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Shape Design

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Visio 2010 Validation Rules (part 1)

The Microsoft Visio team recently blogged about Creating custom validation rules for Visio 2010 , in which it was suggested that we can use Visual Basic for Applications to interact with the new validation API.  I thought, there’s a challenge … so I will develop a VBA project to do just that.  I will upload the code soon, but, as it is only half developed today, I will demonstrate how to understand why a rule has been broken.

In the following BPMN diagram, I have failed to connect a Task to the End Event.  I have made it obvious here but it could be easy to overlook in a larger diagram.  In fact, I know of one company who were advised by a “consultant” that there must be something wrong when the end of a connector goes red therefore you should move it away from the shape until it goes green!  The result was that the company had over 300 flow diagrams without a single valid connection!  That company is no more!

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Listing Connections in Visio 2010

One of the best bits of Visio is the connections between shapes, but it has always been difficult to understand these connections in code.  There are connections to and from shapes, which require you to understand where you are and which way to look … at the beginning or the end of a 1D connector. Visio 2010 has added some useful extra methods to the shape object which makes understanding connections much easier.  This post will show you how you can use the new GluedShapes() and ConnectedShapes() methods.

Take, for example, a network diagram where there are connections between servers and routers:

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You may wish to list the connections at the start and end of each cable.  Previously, this would have meant inspecting the connected cell to see if was at the beginning or end of the line, but now you can use the GluedShapes() method of a shape to retrieve an array of the 2D shapes connected at one end or another with the relevant arguments, visGluedShapesIncoming2D or visGluedShapesOutgoing2D.  The ListGluedConnections macro below displays the following in the immediate window:

Connector     Dynamic connector
>             Router.45     router-02
<             Server        server-01 Connector     Dynamic connector.107 >             Router.45     router-02
<             Server.30     server-02 Connector     Dynamic connector.108 >             Router        router-01
<             Server.75     server-03 Connector     Dynamic connector.109 >             Router.91     router-03
<             Server.30     server-02 Connector     Dynamic connector.110 >             Router.91     router-03
<             Server        server-01
Public Sub ListGluedConnections()
Dim shp As Visio.Shape
Dim connectorShape As Visio.Shape
Dim sourceShape As Visio.Shape
Dim targetShape As Visio.Shape
Dim aryTargetIDs() As Long
Dim arySourceIDs() As Long
Dim targetID As Long
Dim sourceID As Long
Dim i As Integer

For Each shp In Visio.ActivePage.Shapes
    If shp.OneD Then
        Debug.Print "Connector", shp.Name
        arySourceIDs = shp.GluedShapes(visGluedShapesIncoming2D, "")
        For i = 0 To UBound(arySourceIDs)
            Set sourceShape = Visio.ActivePage.Shapes.ItemFromID(arySourceIDs(i))
            If sourceShape.CellExists("Prop.NetworkName", Visio.visExistsAnywhere) Then
                Debug.Print , ">", sourceShape.Name, sourceShape.Cells("Prop.NetworkName").ResultStr("")
            End If
        Next
        aryTargetIDs = shp.GluedShapes(visGluedShapesOutgoing2D, "")
        For i = 0 To UBound(aryTargetIDs)
            Set targetShape = Visio.ActivePage.Shapes.ItemFromID(aryTargetIDs(i))
            If targetShape.CellExists("Prop.NetworkName", Visio.visExistsAnywhere) Then
                Debug.Print , "<", targetShape.Name, targetShape.Cells("Prop.NetworkName").ResultStr("")
            End If
        Next
    End If
Next

End Sub

Similarly, you may want to simply list the next connected 2D shape, effectively ignoring the cable.  In this case, you can use the new ConnectedShapes() method, with the relevant arguments visGluedShapesIncoming2D or visGluedShapesOutgoing2D, to produce an output like the following ( using the ListNextConnections macro below):

Shape         Server        server-01
>             Router.45     router-02
>             Router.91     router-03
Shape         Router        router-01
<             Server.75     server-03 Shape         Server.30     server-02 >             Router.45     router-02
>             Router.91     router-03
Shape         Router.45     router-02
<             Server        server-01
<             Server.30     server-02 Shape         Server.75     server-03 >             Router        router-01
Shape         Router.91     router-03
<             Server        server-01
<             Server.30     server-02
Public Sub ListNextConnections()
Dim shp As Visio.Shape
Dim connectorShape As Visio.Shape
Dim sourceShape As Visio.Shape
Dim targetShape As Visio.Shape
Dim aryTargetIDs() As Long
Dim arySourceIDs() As Long
Dim targetID As Long
Dim sourceID As Long
Dim i As Integer

