I like linking data to shapes in Visio. It saves time in filling in Shape Data and adding text, or any Data Graphic to them. Basically I am lazy, and I also like to create macros for repetitive tasks, so in this blog I provide two macros to save the drudgery of two tasks I do so often:
Link Data to Shapes in Visio (not the Standard edition though) is great for visualizing information, and I often use a multi-worksheet Excel workbook that I create locally, and then wish to re-link to a copy of the workbook elsewhere, or even in Office365. This is a simple task if there are only one or two Excel tables involved, but can become tedious when there are many. So, this blog is presents an semi-automated method of achieving this.
Firstly I have an Excel workbook that I have many worksheets with tables of data on them. I named each worksheet, and used the Format As Table command on each.
A Visio user recently showed me a Visio 2010 document that could not be viewed with the Microsoft Visio Viewer. He could open it in Visio okay, but not in the viewer. Well I tried just removing the unused masters and styles, etc (of which there were quite a few), but that did not allow it to be viewed either. Then I tried the document.Clean() method, and, hey presto, the document could then be viewed. Unfortunately, the Clean() method is not available in the UI, so I have created a macro to make it more accessible.
The File / Info / Reduce File Size dialog shows that there are unused masters and styles :
Microsoft Visio has many data sources available for Link Data to Shapes, and one of those is SQL Server. Microsoft Azure is increasingly becoming a low-cost, and always available, choice for hosting all sorts of data, and applications, so I thought I would document how easy it is to setup a SQL database on Azure for use with Visio.
First, you need register for an Azure subscription, and then create a SQL database on a server in a suitable location.
So, I have now published the Visio 2010 MVP Sessions as a Windows Phone 8.1 app too ( see http://blog.bvisual.net/2014/06/27/the-visio-2010-mvp-sessions-windows-app/ ). This is the second part of my second Universal App.
I had some issues with orientation, and that YouTube videos have to be played via a browser, and not in a XAML media element, however I think that the app provides a handy way to view the 24 videos that Scott , Chris and I made for Microsoft.
The app is available for free from the Windows Phone store ( http://bit.ly/1kdSDwx )… if you have upgraded to the 8.1 OS version.
A Visio developer asked me if it is possible to get the name of connection points that a connector is glued to in Visio. Well, it is not possible directly from the ShapeSheet, but is easy if you use a little code.
First of all, I created a simple Block shape with 3 named connection points on either side of it. I added a little text to the block to display the shape name, and to remind me where the named connection points are.
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