Having developed Node and Edge/ Dynamic connector masters shapes for creating Node and Edge table entries for a SQL Server 2017, I decided that I should write some validation rules. The validation feature has been in Visio since the 2010 edition, but is underused, even though I wrote a book about them … see Microsoft Visio 2013 Business Process Diagramming and Validation . I think that only six rules are necessary to validate that a page with Node and Edge shapes is well constructed before attempting to update the tables in SQL Server, or any other GraphDatabase.
Validation
Visualising SharePoint and SQL Data with Visio Professional
I will be venturing to the dark side of the moon on Saturday 12th September 2015 at SQL Saturday in Cambridge, UK ( see http://www.sqlsaturday.com/411/EventHome.aspx ).
New Visio book out now!
After the trip to Hyderabad for the Visio MVP Conference, as described in my previous post, my wife and I went to Bangalore, Vadodara, and Mumbai. This gave me the chance to drop-in on Packt Publishing because this is the week that my new book is published ( see http://www.packtpub.com/microsoft-visio-2013-business-process-diagramming-and-validation/book ). The book’s title is Microsoft Visio 2013 Business Process Diagramming and Validation, and, although this is an update to my 2010 book (with an extra chapter for integration with Office365 and SharePoint 2013), it should resonate with a wider audience because Microsoft decided to merge the Premium and Professional editions into one Professional edition for Visio 2013, so that it now includes Visio Services and Validation. This means that there are millions more Visio users who can take advantage of validation rules to ensure that they have well-constructed diagrams in Visio. I would also like to stress that validation rules can be applied to all types of diagrams, not just process diagrams, and I will demonstrate this over the next few months here.
New MSDN Article : Introduction to Validation Rules in Visio Premium 2010
I was planning to write a quick blog today, but it seems that Microsoft have moved all spaces.live.com bloggers to WordPress! Another new tool to learn ….
In the meantime, I am pleased to announce that Microsoft have just published an article that I have written at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff847470.aspx
This article goes through the new diagram validation feature in Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 and shows you how to use the Validation API to create your own rules and rule sets to validate Visio 2010 diagrams.
Of course, those of you who wish to delve deeper could always buy my book from all good bookstores – see http://www.visiorules.com
Microsoft Visio 2010 Business Process Diagramming and Validation book published
Phew … my new book is published, and I have a new Visio 2010 add-in, Rules Tools, to accompany it.
If you are a Microsoft Visio 2010 Premium Edition user or developer who wants to get to grips with both the basic features of Visio 2010 and the new Validation Rules in this edition, then this book is for you. A working knowledge of Microsoft Visio, and optionally .NET for the add-in code, is required, though previous knowledge of business process diagramming is not necessary. More experienced Visio users will gain valuable knowledge for building add-ins and creating and publishing rules. If you want to achieve results from Visio 2010 beyond the ordinary out-of-the-box features, then this book is ideal for you. Although this book covers the Premium Edition, much of the book is still useful if you are a Visio 2010 Standard Edition or Professional Edition user.
Microsoft Visio 2010 Business Process Diagramming and Validation :
https://www.packtpub.com/microsoft-visio-2010-business-process-diagramming/book
Rules Tools
The new Validation API enables businesses to write custom validation rules to suit their own purposes.
Microsoft Visio 2010 provides built-in rule sets for flowcharts, BPMN diagrams and SharePoint Designer Workflows. However, it does not provide a rule set developer interface for the analyzing, amending or creating rules. This Rules Tools add-in fills this gap by providing an extra group in the Process tab in Visio 2010 that allows users to analyze existing rules, display issues, and to export/import rule sets.
Go to the Rules Tools page for more information
Writing rules to validate diagrams in Visio 2010 – A worked example
Microsoft Visio 2010 Premium Edition introduced an extension to the Visio Type Library called the Validation API. This provides the capability to validate a Visio diagram to ensure that its construction complies with industry-standard or company –wide rules.
Organizations are able to use this new feature to encapsulate business logic as validation rules, grouped within rule sets.
Microsoft Visio 2010 Premium edition contains rule sets for use with Basic and Cross-Functional Flowcharts, BPMN Diagrams and SharePoint Workflow Designer diagrams.
This article describes how you can create your own rule sets and rules.