Code

Edit Visio Masters Programmatically…the Right Way!

February 25, 2008 By Visio Guy 54 Comments

If you are busy developing a Visio solution, you might run into the situation where you need to edit a Visio master using code.

Like any application that has survived the ages, Visio has its share black-magic techniques that lurk in dusky corners of the netherworld. And if you need to edit masters programmatically, be warned! You’re heading down a dark alley…

If you’ve already run into problems with this, don’t feel bad. Even experienced Visio developers get tripped-up by this one! And that’s because the correct way to do this isn’t obvious, and the obvious way to do it isn’t correct!

Visio Solution Developer Pain Points Presentation

February 6, 2008 By Visio Guy 2 Comments

Whether or not you attended my session about the deep, dark secrets of Visio development today at the Microsoft Office Visio Conference 2008, you might be interested in the session materials.

Text to the Bottom of the Shape

November 7, 2007 By Visio Guy 5 Comments

A Visio newsgrouper recently pointed out that in Visio, inserted images have a different default text position than normal shapes. For images, the text is located at the bottom of the shape, and text “grows” downward.

This makes sense, since you usually don’t want the text to obscure the image. But perhaps you shape developers out there in Internet Land might wish to have the same text behavior for your shapes!

In this article, we’ll discuss how to do it by hand, and offer some VBA script to get the job done faster!

LengthIU Bug Workaround Code

October 20, 2007 By Visio Guy 10 Comments

Visio 2003 has a defect in the LengthIU property of a Shape object. This article discusses the bug, describes a work-around, and offers Visual Basic code to help you get back on track!

Circular Text Generator (version 1)

October 18, 2007 By Visio Guy 36 Comments

OK, we’ve just about had enough! Between all the newsgroup posts, and John Marshall’s nagging, it’s time to do something about adding text to a circle in Visio. ‘Til now, the standard response has been; “insert a Word Art object”. But with Visio’s SmartShape- and automation capabilities that just won’t do! We ought to be able to build something cool–and more native to Visio. This article presents the first in a series of the Circular Text Generator! [Read more…] about Circular Text Generator (version 1)

Customized Visio HTML Export

August 24, 2007 By Visio Guy 10 Comments

A recent Visio newsgroup post asked about customizing the output files from Visio’s Save As Web feature. This rang a bell in the ol’ noggin, and I went searching for an old demo that exported a customized html page, with pop-up menus that displayed Custom Property (Shape Data) information.

Multi-Earth Shape

June 6, 2007 By Visio Guy 7 Comments

As we travel around the world, we’re looking at maps every single day. And being a Visio Guy, this naturally causes ideas to formulate in the old noggin. You may have seen and enjoyed the various map downloads from Visio Guy, but today, we’ve got something a little bit different.

I hope you’ll get a kick out of today’s SmartShape: the Multi-Earth Shape. This little bugger lets you choose four views and four color schemes, all with a click of the mouse!

[Read more…] about Multi-Earth Shape

Sales Force Automation With Visio

June 3, 2007 By Visio Guy 20 Comments

One of the areas in which Visio particularly shines is that of Sales Force Automation. With Visio, a rep can sit on-site with a customer, and visually spec out a system or an installation. The components in the Visio schematic can be linked to real product-data, and can be analyzed via code to generate bills-of-material and reports automatically.

On MSDN, I recently uncovered “oldie but goody” demo that shows off these capabilities. I created it for Visio 5.0, while I still worked for Visio Corp, and it still works with Visio 2003! The demo illustrates how a fictitious candy-manufacturing line might be laid out. Custom shapes represent general classes of equipment, and database links behind the shapes specify real-world items. With the click of a button, a Bill of Materials, is generated in an embedded Excel spreadsheet, sitting right on the page!

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Stencil

December 28, 2006 By Visio Guy 5 Comments

Microsoft has published a brand-spanking-new set of Visio shapes for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. You can download the stencil for free from Microsoft’s web-site and immediately get to work planning your next Exchange deployment. You’ll also amaze your co-workers with your unmatched graphic-abilities and non-boring PowerPoint slides!

Visio and Xml Conference Resources

November 30, 2006 By Visio Guy 28 Comments

Back in January 2006, I made a presentation at the Microsoft Office Visio Conference in Home-Sweet-Home Seattle. Good company, good information, and good fun was had by all! You can download plenty of excellent content from that conference, including PowerPoint slides and recorded presentations. Get it here: Visio Conference web site.

In my presentation, Working With Visio an Xml, our friend, Dr. Xml, proudly made his PowerPoint debut and won the crowd over. The presentation summary was…