagram page is a document, so you can add text, more diagrams or other blocks.
  • Where draw.io runs: by default Flowplan uses embed.diagrams.net. While you draw, the diagram's content goes to that service; the window says so. With DRAWIO_URL the instance points to its own draw.io (for example the jgraph/drawio container), and everything stays with you (see Configuration).
  • Look: under Settings → Appearance → Editor: draw.io theme Automatic (follows Flowplan), Light or Dark, and draw.io interface Default, Minimal or Sketch. The choice applies to this device.
  • Export: in the ZIP export every diagram becomes a .drawio.svg file that draw.io can open again; in a single Markdown file and in the Git export it is a ```drawio block with the drawing, which the import turns back into a diagram (the picture is made the next time it is saved). PDF and EPUB show the picture.
• Code blocks: the language is shown in the block's header with its full name ("JavaScript", "C++", "Angular TypeScript", "Plain text"). A click opens a list with a search – it finds names, aliases and file extensions (ts, py, yml, tf, .rs …). The languages you chose last come first (remembered in this browser). There are more than 240 languages with the same grammars as in VS Code – among them Svelte, Vue, Astro, JSX/TSX, Terraform, TOML, Typst, Zig, Prisma, GDScript, Nushell, systemd units, SSH config, Git commit messages, log files, CSV/TSV and .env files. Line wrap and Copy are at hand. Tab indents by two spaces.
• Language detection: when you paste code into a block without a language (plain text), Flowplan suggests a language if it is clearly recognisable – "Looks like Python – set?". One click sets it, the × dismisses the suggestion. Flowplan never changes the language by itself.
• Preview: code blocks in HTML, SVG (language XML with <svg>), Markdown, Mermaid, LaTeX and Typst show the switch Code / Preview / Split in their header. Split puts code and preview side by side, on a phone one below the other. The view is stored in the block; people who only read a page (read access, published pages, presentations) see the preview unless the block says otherwise, and can switch for themselves without changing anything. Errors (such as a typo in the diagram or in Typst, with the line number) show in place of the preview.
  • HTML runs in a sealed frame: no scripts, no forms, no access to Flowplan or the network. Pictures from the web stay blank; embedded pictures (data:) and styles work. The height follows the content.
  • SVG, Mermaid and Typst show as a picture – without scripts or links.
  • Markdown is converted as on import, LaTeX shows formulas with KaTeX (separated by blank lines, with or without $$ … $$; not whole LaTeX documents with \documentclass).
  • Typst loads the first time it is used (a few MB, from your own server, not from the web); Typst packages (@preview/…) and files are not available.
  • New Mermaid code blocks (```mermaid or the language Mermaid chosen) show the diagram right away, empty ones code and diagram side by side. The separate Mermaid block (/mermaid) stays.
• Line numbers: the … menu in a code block's header turns Line numbers on or off for that block, sets the First line number (say 10 for an excerpt) and highlights lines – e.g. 3-5, 8, counted as shown. The numbers cannot be selected and are not copied; with line wrap they stand at the first row of a wrapped line. Blocks without a setting of their own follow Settings → Appearance & language → Editor → Show line numbers by default (on this device).
• Collapse: code blocks with more than 25 lines appear collapsed – 10 lines high, scrolling inside, faded at the bottom. Show all N lines expands them, Collapse folds them again (both reachable by keyboard). People who may edit store the state in the block; readers only expand for themselves. The … menu sets Collapsed and the Collapsed height (5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 lines). Printing and every export always show the whole code.
• A language's highlighting loads with the first code block of that language; until then the code shows briefly without colours. Very long code blocks (more than 50,000 characters) stay without highlighting.
• Fractions: /Fraction (or /Bruch) inserts a formula inside the sentence.

