Drawing from a DB

[Richard Baker]

After exporting to a DB. Is it possible to have a blank page then have Visio
import and redrawing the "shapes" from the DB? Or does anyone know of any
third party software that would do this?

 

[RA]

What kind of "shapes" do you expect from the Database?

If it is the schema of the database, Visio Pro's Database model solution can
map out the database structure and draw them on the page.

If you want the data itself, try the "Link to database" function under Tools
\ Macros \ Visio Extras \ Link to Database

 

[Richard Baker]

Thanks for the reply.
Not for Database modelling. For example what if you export a network
diagram to a DB. Then you want to have "Visio" redraw it the diagram in a
different scale from the data contained within the DB.

 

[RA]

This would probably require a custom solution as Visio does not have a
built-in solution that enables shapes to be drawn automatically from a
database.

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Here is Bill K.'s response to this question from another newsgroup:

If you are using Visio Professional 2003 the Import Data addon should do
what you want.
First create your spreadsheet.
Then open a new blank drawing in Visio and click Tools > Addons > Run
Addon... and pick "Import Data".
In the wizard, select your spreadsheet, the shape you want to use, and the
columns in your spreadsheet to label and color the shapes with.
A shape will then be added to the drawing for each row in your spreadsheet,
and custom properties in each shape will include the spreadsheet cell
values.