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Viewing Visio Files in Public Websites

Some of my colleagues have asked me how I have managed to include Visio files into this public website, so I thought I would share my secret. Microsoft has kindly provided a File Viewer Web Part for use in SharePoint that appears to be useful in other websites too.

If you view a Visio file that is stored on OneDrive or in SharePoint Online, you can get the </> Embed code for the Visio document from the Show More Commands (…) button in the top right corner. This is normally intended for use within SharePoint pages.

A panel will appear where you can enter the Width and Height of the embedded diagram.

The Embed Code will be something like:

This code assumes that you have permission to see the Visio document within SharePoint, so it is not suitable for general public viewing. Fortunately, the Share option allows you to create a read only link:

This link text can then be copied and used within the embed code yo replace the permissioned access to the file, as follows:

This edited code can then be inserted as custom html into your public non-SharePoint web page, and will display as follows, with active hyperlinks:

I don’t know if the other Microsoft Office web views provide the embed code, but the Visio one can be used and the source document replaced with, for example, and PowerPoint file:

Or a Word file:

Or Excel:

Intended or not, it is very useful!

Webinar on Visio, SharePoint and Teams using SPFx

I will be presenting a webinar on embedding Visio diagram in SharePoint Online and Teams next month, please register here ! (Or if you missed it live, then watch the recording !) The slides are available at https://www.slideshare.net/bvisual/creating-a-visio-web-part-with-sharepoint-spfx

Visio JavaScript API preview announced

Microsoft have just announced the availability of the new Visio JavaScript Api ( see Visio JavaScript APIs Preview). I presented this last week at the Artic SharePoint Challenge in Oslo where a number of developers took the opportunity to create data-linked Visio diagrams in Visio, and interact with them in SharePoint. Here is an abbreviated…

Using JavaScript to Find and Highlight Visio Shapes by Shape Data values in SharePoint Content Editor

In August, I wrote about Using JavaScript to Display Visio Shape Data and Hyperlinks in SharePoint Content Editor ( see http://blog.bvisual.net/2014/08/16/using-javascript-to-display-visio-shape-data-and-hyperlinks-in-sharepoint-content-editor/ ), so now I have added the ability to select shapes by a property value. The main advantage of using JavaScript in the client is that there is no need to go back to…

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Using CODE() and UNICODE() functions in Visio

Microsoft Visio does have CHAR() and UNICHAR() ShapeSheet functions, just like Excel, but it does not have the inverse CODE() and UNICODE() functions, unlike Excel. However, there is a way to create a formula in the Visio ShapeSheet to provide these functions.

The following worksheet demonstrates how the CHAR(), CODE(), UNICHAR(), and UNICODE() functions work in Excel.

ColumnFormula
Indexn
Char=IFERROR( CHAR(INT([@Index])),””)
Code=IFERROR( CODE([@Char]),””)
Unichar=UNICHAR(INT([@Index]))
Unicode=UNICODE([@Unichar])

Notice that there are no values for either CHAR() or CODE() above 255 because they use a single bit value. However, UNICHAR() and UNICODE() use two-bit values so can work for over 65,000 values.

A similar table in Visio, constructed using a List shape, requires some formulas in the User-Defined Cells section of the ShapeSheet for the formulas in the Shape Data section to use.

The User-defined Cells formulas are:

RowFormula
User.Chars=CHAR(INT(32))&CHAR(INT(33))& … CHAR(INT(255))
User.Code=FIND(ARG(“c”),User.Chars)
User.StartAt31
User.Unichars=UNICHAR(INT(32))&UNICHAR(INT(33))& … UNICHAR(INT(402))
User.Unicode=FIND(ARG(“c”),User.Unichars)

The Shape Data section formulas are:

RowValue Formula
Prop.Index=GUARD(User.StartAt+User.ListPosition)
Prop.Char=GUARD(CHAR(Prop.Index))
Prop.Code=GUARD(EVALCELL(User.Code,”c”,Prop.Char)+User.StartAt)
Prop.Unichar=GUARD(UNICHAR(Prop.Index))
Prop.Unicode=GUARD(EVALCELL(User.Unicode,”c”,Prop.Unichar)+User.StartAt)

Now, I can use these User.Code and User.Unicode formulas in any scenario where I need to get a character from a numeric value.

The formulas for User.Chars and User.Unichars are very long, so I wrote a couple of VBA sub-routines to generate them, and ran them to print into the Immediate window.

Fortunately, the Design / Editing / Edit Formula dialog box will accept the multi-line text, and then just concatenate them into a single log string on close. I found it was necessary to explicitly convert the numbers using Int() function, otherwise the built-in Unichar() function returned just #Value.