#Calculating in text

Flowplan only calculates when you want it to – exactly, with fractions, in German or English notation (2,5 or 2.5, ×, ², √, €):

• Hint after "=": type a calculation followed by =, such as 12 × 2,400 € = or 3/4 + 1/6 =, and the result appears greyed out behind it. Tab accepts it, Esc or typing on dismisses it.
• Selected text: select a calculation, a term or an equation; the text menu (also on right-click) shows what is possible under Calculate and inserts the result after it with one click:
  • Result and Reduce as an exact fraction, plus As a decimal – 12/18 = 2/3
  • Expand, including the binomial formulas – (a + b)² = a² + 2ab + b²
  • Factor – x² − 9 = (x − 3)(x + 3), 4x² − 12x + 9 = (2x − 3)², 6x² + 9x = 3x(2x + 3), also with several variables: a³ − b³ = (a − b)(a² + ab + b²), x² + 2xy + y² − 1 = (x + y − 1)(x + y + 1), by grouping ax + ay + bx + by = (x + y)(a + b); Factor with roots splits further into real factors: x² − 2 = (x − √2)(x + √2)
  • Simplify algebraic fractions – (x² − 1)/(x − 1) = x + 1, 1/x + 1/(x + 1) = (2x + 1)/(x(x + 1))
  • Solve for x – linear and quadratic equations exactly (x² + 2x − 4 = 0 ⇒ x = −1 ± √5), higher degrees exactly where possible (x³ = 2 ⇒ x = ∛2, x⁴ − 5x² + 6 = 0 ⇒ x = ±√2, ±√3), otherwise as rounded decimals (x³ + x − 1 = 0 ⇒ x ≈ 0.682328); with several variables, for each one that appears linearly. Equations with x in a denominator are solved with the common denominator; values that would make a denominator 0 are excluded and named (x/(x − 1) = 1/(x − 1) ⇒ no solution (x = 1 excluded)).
  • Copy result: the button at the end of each result row copies the result as shown (such as y² − 16y + 64) to the clipboard as plain text – for pasting into other apps. Clicking the row itself still inserts it after the selection.
• Function graph: select a term in x, such as x² − 2 or f(x) = 2x + 1, and choose Draw graph in the text menu – a graph with axes, grid and marked zeros appears below. /Function graph inserts one too. The functions are edited below the graph: it changes while you type, + Function adds up to six functions in their own colours (sin(x), cos, tan, exp, ln, abs, √ and π work). Dragging moves the view, +/− or ⌘/Ctrl + scrolling zoom, ⟲ resets the view. On published pages the graph can be moved and zoomed but not changed.
• Vectors: write vectors as (1 | 2 | 3), (1; 2; 3) or (1, 2, 3). Flowplan calculates sums and multiples (2 · (1; −2) − (3; 1) = (−1; −5)), the dot product with · including the angle ((1, 0) · (0, 1) = 0 ⇒ ∠ = 90°), the cross product with × ((1|0|0) × (0|1|0) = (0 | 0 | 1)) and the magnitude with |…| (|(1, 1)| = √2). A vector selected on its own shows its magnitude and unit vector ((3, 4) ⇒ v⁰ = (3/5, 4/5)). Draw vectors in the text menu shows vectors in the plane as arrows in a coordinate system – for (1, 2) + (3, 1) both vectors and their sum. More vectors such as (3, 2) can be entered in the graph next to functions. Vectors in space such as (1, 2, 3) – cross products too – are drawn in a 3D coordinate system with x, y and z axes, a floor grid and dashed guides to the floor; dragging turns the view, and the view is saved with the page. The formula editor has the building blocks Vector (column vector), Vector arrow and Cross product; column vectors in formulas are calculated the same way.
• In formulas: the formula editor shows the same options under Calculate and appends the result in LaTeX, such as \frac{3}{4} + \frac{1}{6} = \frac{11}{12}.

#Dashboards and metrics

/Metric inserts a card with a number from a database, /Dashboard three side by side. With the gear you choose:

• the database (every database in the workspace you can read),
• optionally a view – then only the records its filters show count, such as “Open tickets”,
• the calculation: number of records, sum, average, minimum or maximum of a number, formula or rollup property,
• a label.

The server calculates the number for the person looking at the page and refreshes it every minute; private records only count for people allowed to see them. On published pages, visitors without access see a dash. Add charts by inserting a linked database below the metrics and choosing a chart view there – that makes a dashboard from several databases.