Visio Professional has the ability to link to various data sources, and one of the most popular is SQL Server. The DATA\Link Data to Shapes … function will present a UI to choose from a table or view, but does not provide any stored procedures. Therefore, this article present a VBA macro that demonstrates how a stored procedure can be added as a refreshable data recordset in Visio.
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Visio Org Charts with Multiple Languages
I had an enquiry recently about displaying Organisation Charts with text in different languages. This set me thinking, and, if you have Visio Professional, then you can use Link Data to Shapes to add this capability to existing diagrams, but Visio Standard users can just the Org Chart Wizard.
I will use the OrgData.xls file that is provided in the <Program Files>\Microsoft Office\Office 15\Visio Content\<LCID>\ folder to demonstrate this. I have English US (1033) and Norwegian Bokmal (1044) available to me, as shown below:
In Englsih
Making unused data-linked SharePoint columns in Visio invisible automatically
I described how and why I sometimes link a SharePoint document library to Visio documents in a previous article ( see http://blog.bvisual.net/2015/02/10/displaying-sharepoint-document-library-column-values-on-visio-services-diagrams/). I mentioned that I always switch off the visibility of some columns because they are rarely needed in my Visio shapes as shape data rows. In this article, I present a VBA macro that can switch them off for you, therefore ensuring consistency.
The Link Data to Shapes feature in Visio does not allow for filtering of columns or rows when SharePoint lists are used as a data source. One answer is to create a view of the list in SharePoint to restrict the rows and some columns, but other columns still get pulled through to the External Data recordsets in Visio by default:
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A Table of Visio Data Graphic Icon Sets
I have previously written blog articles about using, and extending, the Microsoft supplied Data Graphic Icons Sets, but I never explicitly listed their variations in a useful visual table. So, here is one:
The history of Visio
I have been a dedicated user and developer of Visio since 1996 when I got a week-long developer training course presented by Dave Edson (see http://vizfirst.sharepoint.com/Pages/MrDavidAEdsonCEO.aspx ) and Mark Davison in Paris. Previous to that, I had been working with CAD and databases (or spread sheets), but I had noticed either version 1 or 2 of Visio on a computer mag cover disk, and earmarked it for future investigation.
We have recently been made aware that Ted Johnson, one of the original founders, has a website with the history of Visio up to the acquisition by Microsoft in 1999 ( see http://www.visiocorp.info ). It is fascinating reading, and there are lots of faces that I met there, plus some that you should still be aware of ( eg Chris Roth, aka VisGuy http://www.visguy.com/ ).
Visio is a unique product, and the story of Visio shows that it is a well-loved one, with an enthusiastic team behind it, and an watchful community eager to see it further develop!
Updating the file path of data linked Excel tables in Visio
Link Data to Shapes in Visio (not the Standard edition though) is great for visualizing information, and I often use a multi-worksheet Excel workbook that I create locally, and then wish to re-link to a copy of the workbook elsewhere, or even in Office365. This is a simple task if there are only one or two Excel tables involved, but can become tedious when there are many. So, this blog is presents an semi-automated method of achieving this.
Firstly I have an Excel workbook that I have many worksheets with tables of data on them. I named each worksheet, and used the Format As Table command on each.
