Graphics, Figures & Tables ⇒ Controlling lines in tikz

[Kotoschow]

Hi all,

I am trying to draw a tikz diagram with nodes and lines. I would like to control the point where lines meet nodes. That is, for some node whose coordinates are (x,y), I want to be able to draw lines that start at (x,y+0.2) and terminates at (x,y-0.2). That is, I want a shortcut for the following commands:

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\node(a) at (0,0);
\node(b) at (1,1);
\draw(0,.2) -- (1,.8);

Is there any command which gives me the coordinates of a node? Or an optional argument for the \node command which tells the node where lines should meet it?

Thanks!

[Stefan Kottwitz]

The easiest:

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\draw (a.north) -- (b.south);

With shifts:

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\draw ([yshift=0.2ex]a.north) -- ([yshift=-0.1ex]b.south);

Adding arbitrary x and y coordinates:

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\usetikzlibrary{calc}% in the preamble
...
\draw ($(a) + (0,.2)$) -- ($(b) - (0,0.2)$);

Stefan