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Setting Visio Shape Cell Values By Connections

A recent newsgroup poster asked me to explain how to set the line color and weight of a connector according to the shapes it is connected to.  So, in this article, I have tried to explain one method of achieving this with minimal external coding.

In this example, I have created a rectangle shape that has a single Shape Data row, MyData, which has a fixed list of values, A;B;C.

The connector shape has been modified to trigger an event whenever a connection is made or unmade.  If the user successfully connects two rectangles with the same MyData value, then the line (weight and color) of the connector shape is amended to match the rectangle shapes.

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UK User Groups IT Pro Community Event

In my quest to promote Visio 2007 Professional as the visual information system of choice, I am presenting at the IT Pro Community event for the next two days, so I have posted my slides here. (Day 1 has little code, but Day 2 has lots of VBA code examples.):

http://www.ukusergroups.co.uk/index.html

Day 1 – Visualizing Information with Microsoft Visio 2007 slides:

http://cid-3350d61bc93733a9.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blogs/Visio%202007%20visualising%20data.pptx

Visio is a unique data visualization application, and the 2007 edition adds three new important data features that provide brand new data links, data graphics and pivot diagrams. These capabilities, along with the existing and often under-exploited tools, firmly position Visio as the foremost practical, easy to use visual information system that can be applied to a multitude of business scenarios. Microsoft Visio has been able to link ODBC data sources for many years via the Database Wizard, but this has limitations such as only a single data link per shape, and no support for stored procedures. Microsoft Visio 2007 overcomes both of these with the new Link Data programmable API, making it simple for end users and developers to create data rich diagrams that can be refreshed simply. In addition, the new Data Graphic features enable you to enhance linked shapes with icons, data bars, text callouts and color by value. The new Pivot Diagrams can be linked to data sources, including SQL Server Analysis Services, to provide interactive drill-downs of data diagrams, allowing the user to visualise, analyse, and present aggregate information in a new appealing manner. I’ll demonstrate the new features…and show how these data links can be made.

Day 2 – Visualizing Information the Smart (Diagram) Way slides:

http://cid-3350d61bc93733a9.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blogs/Visualising%20info%20the%20smart%20diagram%20way.pptx

Visio is a smart drawing tool, but it is even smarter when linked to corporate data, systems or processes, enabling it to be automatically refreshed to visualize the latest facts and figures. Data-linked Visio diagrams can be used for visualization of complex information; analysis of statistics; and communication to a broader audience with the Visio Viewer or as web pages.
This session will demonstrate linking Visio shapes to data from a variety of sources, including SQL Server stored procedures and XML files; how to drill-down into information using PivotDiagrams; and how to display data values with Data Graphics (and how to create your own). It will also include methods to automatically connect shapes together from data to create an Organization Chart without the Org Chart Wizard; and how to create legends for data graphic items.

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UK Counties and Boroughs Map Shapes for Visio

My friend and colleague, Chris Roth, has made lots of maps available in Visio, his latest being Germany ( http://www.visguy.com/2008/03/01/map-of-germany/ ).  Well, we Brits hate being outdone by a German-American, so I have decided to make my UK Map shapes for Visio publicly available at UK Geography Structure.vsd .

I created the UK map several years ago by converting from PDF to SVG to Visio, and each of the counties and boroughs have a single rectangular Master, Admin Area.  I used code to replace the rectangle geometry with the actual shape geometry.  This means that, although they are all different, they have the same Master, thus making it easier to propagate any changes, such as Shape Data rows.

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Using Fill Patterns with DataGraphic Color By Value

Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Professional provides the ability to color shapes by different values in selected cells.  This is great, but just how many color variations can your eyes detect?  If you have lots of different values, then the color by value automatically produced colors can look too similar to be able to distinguish them apart. In this article, I propose a method of automatically assigning different fill patterns to similar colors so that they can be visually separated.
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Visualizing Information the Smart (Diagram) Way

Those of you who are attending the Visio Conference in Redmond this week will know that I am presenting in the developer track.  I am demonstrating some automation examples for building organization charts from SQL Server AdventureWorks database (slightly enhanced) in Visio 2007 Professional, without using the Org Chart Wizard.

This means that you have far more flexibility with the diagram layout, and it demonstrates Link Data to Shapes, Data Graphics and Pivot Diagrams.

The example stencil which includes all of the VBA samples used is attached to this post, along with the PowerPoint slideshow, and the SQL Server scripts to enhance the AdventureWorks database.

http://cid-3350d61bc93733a9.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blogs/MSVisioConference2008_DJP.vss

http://cid-3350d61bc93733a9.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blogs/VisioConf2008_DJP.pptx

http://cid-3350d61bc93733a9.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blogs/VisioConf2008DBScripts.zip

 

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Creating PolyLines From Existing Shapes in Visio

A couple of posts in the Visio newsgroups got me thinking this weekend.  One was from an Autocad conversant user who would prefer Visio to draw a continuous line between points rather than doing the normal click, hold and drag with line tool because he has tendonitis; and the other wanted to draw a circle centered on a vertex because he is drawing land boundaries.

Visio has a PolyLine line type, but, as far as I am aware, it can only be created in code – there is no menu or toolbar button to enable you to use it.  It was introduced for converting CAD lines, and is simply a series of X and Y co-ordinates in a single cell, rather than the normal co-ordinate per row.
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