Is there a better way to draw parallel lines between two nodes that are neither aligned vertically or horizontally

Question

I know how to draw parallel lines between two nodes that are either aligned horizontally or vertically.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[myn/.style={circle,draw,inner sep=0.25cm,outer sep=3pt}]
  \node[myn] (A) at (0,0) {A};
  \node[myn] (B) at (5,0) {B};
  \node[myn] (C) at (5,3) {C};
  \node[myn] (Z) at (10,-5) {Z};

  \draw[->] (A.10) -- (B.170);
  \draw[<-] (A.-10) -- (B.190);

  \draw[->] (B.80) -- (C.-80);
  \draw[<-] (B.100) -- (C.-100);

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

enter image description here

What I'd like to know is how to do something similar between nodes that are not so aligned such as between nodes A and Z in the above diagram where I don't necessarily know exactly where Z will be placed beforehand.

I'm able to get something like

  \path let \p1=($(Z)-(A)$),
            \n1={atan(\y1/\x1)},
            \n2={\n1+180},
            \n3={\n1+90},
            \n4={1ex*cos(\n3)},
            \n5={1ex*sin(\n3)}
        in
        [draw,blue] ([yshift=\n5,xshift=\n4]A.\n1) -- ([yshift=\n5,xshift=\n4]Z.\n2);

to work, but this just seems way more complicated than necessary (or, is it?).

Incidentally, though this is perhaps starting to look like a commutative diagram, that's not what it's supposed to be.

I think this is a duplicate ;) http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/55068/is-there-a-tikz-equivalent-to-the-pstricks-ncbar-command — percusse, Jul 12 '14 at 10:51

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 12 '14 at 08:46

Here is a suggestion using partway modifiers:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}

% Syntax:
% \DoublLine[half of the double line distance]{first node}{second node}{options line 1}{options line 2}
\newcommand\DoubleLine[5][3pt]{%
  \path(#2)--(#3)coordinate[at start](h1)coordinate[at end](h2);
  \draw[#4]($(h1)!#1!90:(h2)$)--($(h2)!#1!-90:(h1)$);
  \draw[#5]($(h1)!#1!-90:(h2)$)--($(h2)!#1!90:(h1)$);
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[myn/.style={circle,draw,inner sep=0.25cm,outer sep=3pt}]
  \node[myn] (A) at (0,0) {A};
  \node[myn] (B) at (5,0) {B};
  \node[myn] (C) at (5,3) {C};
  \node[myn] (Z) at (10,-5) {Z};
% double lines:
  \foreach \p in {A,C,Z}{
    \DoubleLine{B}{\p}{<-,red}{->,blue}
  }
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

The at start and at end syntax is what I needed to learn about. Thank you. — A.Ellett, Jul 12 '14 at 15:40

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 12 '14 at 07:02

Just for fun with PSTricks.

\documentclass[pstricks,border=12pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pst-node}
\begin{document}
\begin{pspicture}[radius=15pt,nodesep=5pt,showgrid](8,8)
    \rput(2,6){\Circlenode{a}{A}}
    \rput(6,2){\Circlenode{b}{B}}
    \ncline[linecolor=red]{a}{b}
    \ncline[offset=6pt,linecolor=green]{a}{b}
    \ncline[offset=-6pt,linecolor=blue]{a}{b}
\end{pspicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Is there a better way to draw parallel lines between two nodes that are neither aligned vertically or horizontally

2 Answers2

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