Linking Data to Visio Shapes in Code

One of the most useful capabilities of Visio Professional and Visio Plan 2 is to link external data to shapes and have them refreshed by changes in the data source. So, many of my solutions involve writing code to make these links, and they are covered with some VBA examples in my book, Mastering Data Visualization with Microsoft Visio Professional 2016, but I mostly write C# code in VSTO add-ins, so I thought it would be useful to demonstrate how easy it is to create data links by dropping a shape, and by adding links to an existing shape. The book, by the way, is still relevant for the current Visio Professional and Visio Plan 2 editions!

I have uploaded a short video to YouTube to demonstrate and included the LinqPad code listings below.

DropLinkedPerson

This code uses the selected data recordset to drop a Person master shape in the centre of the page, linked to a specified person row.

void Main()
{
	var vApp = MyExtensions.GetRunningVisio();
	if (vApp.ActiveDocument == null) return;
	if (vApp.ActivePage == null) return;

	Visio.Window win = vApp.ActiveWindow;
	Visio.Document doc = vApp.ActiveDocument;
	Visio.Page pag = vApp.ActivePage;
	int DiagramServices = doc.DiagramServicesEnabled;
	doc.DiagramServicesEnabled = (int)Visio.VisDiagramServices.visServiceAll;

	Visio.Window winDrs = 
		win.Windows.ItemFromID[(int)Visio.VisWinTypes.visWinIDExternalData];
	
	if (winDrs.Visible)
	{
		Visio.DataRecordset drs = winDrs.SelectedDataRecordset;
		if (drs != null)
		{
			var criteria = $"[Name] = 'Jim Kim'" ;
			var mst = doc.Masters["Person"];
			var x = 0.5 * pag.PageSheet.CellsU["PageWidth"].ResultIU;
			var y = 0.5 * pag.PageSheet.CellsU["PageHeight"].ResultIU;
			Array rowIDs = drs.GetDataRowIDs(criteria);
			for (int i = 0; i < rowIDs.Length; i++)
			{
				var shp = pag.DropLinked(mst,x,y,
					drs.ID,(int) rowIDs.GetValue(i),true);
			}
		}
	}
	doc.DiagramServicesEnabled = DiagramServices;
}

DropLinkedDepartmentPersonnel

This code uses the selected data recordset to drop Person master shapes for each person from a specified department.

void Main()
{
	var vApp = MyExtensions.GetRunningVisio();
	if (vApp.ActiveDocument == null) return;
	if (vApp.ActivePage == null) return;

	Visio.Window win = vApp.ActiveWindow;
	Visio.Document doc = vApp.ActiveDocument;
	Visio.Page pag = vApp.ActivePage;
	int DiagramServices = doc.DiagramServicesEnabled;
	doc.DiagramServicesEnabled = (int)Visio.VisDiagramServices.visServiceAll;

	Visio.Window winDrs = 
		win.Windows.ItemFromID[(int)Visio.VisWinTypes.visWinIDExternalData];
	
	if (winDrs.Visible)
	{
		Visio.DataRecordset drs = winDrs.SelectedDataRecordset;
		if (drs != null)
		{
			var criteria = $"[Department] = 'Marketing'" ;
			var mst = doc.Masters["Person"];
			var x = 0.5 * pag.PageSheet.CellsU["PageWidth"].ResultIU;
			var y = 0.5 * pag.PageSheet.CellsU["PageHeight"].ResultIU;
			
			Array rowIDs = drs.GetDataRowIDs(criteria);
			if (rowIDs.Length > 0)
			{
				var dY = y / rowIDs.Length;
				var undoScope = vApp.BeginUndoScope("Dropping linked shapes");
				for (int i = 0; i < rowIDs.Length; i++)
				{
					var shp = pag.DropLinked(mst, x, y + (i * dY),
						drs.ID, (int)rowIDs.GetValue(i), true);
				}
				vApp.EndUndoScope(undoScope,true);
			}
		}
	}
	doc.DiagramServicesEnabled = DiagramServices;
}

DropLinkedPersonInRoom

This code uses the selected data recordset to add a data link to a simple shape with Office Number text which is used to get a person row.

void Main()
{
	var vApp = MyExtensions.GetRunningVisio();
	if (vApp.ActiveDocument == null) return;
	if (vApp.ActivePage == null) return;

	Visio.Window win = vApp.ActiveWindow;
	Visio.Document doc = vApp.ActiveDocument;
	Visio.Page pag = vApp.ActivePage;
	
	if (win.Selection.Count == 0)
	{
		return;
	}
	
	var shp = win.Selection.PrimaryItem;
	var shpText = shp.Characters.Text.ToString();
	
	int.TryParse(shpText, out int off_nmbr);
	
	if (off_nmbr == 0)
	{
		return;
	}
	
	int DiagramServices = doc.DiagramServicesEnabled;
	doc.DiagramServicesEnabled = (int)Visio.VisDiagramServices.visServiceAll;

