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Add-Ins

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Have multiple alternate languages in the same Visio diagram

I wrote a Visio add-in a few years ago that provides the ability to switch a multi-page Visio diagram between alternative languages. This particular client had just under a hundred pages of process flowcharts, with hyperlinks between the pages. They had to produce this Visio document in seven different languages and got extremely fed-up with trying to synchronise all the different copies whenever any changes were made, so a single Visio document which can store all of the alterative shape texts and page names was a much simpler time saving-solution. Moreover, Microsoft provide an online cognitive service which is useful for automatic speedy translations, though these can be overridden by a more knowledgeable user.

However, since this add-in was written, Microsoft have changed this translation service, and Visio has introduced 64bit version as the default. Therefore, I have updated the Multi-Language Text for Visio add-in to support both of these, and taken the opportunity to change the installation and licensing system.

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Advanced Installer now Supports Visio VSTO Add-Ins

Advanced Installer now supports creating VSTO Visio Add-Ins installation projects using the Office Add-Ins wizard! This is great news for those of us who are still having to create VSTO Add-Ins, especially since Visual Studio does not include Setup & Deployment projects (again).

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Using Advanced Installer with Viso VSTO Add-Ins

I have written many add-ins for Visio over the years, some for private clients for use in-house, some as products for public release by my clients or by me, and some just to help me with my day-to-day Visio development tasks. The ease of installation is always an issue, and I have been using a digital certificate to guarantee its authenticity in almost all of these scenarios. I have also included licensing code from a third-party for some of my own products, but have been aware that the third-party product I have been using is not ideal because it needs its own registered component on the client machine. So, when a client asked that I use Advanced Installer to create the installation setups so that their licensing system could be used, then I was (and still am) all for it because it could become a better method for myself. However, there are some issues that I am overcoming through this transition ….not least that an apparently correctly assigned digital certificate was actually not valid.

InvalidDigitalCertificate
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Embedding multiple language texts in one document in Visio

A few years ago, I was asked to write an add-in for Visio that could switch the text in each flowchart shape between different languages. The client required 5 different alternate languages to be supported, and they had the same 99 page Visio document copied 5 times, and each time there was an edit to be done, then it had to be repeated in each document. So, I wrote an add-in that allows for multiple language texts and page names to be stored in a single document, and added the optional use of Bing Translator. Well, the Bing Translator is now Microsoft Cognitive Services Text Translator, and my add-in installer needed to be updated for later versions of Visio. I am pleased to say that it now works for all versions of Visio since 2010, and for all languages that Visio supports, and it can be downloaded and tried for 30 days from MultiLanguageText.aspx .

MLT01

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Layer Manager add-in for Visio released

I use layers in Visio a lot. Maybe it is because I originally used CAD, and created facilities and cable management layouts linked to data. I know that some of my fellow Visio MVPS don’t use layers very much at all, mainly because they create process diagrams, I guess, but careful use of layers in a diagram can provide multiple views of the same base information. However, Visio has a more complex layering system than any CAD program that I used, so I have always created my own layer management tools. I have decided to package my utility together as an add-in that others may want to use too.


 
I have made some short videos explain the issue with layers in Visio, and how I solved it.
What’s the issue with layers in Visio?
Making it simple to toggle layer settings
Saving and recalling multiple layer settings easily
The add-in can be downloaded from my company website : LayerManager
I have put some licensing into the add-in, but 30 days are allowed for free.
Here is some of the genesis of this add-in : Toggling layers on and off
 

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Using multiSelect in Visio

I have had some comments that the diagram in my previous post ( see http://blog.bvisual.net/2015/11/16/data-import-and-export-features-in-visio-2016-and-2013/ ) was a little hard to follow. May I suggest my free multiSelect add-in can help?  ( see http://blog.bvisual.net/2012/07/20/multiple-selection-methods-for-visio-diagrams/ ).

In the following screenshot from Visio 2016 with multiSelect installed, I have selected the Data \ Custom Import feature shape. This makes the multiSelect ribbon tab visible,  and I have ticked Options \ Pan and Zoom, and I am about to click the Shape Selection \ Parents button.

A Visio diagram with lots of connected shapes
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