For Each shp In Visio.ActivePage.Shapes
    If Not shp.OneD Then
        If shp.CellExists("Prop.NetworkName", Visio.visExistsAnywhere) Then
            Debug.Print "Shape", shp.Name, shp.Cells("Prop.NetworkName").ResultStr("")
            arySourceIDs = shp.ConnectedShapes(visConnectedShapesOutgoingNodes, "")
            For i = 0 To UBound(arySourceIDs)
                Set sourceShape = Visio.ActivePage.Shapes.ItemFromID(arySourceIDs(i))
                If sourceShape.CellExists("Prop.NetworkName", Visio.visExistsAnywhere) Then
                    Debug.Print , "<", sourceShape.Name, sourceShape.Cells("Prop.NetworkName").ResultStr("") End If Next aryTargetIDs = shp.ConnectedShapes(visConnectedShapesIncomingNodes, "") For i = 0 To UBound(aryTargetIDs) Set targetShape = Visio.ActivePage.Shapes.ItemFromID(aryTargetIDs(i)) If targetShape.CellExists("Prop.NetworkName", Visio.visExistsAnywhere) Then Debug.Print , ">", targetShape.Name, targetShape.Cells("Prop.NetworkName").ResultStr("")
                End If
            Next
        End If
    End If
Next

End Sub

I think this makes interrogation of connected diagrams, of all flavours, much simpler, though I would love to have similar ShapeSheet functions too!

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Visio 2010 : Containment and Cross-Functional Flowcharts

One of the templates to get a revision in Visio 2010 is the Cross Functional Flowchart template because of the new list and containment functionality that has been added into the core application.  I had to write a small bit of code in earlier versions of Visio for each flowchart shape to automatically understand which swimlane and phase it belongs to, but now there are ShapeSheet functions available, so a slight modification of a flowchart master enables it to inherit values from the swimlane that it is in.  This article demonstrates who you can do this to, for example, synchronize the fill color of each flowchart shape to that of the swimlane that it belongs to.

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Introducing celMaker 2

I was recently asked to provide a  new version of celMaker that works with Visio 2007 and Excel 2007, so I got my old VB6 code out of SourceSafe and upgraded it so that I could run it on my Vista 64 laptop too.  I also decided that I would release this version to the public as freeware because I have added no new features.So, what is celMaker? And where can you download it?

Last one first … you can download it from here : http://www.bvisual.net/products/celMaker/publish.htm (under review)

Most Visio users will have the components, so you can just click the Launch link.

1. Introduction

celMaker is a developer(ish) tool for Visio which allows the most often used sections of a Visio ShapeSheet to be copied into an Excel spreadsheet, or from an Excel spreadsheet onto a Visio master.
This means that the Visio Shape designer can create one master with its Shape Data (nee Custom  Properties), User Cells, Actions, Smart Tags, Controls and Connection Points, and then save this to an Excel spreadsheet for backup, verification, discussions, documentation or transfer to another Master.
The Excel spreadsheet can be created manually or by reverse engineering existing Visio masters.
celMaker is provided as a stand alone executable that requires both Visio and Excel to be running, and can be used for many different types of diagram projects.

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Visio in XPS and Interesting Microsoft Office Labs Projects

For the past two years, I have been adding XAML-based projects to my collection, alongside the normal Visio libraries and automation code that I normally produce.  The reason is quite simple : both environments have the ability of linking vector graphics and data together in an exciting, interactive and controllable way.  There is a certain smartness to both with the ability to binding data to graphical appearance.  XAML seems to be present in all of Microsoft’s graphic products, in the form of WPF, Silverlight .and Xps.  Now, we know that there are great things to come viz-a-viz Visio and XAML in the next version, and there is Saveen Reddy,s excellent Visio Export to XAML project on CodePlex ( https://www.openhub.net/p/VisioExportToXAML ), but most people do not realise that Xps is XAML, but compressed.

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Creating an Org Chart without the Org Chart Wizard

Microsoft Office Visio has had an Org Chart Wizard for as long as I can remember (and I have been using Visio since 1996).  It has gone through several iterations, but basically it provides a simple way to create personnel hierarchies from a variety of data sources.  It even has a command line interface so that the charts can be created with a minimum of user interaction.  This is great, but it is limited.  Firstly, it does not take advantage of the new Link Data to Shapes and Data Graphics in Visio 207 Professional; secondly, it only does direct reports with just one type of layout; and thirdly, you cannot refresh the diagram easily.  Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to overcome some of these obstacles using the new features of Visio 2007 Professional and with a little code.

Visio installs a sample OrgData.xls Excel spreadsheet in the folder <Program Files>Microsoft OfficeOffice12SAMPLES1033 by default, so I have copied this file and slightly amended it.

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