	
	Visio.Window winDrs =
		win.Windows.ItemFromID[(int)Visio.VisWinTypes.visWinIDExternalData];
	
	
	if (winDrs.Visible)
	{
		Visio.DataRecordset drs = winDrs.SelectedDataRecordset;
		if (drs != null)
		{
			var criteria = $"[Office_Number] = {off_nmbr}" ;
			Array rowIDs = drs.GetDataRowIDs(criteria);
			for (int i = 0; i < rowIDs.Length; i++)
			{
				shp.LinkToData(drs.ID, (int) rowIDs.GetValue(i),true);
			}
		}
	}
	doc.DiagramServicesEnabled = DiagramServices;
}

DropLinkedPersonnelInRooms

This code uses the selected data recordset to add a data link to selected simple shapes with Office Number text which is used to get a person row for each.

void Main()
{
	var vApp = MyExtensions.GetRunningVisio();
	if (vApp.ActiveDocument == null) return;
	if (vApp.ActivePage == null) return;

	Visio.Window win = vApp.ActiveWindow;
	Visio.Document doc = vApp.ActiveDocument;
	Visio.Page pag = vApp.ActivePage;
	
	if (win.Selection.Count == 0)
	{
		return;
	}
	var sel = win.Selection;
	int DiagramServices = doc.DiagramServicesEnabled;
	doc.DiagramServicesEnabled = (int)Visio.VisDiagramServices.visServiceAll;

	Visio.Window winDrs = 
		win.Windows.ItemFromID[(int)Visio.VisWinTypes.visWinIDExternalData];
	
	if (winDrs.Visible)
	{
		Visio.DataRecordset drs = winDrs.SelectedDataRecordset;
		if (drs != null)
		{
			var undoScope = vApp.BeginUndoScope("Adding data links to shapes");
			foreach (Visio.Shape shp in sel)
			{
				var shpText = shp.Characters.Text.ToString();
				int.TryParse(shpText, out int off_nmbr);
				if (off_nmbr != 0)
				{
					var criteria = $"[Office_Number] = {off_nmbr}";
					Array rowIDs = drs.GetDataRowIDs(criteria);
					for (int i = 0; i < rowIDs.Length; i++)
					{
						shp.LinkToData(drs.ID, (int)rowIDs.GetValue(i), false);
					}
				}
			}
			vApp.EndUndoScope(undoScope, true);
		}
	}
	doc.DiagramServicesEnabled = DiagramServices;
}

Note that I do not recommend using the ApplyDataGraphicsAfterLink = true argument for this particular code because Visio can take a while to insert DataGraphics into each shape, but the foreach loop does not wait for the previous shp to finish its update.

GetRunningVisio

This is the extension to get the running Visio application.

// MyExtensions
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using LINQPad;
using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio;

public static Application GetRunningVisio()
{
	Application vApp = null;
	try
	{
		vApp = (Application)Marshal.GetActiveObject("Visio.Application");
	}
	catch (Exception ex)
	{
		Extensions.Dump<string>("Couldn't find running Visio instance", ex.Message);
	}
	return vApp;
}

Related posts

Pushing Data Visualizer in Visio to the limits!

Regular readers of my blog will know that I like to use the Data Visualizer (DV) in Visio Plan 2, but I recently tried to help a user who really decided to push it to the limits. In this scenario, there were multiple connections, but with different labels, being created between the same flowchart shapes,…

Update any Visio ShapeSheet cell with External Data

When Microsoft introduced a new way of linking external data to Visio shapes in 2007, I initially bemoaned the inability to update anything but Shape Data row values, unlike the old database add-on that I had been using for 10 years. The new method, though, has many advantages over the old way, not least that…

Keeping Visio Data Graphic Items Level

My good friend Scott Helmers, Visio author and trainer, of Harvard Computing Group , recently asked for some help in keeping data graphic items level when their target shape is rotated. Fortunately, I was able to assist, so I thought I would explain how this can be done, and also update my Icon Maker macro…

Duplicating Visio Data Graphics

I was recently asked about switching between different Visio Data Graphics within a page, so I thought I should record a few short videos to explain how Visio Data Graphics work, how they can be edited and duplicated, and how to automate switching between them. (more…)

Visio 2010 MVP Session videos reprise

Back in 2012, my fellow Visio MVPs, Scott Helmers and Chris Roth, and I recorded a series of 24 videos about Visio 2010. They were first hosted on Microsoft’s web site, then they put them up on YouTube, they they got deleted :-(. Well, we have managed to retrieve them, and put them back up…

Viewing Visio Document Changes in Git

Developing a Visio solution usually involves both .Net code and Visio ShapeSheet formulas. Good practice dictates that the source code is saved into a code repository, such as Git, where changes can be committed and commented. Visual Studio 2019 now includes native Git support, and can be linked to Azure DevOps easily. The code can…