We have purchased LucidChart Confluence OnPrem and really like the way we can create diagrams.
Now we would like to use the diagrams in other places more specifically to our software documentation which we write in Markdown and generate through our builds. The markdown files are stored close to the source code of our product to enable proper versioning. We are looking for a good way to automate (or something close to it) the way these diagrams are used in our documentation. They need to be in a image format and located in a specific folder.
We have an option to export it to a file but that is rather cumbersome as you need to locate the diagram in Confluence do your adjustments and then export it which means a lot of clicking and entering a filename. You also need to browse to the folder in source code every time you export it. Nothing is remembered.
We need to make this process smoother; otherwise the people writing the documentation will be reluctant to do it because of the hassle. I have come up with few options:
- auto-export the diagram to a pre-defined name and folder when saving a diagram. Or just make LucidChart remember the location name and format of where the image is exported to reduce the time used to export it.
- have an API which enables us to fetch the diagram from Confluence (in a format we like)
- have the LucidChart file stored in the file system and use Confluence as an editor. This would probably be optimal option for us as the file itself will also be stored and versioned.
I don't see that LucidChart Confluence OnPrem will enable us to make this process smoother with the current feature set. Are any of these options available already or do you have any other ideas to improve our process?
At the moment we are probably looking at using Visio again (OpenOffice etc. are not user friendly enough) which we previously abandoned because we started using Confluence.