Option Explicit

Public Sub PrintChars()
Dim i As Long
Dim s As String
Dim x As Long
Dim y As Long
    y = 52

    For x = 32 To 255 Step (y + 1)
        s = ""
        For i = x To (x + y)
            If i = 32 Then
                s = "=Char(Int(" & i & "))"
            Else
                s = s & "&Char(Int(" & i & "))"
            End If
        Next i
        Debug.Print s
    Next x
End Sub

Public Sub PrintUnichars()
Dim i As Long
Dim s As String
Dim x As Long
Dim y As Long
    y = 52
    For x = 32 To 370 Step (y + 1)
        For i = x To (x + y)
            s = ""
            If i = 32 Then
                s = "=Unichar(Int(" & i & "))"
            Else
                s = s & "&Unichar(Int(" & i & "))"
            End If
        Next i
        Debug.Print s
    Next x
End Sub

Note that I did not bother to loop through all of the 64k values for Unichars!

The Visio list shape in the Office Web Apps viewer ( or in a new tab ):

The Excel worksheet in the Office Web Apps viewer:

Further reading : The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)

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Preventing Deletion of Container Members in Visio

The concept of Structured Diagrams was introduced in Visio 2010 and is featured in many of the templates supplied with Microsoft Visio, and in some third-party solutions, like mine. Connectors, callouts, containers and lists are the key parts of a structured diagrams, and there are times when preventing the deletion of members of a container or list is desirable.

  • An example cross-functional flowchart
  • Accidental deletion of a process shape

Visio does have the ability to lock a layer, and therefore preventing deletions of shapes assigned to that layer, but that also prevents the shapes being selected, and thus any movement, shape data or hyperlinks become inaccessible. Visio also the ability to protect any shapes from deletion with an option in the Developer / Shape Design / Protection dialog, but this has to be applied to selected shapes.

Another option is to use the container Format ribbon, however this is not visible by default for any cross-functional flowchart diagrams because Microsoft supplied a custom CROSS-FUNCTIONAL FLOWCHART ribbon tab. This is invisible because the User.msvSDContainerNoRibbon cell has a a TRUE value. Simply changing this to FALSE will enable the Format ribbon tab to be seen. There are some dangerous buttons, such as Disband Container, and some superfluous buttons, but there are also a couple of useful ones.

The container Format / Membership ribbon group has a Lock Container button. This will prevent the accidental deletion of any of the existing members of the parent container or list of the selected shape.

Note that it does not prevent the deletion of the connectors, as they are not considered to be members of the container or list.

Behind the scenes, the value of the User.msvSDContainerLocked cell of the container or list is being toggled between FALSE and TRUE. Be aware that a container or list does not accept any new members if the value is TRUE.

Notice that there is also a Select Contents button which allows you to select all of the container or list members in one click.

  • The container Format / Members / Select Contents button
  • Container contents selected

Note that there are more hidden selection capabilities in MultiSelect for Visio add-in.

See Custom containers, lists and callouts in Visio 2010 and Microsoft Visio Developer 2010 Training for more information.

Update to multiSelect & tracing sub-shape connections in Visio

Most of my Visio diagrams have simple connections between shapes, and my previous post about connections used a flowchart as an example (see https://blog.bvisual.net/2016/08/09/understanding-visio-connections/ ). However, it has come to my attention that some Visio developers add connection points to sub-shapes of Visio group shapes, and then connect between the sub-shapes. This means that the…

Visio 2010 Container Problems

Update : I have received a corrected response from my friends at Microsoft regarding the use of Spatial Neighbors and Containers, so I have to revise this post from its original. The changes are marked in Red. The Structured Diagramming API in Visio 2010 is really neat, but there are a couple of problems that…

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…

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…

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LinkedIn now has Visio Skills Assessment

Did you know that you can boast about your Visio skills on LinkedIn now? I just took the assessment, and fortunately, I passed … otherwise I wouldn’t be telling the world abut it 🙂

The entry point is cunningly hidden towards the bottom of your profile!

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Embedding Visio documents for public viewing

I have been asked by a colleague to publish my hack for enabling Visio files to be viewed by everyone with the Visio for the Web component in reading mode on this website, or indeed any other public web site. So, here goes ….

The first thing is to view the Visio file in an online browser. The file must be stored in OneDrive (or SharePoint Online if permission for guests available). The View online option is available from the right mouse menu of a selected Visio file, if viewing in Windows Explorer, or simply open the file, if listed in the browser. Note the “…” (More Commands) button in the top right corner.

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