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Update any Visio ShapeSheet cell with External Data

When Microsoft introduced a new way of linking external data to Visio shapes in 2007, I initially bemoaned the inability to update anything but Shape Data row values, unlike the old database add-on that I had been using for 10 years. The new method, though, has many advantages over the old way, not least that it is part of the Visio code library, for any Visio desktop user except the Standard edition.

The smartness of Visio shapes is derived from the formulas in the ShapeSheet that lies behind everything. There is a developer interface into this ShapeSheet in every desktop edition, but there is none in any of the web editions, even though the formulas, for the most part, work perfectly well (see my series of posts ShapeSheet Functions A-Z ).

The newer methodology of linking Visio shapes to data can also be used to refresh Visio diagrams automatically, even if the Visio document is not opened in the desktop edition. The Visio documents merely need to be stored in OneDrive, SharePoint (or Teams). This makes it suitable for solution development without assuming that every consumer has a desktop license. Indeed, the Visio Data Visualizer utilizes these newer external data recordsets embedded within the Visio document.

For my example, I used the Visio Sample Database that has been installed with Visio since 1997 for demonstrating the old database linking technology. It is an old style Access database (mdb), and can be found in a sub-folder of the Visio installation folder. I simply used the Data \ External Data \ Custom Import command to import the Bolts – Square Head table.

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Making Custom Shapes for Visio for M365

I recently revised my chess and checkerboard Visio documents to work in Visio for the Web (Visio Plan 1), but now that Microsoft are providing a version of Visio free to M365 business users, I need to make some further adjustment to get them to work for these users who do not have a Visio Plan 1 or Plan 2 license. The problem is that Microsoft restricts the capabilities of the free version by white-listing Visio masters. So, the answer is to delete the masters … then the Visio document becomes editable in Visio for M365!

So, what is the downside?

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Referencing Container Data in Visio

Microsoft Visio has a useful Structured Diagramming concept that consists of Containers, Callouts and Connectors. The first of these features make it possible for shapes to know what they are contained within, as a better option to grouping shapes together. Grouping can hide or break the grouped shapes smartness, so Visio provides two ways of allowing shapes to be members of one or more containers. There are a few built-in Container shapes that can be added with the Insert / Diagram Parts / Container gallery, but shape developers can also create their own. Member shapes can be positioned anywhere within the container. There is a second type of container, List, that provides the ability to have ordered member items. There is no ribbon command to add these, but there are a number of these special shapes provided in the OOTB Visio stencils. For example, dragging and dropping a List box shape from the Software and Database / Software / Controls stencil will automatically add three List box item shapes to it.

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Understanding Morse Clicks with Visio

A few years ago, I wrote an article about messaging and encryption inspired by a visit to the National Museum of Computing in the UK. I developed a Morse Click shape to demonstrate how Visio can be used to represent and learn Morse Code. However, I never published the shapes here, and my good friend John Marshall recently wrote an article about Braille in Visio, so I thought I should explain how I made the Morse Click shapes, and I took the opportunity to enhance the shapes with some accessibility features that I have learnt since I originally designed them. I have also changed the shapes to be Visio Web friendly, which means, for example, removing shape effects.

I think I learnt Morse Code as a Cub Scout, but forgotten it in the half-century since. Its evolution, and its use today still makes very interesting reading. Each letter comprises of between one and four short or long clicks, whilst each number has five such clicks. Generally, the most used letters have lesser clicks, with ET being the lowest number, presumably to save an extra terrestrial money on a phone call home!

  • Number of Clicks per Character
  • With page Shape Data Hide Text = False

There are just two master shapes of interest here, Morse Click and Morse Click Rack, and a couple of page Shape Data rows. The Morse Click shape can be anyone of the 36 characters with a simple Shape Data value change, whilst the Morse Click Rack is a list shape and can spell out the words of up to 26 Morse Click shapes within it.

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Visio Presentations for the Microsoft Ignite The Tour 2020

Just when we thought the pandemic was coming to an end, another variant appears to scupper our plans. So, resuming in-person events is delayed, and the world isn’t safe until the world is immunised. Therefore, I decided to make the presentations that I was going to be presenting on the abandoned Microsoft Ignite The Tour last year available, although I did manage to go to London and Copenhagen before we all stopped flying around the globe…

David Parker talking about Microsoft Visio …
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Correcting the Text Control Handle on Visio Network Shapes

There are literally thousands of master shapes in the stencils supplied with Microsoft Visio, so I guess that mistakes can creep in. One error that I have noticed is the inability of the default text control handle of many of the network shapes to actually move the text block horizontally.

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