My last two blogs have been about how I managed to convert XAML icon shapes into native Visio masters. Well, I have now converted all of Syncfusion’s Metro Studio 2 (now 5) shapes, and got their permission to release my own version of them. See Products/MetroIcons for more information.
Following on from my previous post, http://blog.bvisual.net/2012/11/02/us-election-special-vector-visio-2013-icons/, I have saved the stencil that was generated in Visio 2013 back to Visio 2003 – 2010 format … and, guess what? All of the new Bezier Curves got automatically translated to Nurbs, which means they work! (Except for themes … but they can be coloured)
They can be downloaded from : tp://sdrv.ms/TlzoEB
Perhaps someone would like to make Data Graphic icons from them ? : http://blog.bvisual.net/2012/04/19/make-your-own-visio-data-graphic-icons-sets-automatically/
Whilst the east coast of America has been battered by hurricane Sandy from the Atlantic (my commiserations), Microsoft have been hosting the //Build/ conference in the Pacific North West (specifically Redmond). I have been watching some of the overly fed attendees whoop with joy as they got given 100 Gb SkyDrive account, a Microsoft Surface and a Nokia Lumia 920 each. Yes, I felt jealous, but it would have cost me much more than their combined cost to get out there, so I stuck my head-phones into my large laptop and watched from the comfort of my living room. The reality of the devastation caused by nature can easily overwhelm the storm of technological advances that have been recently announced, but I am genuinely excited by Windows 8, SharePoint 2013, Office 2013 and, of course, Visio 2013.
Over a year ago, I wrote a blog about Page Grids and Off Page References ( see http://blog.bvisual.net/2011/09/02/page-grids-and-off-page-references/ ), and I promised to accommodate page margins. In addition, a user commented that a matching printable grid would be useful …. so here is an update. In this blog I provide an updated Off-page reference master, along with new GridLines and GridLabel masters.
Whenever I have been asked why I like Visio so much, I have usually cited its ability to connect shapes together; its ability to link to data; and its programmability. Visio 2010 formally added a structured diagram concept and API, and the premium edition introduced diagram validation. So many different types of Visio diagrams require elements to be connected together correctly, and I often have to add a little extra into the connectors to make them smarter.
A connector is a Visio shape that has 1-D behavior. The most used example is the Dynamic connector shape, which not only connects elements together, but can also re-route itself according to the layout and routing options selected for a page.
[Read more…] about Adding More Smartness to Visio ConnectorsI was recently asked how I would approach improving the Logic Gate 2 in the Circuits and Logic template, on the Analog and Digital Logic stencil. Well, this had resonance with me because I had often wondered why these shapes were not smarter than they are, so I looked more deeply into the shape construction to see how the Logic Gate 2 shape works, and how it could be improved so that the values of the inputs could be set and the logic applied to provide the correct output value. Eventually, similar improvements can be applied to all of the master shapes so that the connected logic diagram responds to input value changes.
The Logic Gate 2 shape has Shape Data rows to provide some configuration. Firstly, you can change the number of inputs from 2 to 5, and the number of outputs from 1 to 3:
