is this possible with visio

[schmidte]

Hi

Before I'm going to start a new project, I want to ask if it's actually
possible with MS Visio.

Is it possible to generate a Set of Shapes and to add some Logic and
additional DataFields to each shape?

For example we've got two shapes:
Shape A: name, adress, type
Shape B: name, path

The Path from Shape B is calculated from name and adress of Shape A. Is this
possible? What is, if Shape B is drawn first, and then Shape A. Shape B path
must be empty and when Shape A is filled out, Shape B needs to be updated to
get it's data.
What's with multiple Instances of a Shape? E.G. if I've got two Objects from
Shape A on the workspace, I need to tell each B-Shape from which A-Shape it
gets it's data from.

Another interesting fact is updating the ShapeTemplates. When the Shape
definitions are updated, is it possible to add this updated information to
older visio sheets which where created with older template versions?

I think these are the main questions.

Thank you for answering

Martin

 

[AlEdlund]

Well let's see if we can respond to these.

a. "Is it possible to generate a Set of Shapes and to add some Logic and
additional DataFields to each shape?" Create shapes and add data fields, yes
(check the visio sdk for examples on adding shape data - also sometimes
called custom properties). Visio shapes do support some embedded
programmability, what you mean by "logic" needs more information.

b. "The Path from Shape B is calculated from name and adress of Shape".
Visio supports drawing connections between shapes, coincidentally it can be
done using the shape names. Your use of the term "path" can lead to some
confusion since a network path can be a series of concatenated connections
and thus gets you into graph theory, that is definitely not a standard visio
function.

c. "I need to tell each B-Shape from which A-Shape it gets it's data from"
Visio automatically updates connections information within a shape when
connections are made and deleted, it's up to the programmer to define where
the 'data' comes from.

d. "Another interesting fact is updating the ShapeTemplates. When the Shape
definitions are updated, is it possible to add this updated information to
older visio sheets which where created with older template versions? " This
is not a standard visio function, there are third party utilities that can
do this (paul herber wrote one).

al

 

[schmidte]

Hi AlEdlund

Thanks for your answers, that helped a lot.

By the term "logic" I mean simple operations like calulating a value from 3
or 4 other values. something like
<ShapeA.name>_<ShapeB.pathname>_<ShapeC.IP>+randomNumber for example.
The term path can be misunderstood, you're right . Actually in this
example I meant an installation path like /var/apphome. The path/connection
between shapes is not meant, but this is an interesting fact too.

Actually I think I'm going to reduce the Information stored in the shapes
and move the calculating logic to an extra component/definition file/... .

Thank you for your help it made the decission process much easier