Visio

Published on August 31, 2011 by David Parker

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 I think you should be aware of. The first one is about how shapes can appear to be in a container, but aren’t really; and the second is how the Container type prevents SpatialNeighbors from working … unless you use a new constant.

Let’s start with an example diagram that contains three Process shapes on a Cross Functional Flowchart. Notice that I have select the Process shape labelled A and this has caused the swimlane Function 2 to display a brown highlight … this is a good indication that the Structured Diagramming

API is working, and that Function 2 is a container shape. I have placed two more Process shapes below the swimlanes, and one of them (C) is on top of a SubProcess shape.

Published on July 31, 2011 by David Parker

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…]

Published on July 31, 2011 by David Parker

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 …

Published on June 7, 2011 by David Parker

Visio 2010 Strengths and Weaknesses

My fellow Visio MVP, Chris Roth, and I have recently been interviewed by the renowned online magazine, The Register. You can read some of our thoughts at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/28/visualisation_visio_strengths_weaknesses/.

Published on May 24, 2011 by David Parker

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.

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

[Read more…]

Published on April 30, 2011 by David Parker

A Review of Visio 2010 Step by Step Book

There is a new book out for Visio 2010 beginners, Visio 2010 Step by Step, published by O’Reilly and written by my fellow Visio MVP, Scott Helmers. The book is written in the clear style that is familiar to the series, and should be a useful adjunct to any user who wants an easy introduction to Visio 2010.