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Visio

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Changing Embedded Visio Report Column Headers

Most Visio users should know that there is a built-in basic report writer. I use it often, but I do get frustrated sometimes. I wrote a chapter about it in my 2007 book (see https://bvisual.net/resources/visualizing-information-with-microsoft-visio/ ), where I explained how you can edit the XML of an external report to change the column headers, but this can be a bit of a pain if the report is embedded in you document. Therefore, I have written some VBA code to provide the ability to edit embedded report column headers.

For example, here is a standard report for equipment within a rack:

[Read more…] about Changing Embedded Visio Report Column Headers

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See my book at PacktLib Books On-Line

The publishers of my last book, Microsoft Visio 2010 Business Process
Diagramming and Validation (Packt Publishing), have put it on-line at http://packtlib.packtpub.com/library/9781849680141/ch02lvl1sec06

You can read chapter 2 for free, but hopefully you will pay for the rest of it 🙂

On-line publishing has at least three advantages over the printed copy:

1. It is in color (it is usually too expensive for printed books)

2. It is searchable

3. It is quickly available

You can also see a bit more via http://www.visiorules.com …

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Data Import & Export Features in Visio 2010

I have been using (Microsoft) Visio for importing and exporting data since 1996, and was an early tester/adopter of the Database Wizard features in Visio 4.1 (I think). I think of Visio as a data visualization tool, yet I cannot recall seeing a comprehensive list of the areas in Visio, out-of-the-box, where you can import and export data easily. So I decided to draw a data-linked diagram of just this for Visio 2010.

image



I have made the files available for you at the following links:

[Read more…] about Data Import & Export Features in Visio 2010

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It’s no April Fool

Tomorrow is an important day … it will be my daughter’s 18th birthday! Today was significant too … I was re-awarded as an MVP again by Microsoft. There is a kind of geeky symmetry in these two events … my award is for Visio, and Visio was the first word that my daughter learnt to read because I used to (still do) wear so many branded T-shirts. That should tell you something: I’m a cheapskate; I don’t care too much about fashion; but, more importantly, I like being associated with Visio because it is good … very good.

Some people will queue overnight to get the latest shiny fruit-named gadget, others will only play with toys that the have personally helped assemble. I am happy to be able to use, and occasionally abuse, another person’s work. I am even happier when that person will listen if I make some objective criticisms or make a few wishes. It is their prerogative to accept or reject whatever I say without it affecting our friendship. That is how I feel about my relationship with Microsoft through the MVP award program. I know that others have blogged about their disillusionment, but I am not. even though the numbers of Visio MVPs at the recent MVP Conference was reduced this year (probably the tight economic circumstances), the time we spent with the product team was precious, and worth the expense of the trip.

I am not sycophantic, as anyone who has read some of my comments recently in The Register will see for themselves ( http://search.theregister.co.uk/?q=David+Parker+Visio&site=&psite=0 ), but I do feel honoured by the MVP award. So, thank you, Microsoft: long may you continue to provide useful, extendable, paradigm-shifting applications like Microsoft Visio.

P.S. Thanks for spotlighting me in the first edition of the Visio Impact Newsletter today … I thought it was an April Fool at first! (click here to subscribe).