Dotted background on a flowchart
You are using at least three deprecated ingredients: \tikzstyle, the old original positioning methods instead of positioning, and arrow stead of arrows.meta. Fixing this and the nodes used in fit, and using a matrix one gets
\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt]{report}
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{
a4paper,
total={170mm,257mm},
left=20mm,
top=20mm,
}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric, arrows.meta}
\usetikzlibrary{fit,backgrounds}
\usetikzlibrary{shadows.blur}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix,positioning}
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\tikzset{decision/.style={diamond, draw, fill=blue!20,
text width=4.5em, text badly centered, node distance=3cm, inner sep=0pt,
blur shadow},
block/.style={rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20,
text width=7em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=2em,blur shadow},
line/.style={draw, -Latex},
cloud/.style={draw, ellipse,fill=red!20, node distance=3cm,
minimum height=2em,blur shadow}}
\begin{tikzpicture}[auto]
% Place nodes
%\node [block] (TCSBox) {TCS Box};
\matrix[matrix of nodes,column sep=4em,nodes={block},row sep=1em] (mat){
Python Scraper & \\
Database & Outgoing files directory\\
Dashboard & Create New Reconfig File\\
User Interface \\
};
\node [block,above=2em of mat] (TCSBox) {TCS Box};
\node [decision, below=1em of mat] (decide) {Changed?};
\node [cloud, below=2em of decide] (end) {End};
\begin{scope}[every path/.style={line}]
\draw (TCSBox.west) -| (mat-1-1.north);
\draw (mat-2-2.north) |- (TCSBox.east);
\foreach \X in {1,2,3}
{\draw (mat-\X-1) -- (mat-\the\numexpr\X+1\relax-1);}
\draw (mat-4-1.south) |- (decide.west);
\draw (decide.east) -| (mat-3-2.south) node[pos=0,above right]{Yes} ;
\draw (mat-3-2) -- (mat-2-2);
\draw (decide) -- (end);
\end{scope}
\path (mat.north west) +(-2em,0.5em) coordinate (auxNW)
(mat.north east) +(2em,0.5em) coordinate (auxNE)
(mat.south west) +(-2em,-0.5em) coordinate (auxSW)
(mat.south east) +(2em,-0.5em) coordinate (auxSE);
\begin{scope}[on background layer]
\tikzset{myfit/.style={draw,dashed,gray,rounded corners,fill=yellow!50,
inner sep=10pt}}
\node[myfit,fit=(mat-1-1) (auxNW) (auxSW),
label={[anchor=north west,font=\tiny\sffamily]north west:Received by
server}]{};
\node[myfit,fit=(mat-2-2) (auxNE) (auxSE),
label={[anchor=north east,font=\tiny\sffamily]north east:Transmitted
from server}]{};
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\end{document}
@Schrödinger's cat gave a really good answer. Here is something that is very similar to the code you provided:
\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt]{report}
\usepackage[toc,page]{appendix}
\usepackage{pgfgantt}
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{
a4paper,
total={170mm,257mm},
left=20mm,
top=20mm,
}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric, arrows, shadows}
\usetikzlibrary{fit,backgrounds}
\usetikzlibrary{shadows.blur}
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\tikzset{
decision/.style={
diamond, draw, fill=blue!20, text width=4.5em, text badly centered,
node distance=3cm, inner sep=0pt, drop shadow
},
block/.style={
rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, text width=7em, text centered, rounded corners,
minimum height=2em, drop shadow
},
line/.style={
draw, -latex'
},
cloud/.style={
draw, ellipse,fill=red!20, node distance=3cm, minimum height=2em, drop shadow
},
rect/.style={
rectangle, rounded corners, minimum width=3.5cm, minimum height=1cm,
text centered, draw=black, fill=blue!10,blur shadow
},
arrow/.style={
thick,->,>=stealth
}
}
\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 2cm, auto]
% Place nodes
\node [block] (TCSBox) {TCS Box};
\node [block, below left=1cm and 0.25cm of TCSBox] (scraper) {Python Scraper};
\node [block, below of=scraper] (db) {Database};
\node [block, right of=db, node distance=6cm] (tx) {Outgoing files directory};
\node [block, below of=db] (dash) {Dashboard};
\node [block, right of=dash, node distance=6cm] (reconfig) {Create New Reconfig File};
\node [block, below of=dash] (ui) {User Interface};
\node [decision, below right=1cm and 1cm of ui] (decide) {Changed?};
\node [cloud, below of=decide] (end) {End};
label={[font=\small\sffamily,name=label1,xshift=-3mm]above right:{Transmitted by Server}}] (label1){Outoing files directory};
label={[font=\small\sffamily,name=label2,xshift=3mm]above left:{Received to Server}}] (label1){Python Scraper};
% \node [block, below of=sc] (db) {Database};
% \node [block, left of=evaluate, node distance=3cm] (update) {update model};
%
% \node [block, below of=decide, node distance=3cm] (stop) {stop};
% Draw edges
\path [line] (TCSBox) -| (scraper);
\path [line] (scraper) -- (db);
\path [line] (db) -- (dash);
\path [line] (dash) -- (ui);
\path [line] (ui) |- (decide);
\path [line] (reconfig) -- (tx);
\path [line] (tx) |- (TCSBox);
\path [line] (decide) -| node[near start]{Yes} (reconfig);
\path [line] (decide) -- node {No}(end);
\begin{scope}[on background layer]
\tikzset{myfit/.style={draw,dashed,gray,rounded corners,fill=yellow!50,
inner sep=10pt}}
\node[myfit,fit=(scraper) (db) (dash) (ui), inner ysep=15pt, inner xsep=35pt ,xshift = -20pt](leftFit){};
\node[anchor=north west] at (leftFit.north west) {\footnotesize Received by server};
\node[myfit,fit=(scraper) (db) (dash) (ui), inner ysep=15pt, inner xsep=35pt ,right=of leftFit, xshift = 7.5pt](rightFit){};
\node[anchor=north east] at (rightFit.north east) {\footnotesize Transmitted from server};
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\end{document}
one more solution, for fun :-)
\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt]{report}
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{a4paper,
total={170mm,257mm},
left=20mm,
top=20mm,
}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta,
backgrounds,
chains, % <--- added
fit, % <--- added
positioning,% <--- added
shadows.blur,
shapes.geometric}
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[
node distance = 8mm and 6mm,
start chain = A going below,
arr/.style = {thick,-Stealth},
block/.style = {rectangle, rounded corners, draw, fill=blue!20,
text width=7em, align=center, minimum height=2em,
blur shadow, on chain=A},
blockJ/.style = {block, join=by arr},
cloud/.style = {ellipse,fill=red!20, minimum height=2em, drop shadow},
decision/.style = {diamond, aspect=1.2, draw, fill=blue!20,
text width=4.5em, align=center, inner sep=0pt, blur shadow},
FIT/.style = {rectangle, rounded corners, draw, dashed, fill=yellow!30,
inner xsep=3em, inner ysep=1em, yshift=0.5em,
fit=#1},
]
% Place nodes
% top/start node
\node [block] {TCS Box}; % A-1
% left branch, nodes are in chain
\node [block, % A-2
below left=of A-1.south]
{Python Scraper};
\node [blockJ] {Database};
\node [blockJ] {Dashboard};
\node [blockJ] {User Interface}; % A-5
% right branch, nodes are in chain
\node [block, % A-6
below right=of A-1.south |- A-2]
{Outgoing files directory};
\node [block] {Create New Reconfig File};
% nodes below of both branch
\node [decision, below=of A-1 |- A-5] (decide) {Changed?};
\node [cloud, below=of decide] (end) {End};
% background nodes
\begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
\node (f1) [FIT=(A-2) (A-5), xshift=-2em] {};
\node[below right, font=\scriptsize] at (f1.north west) {Received by Server};
\node (f2) [FIT=(A-2.north -| A-6) (A-6) (A-5.south -| A-7),xshift=2em] {};
\node[below left, font=\scriptsize] at (f2.north east) {Transmitted by Server};
\end{pgfonlayer}
% arrows not considering with "join" macro
% in left branch
\draw [arr] (A-1) -| (A-2);
\draw [arr] (A-5) |- (decide);
% in right branch
\draw [arr] (decide) -| node[pos=0.25,above] {Yes}(A-7);
\draw [arr] (A-7) -- (A-6);
\draw [arr] (A-6) |- (A-1);
% at middle/bottom
\draw [arr] (decide) -- node[right] {No} (end);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\end{document}
Edit
- for placement of nodes are used packages
chainsandpositioning; note difference in used positioning syntax (... of=...is now...= of ...) - styles for nodes are slightly modified:
- added are option
on chain=Awhere A is names of nodes in chain:A-1,A-2, ... from the first node in chain to the last one, as they are inserted in code (names of nodes in chain are in code indicated by comments) - to nodes in left branch is added option
join=by arrwherearris style for arrows
- added are option
- yellow nodes with dashed border are drawn on the background layer
- relative to their north west/north east corners are added labels/ of nodes
- separately are drawn arrows not drawn by
joinmacro - code contains comments for explanation of code meaning