The invention provides a flexible and efficient flow chart building method. The method includes the steps of arranging the layout of a flow chart, editing the flow chart, conducting partial folding or unfolding, conducting deletion or revocation, conducting affixing and copying and the like. The method firstly defines base nodes and base groups, each base group is composed of a group head, a group end and middle nodes, and the base groups are divided into a general group, a branch group and a circulation group. When the flow chart is constructed, starting nodes and end nodes are connected to form a basic flow chart, and then other nodes are added into the basic flow chart. The layout of the flow chart also belongs to the group layout, and according to the difference of the groups, the group layout is divided into a main layout, a branch group layout and a circulation group layout. Through group folding and unfolding, the local flow chart groups are folded up or unfolded, the complicated flow chart can be simpler and clearer, and business logic analysis is convenient to achieve. The method can be widely applied to flow chart-based procedure construction, logic analysis and the like, and the typical application of the method is in the construction of a machine vision software system.