How to correct PlantUML Line Path

Question

I created this diagram using the following code. But as you can see, the lines going from (Cancel Order) and (Place Order) to (Publisher) decide to take a terribly rounded path to get their, instead of going straight to the right and then down to publisher. I tried using manual direction commands like "-down" but none of them seemed to help. Does anybody know how to fix this?

And here is my code. I appreciate any help. Thank you.

@startUML EBook Use Case Diagram
left to right direction
Actor Customer as customer
Actor EBook as ebook
Actor Publisher as publisher
rectangle "Book Catalogue" {
    together {
        Actor "Book Database" as bookLog
        (Retrieve Information) as getBook
        customer -- getBook
        getBook -- ebook
        getBook -- bookLog

        (Update Catalogue) as updateCatalogue
        ebook -- updateCatalogue
        updateCatalogue -- bookLog
    }

    together {
        (Place Order) as order
        customer -- order
        order -- ebook
        order--publisher

        (Cancel Order) as cancelOrder
        customer -- cancelOrder
        cancelOrder -- ebook
        cancelOrder--publisher
    }
}

(Ship To EBook) as shipEBook
shipEBook -- publisher
(Ship To Customer) as shipCustomer
customer -- shipCustomer
ebook -- shipEBook
shipCustomer -- ebook

(Return to EBook) as returnCustomer
(Returnto Publisher) as returnPublisher
customer -- returnCustomer
returnCustomer -- ebook
ebook -- returnPublisher
returnPublisher -- publisher

@endUML

Answer 1

There are some tricks that you can try, listed below. The layouting itself is performed by GraphViz (dot layouting iirc), and GraphViz simply does this sometimes. Graph layouting is a NP-complete problem, so algorithms usually take harsh shortcuts.

Typical workarounds that I've seen or used include:

• adding hidden lines a -[hidden]- b
• extending the length of a line a --- b (more dashes, longer line)
• specifying preferred direction of lines (a -left- b)
• swapping association ends (a -- b → b -- a)
• changing the order of definitions (the order does matter... sometimes)
• adding empty nodes with background/border colors set to Transparent

So if you really want to have a nice layout, you'll need to put some elbow grease in, but keep in mind that the layout will be still brittle -- if you add/remove items, you might need to redo it again.

Answer 2

Try the options suggested by @Peter Uhnak along with linetype :

skinparam linetype polyline
skinparam linetype ortho

Give better options for lines. Using ortho - (Here)

you will get -

Answer 3

To make a connection less important in the layout, use [norank], e.g., a -[norank]-> b

Answer 4

If anyone wants to know a more specific, put probably much more useless answer, here is what I did in the end.

    order -down- publisher
    publisher -[hidden]up- order

so for some reason adding the duplicated command both ways solves it.

Answer 5

All these good answers are compiled and referenced in the semi-official Hitchhiker’s Guide to PlantUML. See the Layout section.

Not sure how it was 3 years ago, but it's probably now a better starting point for PlantUML tweaks than SO.