A Little Guidance Please

[DevalilaJohn]

We have a process flow laid out as a flow chart in Visio. We also have
documentation for the various activities within the flow chart. What we
would like to do is have a user open the flow chart as a form and then by
clicking or double clicking on a box within the the chart, have the
documentation for that process open.

I have worked with VB and VBA for some time now and have no problem with
having the documentation come up. What I need some guidance on is:

1. How do I or can I open the Visio drawing so that users can see it and
click on it but not change it?
2. How do I detect what shape the user has clicked on? Do I need to map
coordinates or is there some way to determine the shape that was clicked?
3. Is there a way to add properties and methods to existing shapes or do I
have to create a new class that will inherit the existing shape and then add
my properties and methods?

I'd appreciate any inputs that anyone has.

TIA,

John

 

[Chris Roth [ Visio MVP ]]

You might try the File > Save As Web feature.

You can give each process shape a hyperlink to a process description. (Text
file or html or .DOC somewhwere on your intranet???)

Then you can export the Visio drawing as a web page. The hyperlinks export
too, so your "users" can click on the shapes and navigate forward and
backwards.

If you use IE, Visio exports in a vector format called VML, so your users
will see an attractive diagram that can be zoomed as well.

There is also a free Visio viewer that allows the viewing-only of Visio
diagrams. I believe hyperlinks and custom property data also function in the
viewer. This is a slightly different path.

--

Hope this helps,

Chris Roth
Visio MVP

 

[Al Edlund]

Visio supports multiple strategies for keeping a document "stable". These
include (among others) guard and protect which are covered in the DVS
documentation.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/devref/HTML/DVS_Copyright_1270.asp?

one of the techniques you might consider is to hyperlink from the shape to a
word document using bookmarks.
Al

 

[DevalilaJohn]

Thanks for the quick reply, I should be able to take it from here.

 

[SmithButUnique]

On this theme, I want to review Viso originated htm files from my local host
using IE6, prior to publishing on our intranet. It is frustrating to have
active controls blocked every time. Security setting do not provide for
excepting //localhost. How can I review my own files before publishing,
without getting the active content blocked?

 

[VisMan]

RE: your third question >
3. Is there a way to add properties and methods to existing shapes o
do I
have to create a new class that will inherit the existing shape an
then add
my properties and methods?

Here (http://www.visiolize.com/) are some tools that help with Custo
Properties management. Amongst other things it has a Wizard that wil
create, update, add to, or remove entire sets or rows in selecte
Shapes in seconds. Please feel free to contact me if you have an
questions.

Hope this helps,
Rory
Visiolize.co