John Goldsmith's visLog

Using Util.Dif in LINQPad with Visio

As of version 5.25, LINQPad has a new object diff’ing method that’s great for comparing objects and tracking down problems in code and this, of course, also applies to Visio.

Action cell execution in Visio

Action cells in Visio react differently from the others and you can use this behaviour to your advantage when building complex shapes.

Using a 2D lookup array in Visio

In this post, I’m going to look at one method to provide a lookup in a 2D array, which could be used, for example, to map cells in the ShapeSheet to a table collection.

Course files for Visio Flyby for Developers on CH9

I had a question recently asking for the associated files for the Visio Flyby for Developers course on Channel 9.  So I’ve put together a zip package that includes:

• the ShapeSheet and Data Linking demo
• the starting VBA table layout demo
• more involved event listening in the form of VBA / WithEvents and C# delegate and sink events (VSTO addin)
• and a PowerShell script for iterating site collections in SharePoint Online (+ associated stencil and template)

You can download the zip package here and I hope you find the files useful in creating your own solutions!

New Visio training videos

Today I’m releasing a new training course on Channel 9. The course is aimed at developers who are new to Visio, but need a quick overview of how Visio works under the covers.

The course is split into two parts:

• Shapes, Stencils and Templates
• Code and Extensibility

[Note, that even if you have no desire to write code, you might still find the first part useful if you’re interested in creating your own shapes and masters.]

Building a labelled dynamic connector in Visio

Connected diagrams can often get a little crowded with various dynamic connectors running between multiple nodes and so it can be useful to hide some of the connecting lines.  Of course you still need to make sense of what’s connected to what so adding labels to a connector can be helpful.  The challenge is positioning those labels in what is, by definition, a truly dynamic shape.

Setting Visio icon sub-shapes code utility

A couple of posts ago I covered one way of adding ‘Positioning icons in a Visio group shape’.  This post follows up with a small code utility to take some of the leg work out of adding all of the group and sub-shape cells.

Positioning mixed size icons in a Visio group shape

In a previous post, I looked at one option for positioning icon sub-shapes within a group using a grid system.  This works nicely, but it’s based on equally sized grid rows and columns and therefore, equally sized icons too.  So in this post I'm going to have a go at trying to managed variable sized icons, while still retaining the ability of collapsing individual items so that the remaining visible icons concertina up next to each other.

Visio ShapeSheet SheetColumnWidths

Now here’s a post about a niche aspect of Visio, but I’ve delved into this registry setting a few times and thought I’d explore what’s inside…

Positioning icons in a Visio group shape

In the previous post I looked at a method of dividing up a group shape using a grid system layout, to allow you to position child shapes in a simple and flexible way.  One of my motivations for considering this is to try and create a flexible system for laying out icons around a shape when Data Graphics are not an option.